''Flying Blind, Flying Safe'' is a
non-fiction
Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...
book about the American
airline industry
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in whic ...
and
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
, written by
Mary Schiavo
Mary Fackler Schiavo () is the former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), where for six years she withstood pressure from within DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as she sought to expose and ...
with Sabra Chartrand. The book was first published in March 1997 in hardcover format by
Avon Books
Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reach ...
.
An updated paperback edition was published on April 1, 1998.
Schiavo is a former
Inspector General
An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general".
Australia
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...
of the
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
, and Chartrand a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Schiavo was Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation for six years, and resigned in 1996 shortly after the
ValuJet Flight 592
ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami International Airport to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. On May 11, 1996, the ValuJet Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the route crashed into t ...
airline crash in the
Florida Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
. She became a
whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
and was highly critical of the airline industry and its relationship with aviation safety agencies in the United States federal government.
The book is structured into two sections. The first portion of the book is critical of the aviation industry and the U.S. government agencies tasked with inspecting it. The second portion of the book addresses consumers and potential airline passengers. The book became successful shortly after publication. It reached number 10 on the
''New York Times'' Best Seller list and number 9 on a ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' list of bestsellers in early April 1997. Most reviews of the book in media publications were positive. Some individuals within the airline industry claimed the book contained factual inaccuracies, and this was investigated as part of a class project at
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
.
Authors
Mary Schiavo
Mary Fackler Schiavo () is the former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), where for six years she withstood pressure from within DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as she sought to expose and ...
was raised in
Williams County,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
,
and received her
pilot's license
Pilot licensing or certification refers to permits for operating aircraft. Flight crew licences are regulated by ICAO Annex 1 and issued by the civil aviation authority of each country. CAA’s have to establish that the holder has met a specifi ...
while studying in her first two years of
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
at
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
(OSU).
She obtained a
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, and a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in
public administration
Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...
from OSU.
She has a law degree from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
,
and has worked as a federal prosecutor.
Schiavo served as
Inspector General
An inspector general is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is "inspectors general".
Australia
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (Australia) (IGIS) is an independent statutory off ...
of the
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
from 1990 to July 1996.
Schiavo resigned from her position at the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to
blow the whistle
''Blow the Whistle'' is the sixteenth studio album by the American rapper Too Short. It was released on August 29, 2006, via Jive Records. It features artists such as Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Tha Dogg Pound, will.i.am, Mistah F.A.B. and David Banne ...
on what she saw as deficiencies in safety practices by the federal government's oversight of the airline industry.
She was publicly critical of high-ranking U.S. aviation officials regarding the
ValuJet Flight 592
ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami International Airport to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. On May 11, 1996, the ValuJet Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the route crashed into t ...
passenger jet crash in the
Florida Everglades
The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
which resulted in the deaths of all 110 people aboard.
Schiavo appeared on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's ''
Nightline
''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...
'' program the night after the crash and was highly critical of FAA safety inspections methods.
After resigning her position as Inspector General Schiavo taught courses at Ohio State University,
and in April 1997 she joined the staff of Ohio State University in the position of Enarson Executive-in-Residence.
Co-writer Sabra Chartrand graduated from the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...
, and reported for
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
and
Israel Radio
''Kol Yisrael'' or ''Kol Israel'' ( lit. "Voice of Israel", also "Israel Radio") is Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Service from 1951 to 1965, the Israel Broadcastin ...
in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
She later joined ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as a
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
with their
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
bureau.
After ''Flying Blind, Flying Safe'', she co-wrote ''Black And White on Wall Street, The Untold Story of the Man Wrongly Accused of Bringing Down Kidder Peabody'' with former
Kidder, Peabody & Co. bond trader
Joseph Jett.
Contents
The first portion of the book is a critique of deficiencies in safety practices by the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
and
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
, and the inherent problems with the closeness between these agencies and the airline industry. The book is an exposé of what Schiavo saw as fraud, corruption, waste, mismanagement, and dangerous negligence in the
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
industry and the FAA as a crusader for flight safety. Her primary criticisms in the book focus on the FAA's reluctance to address its many shortcomings, while expressing her concern that there was a fundamental
conflict of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...
between the FAA job of oversight and the FAA job of promoting aviation.
Schiavo describes how the FAA uses a formula ascribing specific monetary value to human lives, and how the agency allows numbers to decide whether the cost of extra safety is worth the additional expense. For example, if equipping an airline fleet with smoke detectors would cost $100 million, but would only save 10 lives each worth $1 million, then the expense is ruled out. Schiavo is similarly critical of the internal FAA politics and the FAA's administrators.
The last 145 pages of the book is addressed to passengers, to help them determine which airlines have good safety records and how to better ensure safe travel while flying. Schiavo discusses the average ages of certain airline fleets, reveals the accident rates of the major airline carriers, safety ratings at national airlines, bomb detection rates at U.S. airports, and provides a list of airports where power failures have affected the effectiveness of control towers. She concludes with a list of recommendations for how individuals can effect change at government agencies including the FAA, and how to address concerns of conflict of interest between air safety and inspection and the airline industry.
Reception
''Flying Blind, Flying Safe'' reached number 10 on the
New York Times Best Seller list
''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...
on April 6, 1997, and remained on the list through June 1997. On April 13, 1997 the book was ranked 9th on the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' list of bestsellers for hardback non-fiction.
Christina Del Valle reviewed the book for ''
BusinessWeek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'', and wrote: "Flying Blind, Flying Safe is an incisive primer on what ails the aviation industry and the feds' regulation of it".
A subsequent article in ''BusinessWeek'' highlighted the book among "The Best Business Books of 1997".
In a review in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', Judy Mann called the book "a scathing -- and frightening -- indictment of the FAA, the multibillion-dollar airline industry and its lapdogs in Congress".
James T. Yenckel of ''The Washington Post'' called the book "frightening" and "informative", and wrote that "passengers should have this kind of safety information when choosing a flight."
In a review for ''
The Virginian-Pilot
''The Virginian-Pilot'' is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as ''The Pilot'', it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virginia ...
'', Michael Anft wrote: "She may be to the airplane what Ralph Nader was to the automobile."
Bill Wallace gave the book a favorable review in the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'', and wrote: "Part memoir, part exposé, her book gives an inside view of how the FAA does its job of regulating air travel -- and how it frequently fails."
R.J. Ignelzi gave the book a positive recommendation in a review for ''
The San Diego Union-Tribune
''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868.
Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
'', and commented: "Mary Schiavo's candid evaluation of the Federal Aviation Administration, airport security and air traffic controllers will give even the occasional flier some apprehension. Still, it should be read."
Carl Marbach of ''AVweb'' wrote positively of the first portion of the book, but was critical of the latter half: "On the whole, the book has some worthwhile sections notwithstanding the soap opera ramblings at the end. Read the first half, then pass it along to another pilot-friend."
John Clark of ''
The Plain Dealer
''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday.
As of Ma ...
'' gave the book a positive review, but was also critical of the instructive section at the end of the book: "Narratively, the book breaks down when Schiavo resorts to lists and tables to provide information to help the reader fly more safely."
Robert W. Poole Jr. reviewed the book for ''Reason'', and called it "valuable and frustrating".
Poole noted "Only an outsider-insider like Schiavo could provide ordinary people with authentic accounts of how badly off-track the FAA has gotten in its job of looking after aviation safety," but commented that some aviation veterans regarded her as a "loose cannon".
Jerry Fraser of ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' was critical in his review of the book, and wrote that "a book that sets out to be 'everything you need to know to travel safer by air' winds up griping about how the FAA reimburses employees for moving expenses and conducts crude management-training seminars".
The book received a critical review from Bill Adair in the ''
St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'', who wrote: "Schiavo is right about many problems at the FAA. ... But Schiavo seems unable to offer a calm and constructive account of the FAA's problems. She'd rather grab headlines with wild and often inaccurate comments."
Many in the airline industry were critical of the book, and asserted that it contained factual inaccuracies.
In 1998, Instructor Darryl Jenkins of
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
decided to assign a class project in a graduate course he was teaching on airline economics for students to fact-check statements made by Schiavo in the book.
Edmund Pinto, a former Federal Aviation Administration spokesman and publisher of the newsletter ''Aviation Daily'', later co-authored a report with Jenkins on their findings.
In some instances the authors agreed with Schiavo's conclusions, but argued that what they saw as discrepancies detracted from Schiavo's position.
In response Schiavo commented that the report by Jenkins and Pinto was "hardly the sort of unbiased reporting which warrants my response", and an article on the matter in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' noted that: "Jenkins occasionally does economic consulting work for airlines and for airline unions, but he said he took on the book project on his own."
See also
*
Air safety
Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of airc ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Good article
1997 non-fiction books
Aviation books
Avon (publisher) books