All Four Engines Have Failed: True and Triumphant Story of Flight BA 009 and the Jakarta Incident (Inglés) Tapa dura – 12 sep 1985

It was an excellent book!

Spot on.

Great out of print book, with photos of the plane etc. It has since been made into tags to be worn as jewelry and I have them here in the US.

Very complete narrative of this flight, but a little too many passenger details

[Owned. Soft cover book bought in 1985, signed by the author and Captain Eric Moody]

No matter how many times I read this book, I am sucked straight into it, as if I were in a whirlpool.

This book is gripping from the Introduction to Appendix II. It is a true story – if it had been written as novel, people would claim it was a great story but a bit far-fetched!

After extensive interviews with as many passengers as she could contact, and from research into what led up to the incident and the aftermath, Betty Tootell has written an intensely personal, yet factual account of Flight BA 009.

The author has done a marvellous job of getting down on paper the first reactions and thoughts of the passengers as they began to realise that the plane they were in was almost certainly going to crash, killing them all. Her vivid imagery of what many of the passengers saw out of their windows is stunning. It is amazing that so many of the passengers and crew were willing to talk to Betty, and for their words and thoughts to be printed in a book and read by millions of people. There are some strange and some quite funny thoughts and things said that people were willing to share, and also some very moving and personal ones.

It was due in no small measure to the cabin crew that the passengers did not panic. The crew remained calm and professional, making jokes with appropriate passengers, reassuring those who needed it, asking suitable passengers to sit with those who were alone and afraid, and all the time, not knowing themselves what was going on. They were extremely well-trained and experienced staff, but for all that, they are quiet heroes, each one of them.

All these people lived through an experience of a lifetime and one not many people will experience. Did it change them? Only they can answer that.

The sheer determination, b…..-mindedness, and skill of the Captain, Senior First Officer and Senior Engineer Officer to keep the plane in the air is both inspiring and magnificent, as they had no idea of what was causing the problems they were encountering. Captain Eric Moody deserves all the accolades he received.

This is an engrossing book, but I find it quite stressful to read, even though I know the ending.