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Why Planes Crash

An Accident Investigator's Fight for Safe Skies

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Why Planes Crash

By: David Soucie, Ozzie Cheek
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
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About this listen

Boarding an airplane strikes at least a small sense of fear into most people. Even though we all have heard that the odds of being struck by lightning are greater than the odds of perishing in a plane crash, it still doesn't feel that way. Airplane crashes might be rare, but they do happen, and they’re usually fatal. David Soucie insists that most of these deaths could be prevented. He’s worked as a pilot, a mechanic, an FAA inspector, and an aviation executive. He’s seen death up close and personal - deaths of colleagues and friends that might have been prevented if he had approved certain safety measures in the aircrafts they were handling. His years of experience have led Dave to become an impassioned consultant on the topic of airline safety. This includes not only advising the Obama administration, but also taking a leading role in the congressionally funded NextGen interdepartmental initiative in regards to both the department of transportation and the departments of defense, homeland security, FBI, CIA, and others. Find out the truth about airplane safety and discover what the future holds for air travel.

©2011 David Soucie (P)2012 Audible, Inc.
Air Forces Biographies & Memoirs Engineering Freedom & Security War & Crisis Transportation Aviation Military US Air Force
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Editor reviews

David Soucie, an aviation safety inspector and advisor on safety management to many groups, including the federal government, brings extensive experience to the writing of his impassioned memoir of his fight to make the skies safer. Elegantly performed in a normal-guy tone by Mike Chamberlain, Soucie’s audiobook is filled with up close and personal stories of harrowing tragedies and near misses. While everyone shudders at the thought of an airplane crash, preventing such crashes is Soucie’s career and purpose. Listeners will hear not only the heartrending losses but will also learn some of the physics of flight and will become inspired by the prospects for future flight safety.

What listeners say about Why Planes Crash

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Great book and great narrator

I found this a really interesting story and enjoyed the style of the narrator. Recommended

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Honest man's account into his fight to make the skies safer

I loved how he didn't give up or in and how raw and honest he was with his own mistakes. I really felt for him in many places (and his wife who is clearly a saint). I was hooked from start to finish!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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An insight into the aviation world...

I really enjoyed this honest account of a career focused on aircraft safety, there's some fascinating side stories too!

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Good book

This book is fairly interesting, but feels clunky and biased at times. Good narration.

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Great Book.

As a pilot and instructor in the Gliding world I found this book extremely interesting and thought provoking. It's just sad that even today, we still haven't learnt from mistakes made by others! Mistakes are sadly still made but maybe not as much as in years gone by. Good listen, well narrated.

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Inspirational, factual, and fascinating

A factual account, an insight into an amazing life and career.
I never wanted it to end.

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Deceiving title

The title of this book is deceiving. There isn't much about why planes crash.
This is the autobiography of a flight safety inspector - quite eventful to be fair - and his love/hate for FAA, the US Federal Aviation Administration.
Moderately interesting for hardcore aviation geeks. Not much of an interest for a more general public.

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Fascinating read!

Amazing insight into the world of aviation safety and the struggles to make air travel as safe as possible. Also a great portrayal of one mans personal achievements and objectives in making air travel a safer form of transport. Well worth a listen

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Personal minutia overshadowing interesting detail

The parts about air crashes are very well informed, and well written, and provide clear and interesting insights into what drives the FAA, NTSB and others, but far, far, far too much of this book is mired in unnecessary personal detail, which is almost unrelenting in its length. I think at least 2/3 of this book is simply an elaboration of personal details which I have absolutely no interest in whatsoever.

The information about how the institutions work, their flaws, and the flaws of profit-driven civil aviation are interesting, but I know far too much about David Soucie's personal life. He had a crappy car, he was trying to paint and decorate a bedroom for his wife, various ancillary details about friends and family, how it's like moving house, life in Hawaii, how he admired some other helicopter pilot that helped out with a hotel fire, and on and on it goes to an uncanny degree.

The book could have cut out 80% of the personal detail and briefly explained why he got into the FAA: "I worked in the aviation industry as a mechanic, then a manager, and had some ethical wrangles when a friend of mine died due to the lack of wire-strike kits on the front of the helicopter." After an extended foray into the minutia of someone's various jobs and relationships, the book becomes eminently more readable, more interesting and well paced.

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Very good book!

This was a very well written book with a very good performance. Learned a lot!

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