I traveled to Seattle three times to interview McGrew and spoke with him by phone on several other occasions. A Boeing public relations official was present for most of those interviews, but McGrew was still candid in expressing his feelings about the NTSB.
I interviewed Brett Van Bortel in Chicago four times, visited the crash site with him on the first anniversary of the crash, and was with him during the final meeting in Springfield, Virginia. We exchanged E-mail frequently and spoke often by phone.
I also interviewed emergency workers in Hopewell Township, FAA officials, Brett’s friends and relatives, the NTSB investigators on Haueter’s team, the NTSB board members (except for John Hammerschmidt, who declined to be interviewed), USAir employees, Boeing engineers and test pilots, and Roxie Laybourne, the Smithsonian feather expert. (See list below.)
I was present for many of the scenes in the book, including both public hearings, Chairman Jim Hall’s ride in the M-Cab simulator, a portion of the “fat guy” tests, and the final meeting in March 1999. I was able to write about several other scenes—including Joan’s memorial service, the first anniversary ceremony, and the recovery of passenger belongings from the trash bins in March 1995—thanks to videotapes that were recorded by family members or friends.
Other scenes are reconstructed based on the recollections of the main characters. When possible, I verified their accounts with others. During that process, I discovered that Haueter, Cox, and Brett each had a remarkably accurate memory and a keen eye for detail. In addition to the interviews, I relied heavily on transcripts of the public hearings and the NTSB’s huge docket on the crash, which includes more than 10,000 pages of investigative reports and documents from USAir and Boeing. Depositions from the Chicago court file provided details about the scene aboard Ship 513 when Andrew McKenna heard the gurgling sound and the scene at O’Hare before the plane departed for Pittsburgh.
I relied on the excellent coverage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for details about the days immediately following the crash and on the Palm Bench Post for the profile of Paul Olson, the convicted drug dealer on the plane. I also relied on the New York Times cover-age of Orville Wright’s crash in 1908 and the Knute Rockne crash in 1931.
The section on Boeing’s history and the development of the 737 is based on old memos in the company’s archives, and on two superb books: Legend and Legacy, by Robert Serling, and Plying High, by Eugene Rogers.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
Tom Haueter, investigator-in-charge Trisha Dedik, Tom Haueter’s wife
Greg Phillips, systems group chairman
Jim Cash, cockpit voice recorder analyst
Malcolm Brenner, human factors specialist
Tom Jacky, aircraft performance specialist
Bud Laynor, deputy director of aviation safety (until 1996)
Bernie Loeb, director of aviation safety, 1996–2001
Ron Schleede, deputy director of aviation safety, 1996–1999
Peter Goelz, managing director
John Clark, director of aviation safety, 2001–
Chairman Jim Hall Deb Smith, Jim Hall’s assistant
John Goglia
George Black
Robert Francis
Denise Daniels, Robert Francis’s special counsel
John Cox, systems group member and USAir pilot
Herb LeGrow, coordinator for USAir 427 investigation
Keith Hagy, manager of accident investigation
Bill Sorbie, chairman of central air safety committee/USAir
Jean McGrew, chief engineer for the 737
John Purvis, chief of air safety investigations
Rick Howes, air safety investigator and coordinator for USAir 427
Michael Hewett, flight test pilot
Michael Carriker, flight test pilot
Ed Kikta, hydraulics engineer
Jim Draxler, systems engineer and Ed Kikta’s boss
Jim Kerrigan, senior principal engineer
Mike Denton, 737 chief engineer (1997)
Jack Steiner, vice president (retired)
Martin Ingham, specialist engineer
Ragnar Nordvik, regional marketing director
Paul Martin, senior instructor pilot
Ralph C. Miller, manager of the Next-of-Kin Room
Deborah Thompson, director of consumer affairs
Dave Supplee, mechanic and accident investigator for the machinists union
Vikki Anderson, accident investigator
Thomas McSweeny, director of aircraft certification
Steve O’Neal, flight test engineer
Ed Kittel, bomb expert
Ken Frey, systems engineer
Sharon Battle, operations center officer
David Canoles, director air traffic effectiveness
David Thomas, director of accident investigation
Bud Donner, manager of accident investigation
Les Berven, engineering test pilot
Dick Paul, engineering test pilot
Brett Van Bortel
Bonnie Van Bortel, Brett’s mother
Mike Demetrio, Brett’s attorney
Brian Bishop, Eastwind Airlines pilot
Federico Pena, Secretary of Transportation
Wayne Tatalovich, Beaver County coroner
Russ Chiodo, Beaver County director of emergency operations
Captain James Rock, Hopewell Township volunteer firefighter
Fred David, Hopewell Township police chief
George David, owner of farm adjacent to crash site
Rudy Kapustin, former NTSB investigator
Nancy Edwards, coworker of Joan Van Bortel
Jen Brundage, friend of Joan Van Bortel
David Hause, deputy medical examiner, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Roxie Laybourne, feather expert, Smithsonian Institution
John Little, assistant security manager, Museum of Flight
John Kretz, executive director, Flight 427 Air Disaster Support League
Don Hunt, professor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Michael Pangia, attorney
Ralph Vick, member of Expert Panel on Hydraulics
Acohido, Byron. “Safety at Issue: The 737.” Seattle Times, reprint of Parts 1–5, October 27–31, 1996.
Associated Press. “USAir Passengers Cited Noise.” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 21, 1994.
Bayles, Fred, and Robert Davis. “Doubts Shadow Flight 427 ‘Party’ Inquiry.” USA Today, March 23, 1999.
Bean, Ed. “Damage Controclass="underline" After 137 People Died in Its Texas Jet Crash, Delta Helped Families.” Wall Street Journal, November 7, 1986.
Beiden, Tom. “On the Ropes, USAir Takes the Offensive.” Philadelphia Inquirer, November 27, 1994.
——. “Timing Is Bad for an Airline in a Tailspin.” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 10, 1994.
Belko, Mark. “Crash Photos Available to Families.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 11, 1995.
——. “Mission of Mercy.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 16, 1994.