Airport
Arthur (signed) Hailey
Hardcover
(Michael Joseph, Jan. 1, 1968)
This is a fictional story-fast paced, exciting, richly textured with memorable characters. Lincoln International Airport calls itself boastfully: Aviation Crossroads of the World. Yet those with inside knowledge are aware of grave deficiencies. Operational areas are outmoded to the point of danger; air traffic control is overtaxed; the supposedly-modern glass and chrome main terminal has become a whited sepulcher. Against this background is set a dramatic, behind-scenes story of seven eventful airport hours during a mid-winter snowstorm, and of the men and women-with pressures, passions and problems of their own. You will meet: Joe Patroni, cocky and genial airline maintenance chief, striving to clear a disabled aircraft from an urgently needed runway; Air Traffic Controller Keith Bakersjeld, suffering stress, and conscience stricken by the memory of an air disaster for which he was responsible; Tanya Livingston, passenger relations agent whose suspicions, triggered by a sharp-eyed Customs Inspector, reveal an unsuspected crisis; Captain Vernon Demerest, arrogant, admired by women, and despising "ground bound penguins," especially Airport Commissioners; Elliot Free mantle, crusading lawyer, leading a group of home owners incensed by airport noise; Ada Quonsett, a prim old lady who explains her so-easy techniques as an aerial stowaway; D. O. Guerrero, a psychotic with a homemade bomb ... and many others. Arthur Hailey has employed the same multi-plot technique which he used so successfully in Hotel and The Final Diagnosis. And, as usual, he has written an engrossing, enjoyable tale, packed with little-known and fascinating information: How, for example, smugglers trip themselves up with Customs; the way in which stewardess pregnancy programs work; what is an airport "Conga Line;" how much an airline will pay on the spot for a damaged luggage claim; and why airport insurance booths are hated by airline pilots ... But the true-hero of this novel is the Airport.