The Airport: Planes, People, Triumphs, and Disasters at John F. Kennedy International Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Airport: Planes, People, Triumphs, and Disasters at John F. Kennedy International Book

Before going on a cross-country flight, I decided to find a good book about airports, and was pleasantly surprised to discover this book, an in-depth description of JFK, it's tens of thousands of employees, and the general principles of the airline industry this airport illustrates. James Kaplan idolizes the brilliant essayist John McPhee, and at times, this book approaches the work of the master--especially the second chapter about "the Birdman of Kennedy" (whose job is to protect human life and metal wing against the astonishingly potent threat of seagulls). The following passage illustrates Kaplan's reportage and writing at it's best: Down a hallway, toward passport control. "Human ingenuity is endless," Fingerman is saying. "People hide sausages in bandoliers around their body. I've seen a man trying to bring an entire fig tree on his person. The roots were in his shoes, the branches were in his sleeves. One lady tried to hide her pet bird between her breasts. Another was wearing a big hat, with a whole hatband full of little finches"... Now his restless eyes pick out two men having their passports processed nearby. One is Italian, the other Venezuelan; they look as if they have on at least three sports jackets apiece. They have huge fake-Vuitton suitcases, and Fingerman leans on one of the bags as he says, in his carrying voice, "How are you gentlemen doing today?" I leave a little while later. Fingerman, who has forgotten all about me, is contentedly removing dozens of pieces of fruit and wrapped sausages from the men's bags as they gesture and shrug. And how delightfully ironic that this customs inspector's name is Fingerman! My only gripe is that the publisher should have spent more time editing this otherwise worthy volume--and Kaplan (like me several years ago) suffers from a dreaded syndrome I've dubbed "commatosis", the tendency to overuse commas. Otherwise, I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants a good peek at how airports work--and how they sometimes fail so spectacularly. Two aerilons up!Read More

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  • Product Description

    As recent headline news coverage raises serious questions about aircraft safety and airport security, James Kaplan offers a timely behind-the-scenes account of John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Airport: Planes, People, Triumphs, and Disasters at John F. Kennedy International achieves the impossible -- it goes "inside" the sprawling J.F.K. to expose the lifeblood of a major metropolitan airport.

    Kaplan spoke with many of the key players within Kennedy's city of 44,000 around-the-clock workers, including administrators, technicians, crime investigators, pilots and skycaps. He interviewed people who hold such bizarre posts as Kennedy's notorious "Birdman" who patrols the runways for "laughing seagulls;" the leader of the "Beagle Brigade" who uses beagles to track the illegal entry of unwanted materials; and one of the airport's medical team who must contend with airport "mules," men and women who smuggle drugs by ingesting large quantities of drug packets into their bodies.

    The Airport assesses the crucial role that deregulation has played in shaping today's airline industry, producing lower fares that allow more people to fly, but in a manner that feels "progressively more inconvenient." Another result of deregulation and lower air fares is that J.F.K. has become the Ellis Island of our era, processing a large population of huddled masses seeking entry to the United States.

    More importantly, Kaplan suggests that deregulation may have contributed to dangerous declines in maintenance and safety standards. He reports how in the 1980s several airlines hired inexperienced, low-wage mechanics to service engines and landing gear. In addition, he examines all the other elements affecting airline safety -- traffic control, weather, runway maintenance, radar and other sensing equipment, pilot and flight attendant training and disaster crews.

    In The Airport, James Kaplan presents a panoramic, intimately detailed and highly personal view of the world of flying, and of a fabled airport's inner life, which even the most seasoned travelers never get to see.

  • 0688149545
  • 9780688149543
  • James Kaplan
  • 1 November 1996
  • Quill
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 304
  • Reprint
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