And the Plane Goes Down

By: Priya Raval

Aircraft is a book that raises new questions at every page. Michael Crichton is an author that has a way of telling you the answer to the story without you knowing it. This book, Aircraft takes many unsuspected turns as Casey, the main character, tries to find out what caused a in-flight accident on a plane.

Casey Singleton is vice-president of Quality Assurance at Norton Security Aircraft. Her life is pretty busy already with her daughter and new assistant but it gets worse as N-22, a plane, has a in-flight incident that causes three deaths, and 50+ injuries. Casey now has to find out what happened to cause this incident in one week or else they will have to sign a deal with China that will not be beneficial to Norton. If the plane had a problem with the manufacturing, the company will have to sell some major parts of the plane (such as the wing) with China, which might cause unemployment at Norton because China could figure out how to make the part with the prototype.

Throughout most of the book, it was thought that the accident was caused by an incident called "uncommanded slats deployment" but near the end of the book, they realize there was more to the accident than manufacturing. As the story unwinds, Casey, suspects her assistant more and more because of his unusual behavior and she soons figures out his true identity. The general theme of this book takes place at Norton Security Aircraft or at Casey's home. This book has the genre of realistic fiction because this type could happen. Nothing in this book was made up and was all based on facts.

Michael Crichton expresses the plot twist in this book in a very different manner. He writes in a way the reader doesn't notice the plot change. Crichton's books are very well known and some are converted into movies. His books include, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Pirate Latitudes. Crichton's talents are shown in various ways as he is also a screenwriter, director, and producer of many movies.

This book was exciting to read as the characters were very lively. Each character had a unique personality that defines them and you can match them with realistic personalities. Another great aspect of this book were the descriptions. The way Crichton explained the problems in this book raises concern in the reader's head about the characters or the plot. For example, when Casey was gathering data to find what caused the incident, her finding made the reader think and infer what happened. Crichton also tried to make the book understandable for people with no previous flight knowledge. What did didn't like about this book was the word choice. The words and data was written in a way that was hard to interpret. The data and charts were hard to follow and although typical aerospace words were explained, the meaning was not always clear. Overall, this book has a good story plot but it is not one of the best novels.

I believe that one should read this book only if interested in learning about planes and the aerospace industry. Also, this book is intended for an audience older than 13 or else they might not understand the book to it's fullest. This is a good book if read thoroughly or else the reader might miss some important points.

Aircraft, by Michael Crichton, 1996, 352