Flying Blind, Flying Safe
Encyclopedia
Flying Blind, Flying Safe is a non-fiction
book about the American
airline industry and Federal Aviation Administration
, written by Mary Schiavo
with Sabra Chartrand. The book was first published in March 1997 in hardcover format by Avon Books. An updated paperback edition was published on April 1, 1998. Schiavo is a former Inspector General
of the United States Department of Transportation
, and Chartrand a journalist
for The New York Times
. Schiavo was Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation for six years, and resigned in 1996 shortly after the ValuJet Flight 592
airline crash in the Florida Everglades. She became a whistleblower
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
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
.
was raised in Williams County
, Ohio
, and received her pilot's license while studying in her first two years of college
at Ohio State University
(OSU). She obtained a bachelor's degree
from Harvard University
, and a master's degree
in public administration
from OSU. She has a law degree from New York University
, and has worked as a federal prosecutor. Schiavo served as Inspector General
of the United States Department of Transportation
from 1990 to July 1996.
Schiavo resigned from her position at the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to blow the whistle
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
passenger jet crash in the Florida Everglades which resulted in the deaths of all 110 people aboard. Schiavo appeared on ABC
's Nightline 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
, and reported for Reuters
and Israel Radio in Tel Aviv
, Israel
. She later joined The New York Times
as a journalist
with their Jerusalem 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
.
and United States Department of Transportation
, and the inherent problems with the closeness between these agencies and the airline industry. The book is an expose of what Schiavo saw as fraud, corruption, waste, mismanagement, and dangerous negligence in the aviation
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
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 affect 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.
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
list of bestsellers for hardback non-fiction.
Christina Del Valle reviewed the book for BusinessWeek
, 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
, 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
, 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
, and wrote: "Part memoir, part expose, 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
, 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 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
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
, 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
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
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."
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book about the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
airline industry and Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
, written by Mary Schiavo
Mary Schiavo
Mary Fackler Schiavo, JD, is the outspoken former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation , where for six years she withstood pressure from within DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration as she sought to expose and correct problems at the agencies...
with Sabra Chartrand. The book was first published in March 1997 in hardcover format by Avon Books. An updated paperback edition was published on April 1, 1998. Schiavo is a former Inspector General
Inspector General
An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
of the United States Department of Transportation
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...
, and Chartrand a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. 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 Flight 592
ValuJet Flight 592 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida, and William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia...
airline crash in the Florida Everglades. She became a whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
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
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. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
and number 9 on a Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
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
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
.
Authors
Mary SchiavoMary Schiavo
Mary Fackler Schiavo, JD, is the outspoken former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation , where for six years she withstood pressure from within DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration as she sought to expose and correct problems at the agencies...
was raised in Williams County
Williams County, Ohio
Williams County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of 2010, the population was 37,642. Its county seat is Bryan and is named for David Williams, one of the captors of John André in the American Revolutionary War.-Geography:According to the U.S...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, and received her pilot's license while studying in her first two years of college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
(OSU). She obtained a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
from OSU. She has a law degree from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, and has worked as a federal prosecutor. Schiavo served as Inspector General
Inspector General
An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...
of the United States Department of Transportation
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...
from 1990 to July 1996.
Schiavo resigned from her position at the U.S. Department of Transportation in order to blow the whistle
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
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 Flight 592
ValuJet Flight 592 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida, and William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia...
passenger jet crash in the Florida Everglades which resulted in the deaths of all 110 people aboard. Schiavo appeared on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Nightline 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
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, and reported for Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
and Israel Radio in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. She later joined The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
with their Jerusalem 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.
Kidder, Peabody & Co.
Kidder, Peabody & Co. was a U.S.-based securities firm, established in Massachusetts in 1865. Its operations included investment banking, brokerage, and trading....
bond trader Joseph Jett
Joseph Jett
Joseph Jett is an American former securities trader, known for his role in the Kidder Peabody trading loss in 1994. At the time of the loss it was the largest trading fraud in history.-Jett's background:Joseph Jett grew up near Cleveland, Ohio...
.
Contents
The first portion of the book is a critique of deficiencies in safety practices by the Federal Aviation AdministrationFederal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
and United States Department of Transportation
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...
, and the inherent problems with the closeness between these agencies and the airline industry. The book is an expose of what Schiavo saw as fraud, corruption, waste, mismanagement, and dangerous negligence in the aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
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
Conflict of interest
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other....
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 affect 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 listNew 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. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
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
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
list of bestsellers for hardback non-fiction.
Christina Del Valle reviewed the book for BusinessWeek
BusinessWeek
Bloomberg Businessweek, commonly and formerly known as BusinessWeek, is a weekly business magazine published by Bloomberg L.P. It is currently headquartered in New York City.- History :...
, 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
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, 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
The Virginian-Pilot is a daily newspaper based in Norfolk, Virginia, and serving the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, southeastern Virginia, the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and northeastern North Carolina. The flagship property of Landmark Media Enterprises, The Pilot is Virginia's largest daily...
, 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
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, and wrote: "Part memoir, part expose, 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
-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
, 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 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
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
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
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
, 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
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
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
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
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."