Turbulence

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but ultimately choppy and wooden
Review: As I read this book, I kept on flipping back to the covers and inside plates to the book review excerpt blurbs for some sign that this was some sort of dark comedy, but nope-it's supposedly a straight thriller. Some other reviewer suggests that there's movie potential for this story, but I'd say only with Leslie Nielsen as one of the pilots. Or if they think he's too old, maybe David Spade, saying; "Buh-bye" to hasten someone's departure from the flight deck. And we can have Mad TV alumna Nicole Sullivan do her Vancome Lady shtick as one of the flight attendants. That would greatly aid this caricature of a troubled airline in the aftermath of 9/11's transition to the big screen. Just don't look for me at the box office, okay? Here we have an airline whose personnel take it out on the passengers, and each other. Like a skipper who makes an undergrad-level crude pass at a senior stew. Like a feud between that same stew and her bitchy crew leader-their enmity goes back to when their respective ranks were reversed and she wrote her later-to-be-boss up. So now that the shoe is on the other foot (and the whip is in the other hand), there's warfare between the two that can't help but spill over onto the passengers. But this can't be a comedy, you say. Look at the passengers, for example. A doctor whose wife died on another flight on this same airline is suing the line but is now stuck by circumstance with having to fly with them this time. A nice young African college student having to fly back to Soweto because he can't raise his mother on the phone and God knows what might have happened to her. A middle-age couple whose daughter in school in Switzerland has been critically injured in a car-versus-truck accident and might not live long enough for her folks to get to her side. Okay, but you're forgetting the passenger who's been asked not to use his cell phone, and just because the flight attendant can't explain the rules against that to his satisfaction, goes the Brat Libertarian route and throws a tantrum--after all, anybody who has rules about anything is by definition Big Brother (both B's capitalized, mind you), I've got my rights, I'm a free American, yuh know, yadda-yadda-yadda. Nance is trying to make a point here, but I'm not sure what that point is. And he comes across in this one a lot like a Robin Cook with wings on his collar rather than a stethoscope. You remember Doc Cook, right? He's always been on a soapbox to some extent, but his story quality has declined gradually over the years to where nowadays you get nothing but polemic. Nance is showing signs of that here, but the good news is that he can learn from Cook's mistake. Troubles with any business's solvency can indeed affect the morale of that business's workforce, an airline as much as any other business. That can indeed manifest itself in said employees' attitudes. But I think Nance is wide of the mark when he blames that for passenger attitudes. Flying isn't all that a passenger ever does--they're people, after all. The cell phone incident is a symptom of a much larger problem. Have you ever noticed the growing tendency of people in the aftermath of 9/11 to get petulant about just about everything they don't agree with. The Attorney General takes steps to bolster security and gets called the "New Heinrich Himmler". No matter which party controls the White House or the Hill, the people who voted for the other party repudiate that government--"those blankety-blanks ain't MY government!"--yadda-yadda-yadda. Most of the loudest voices in that "Poor Me Blues" number are of my Baby Boom generation, and sociologists have some theories about us that make me wince. Since 9/11, I've flown two different carriers, one of which had filed Chapter 11 before I showed up at the gate, and I never had any grief with either of them. And none of my fellow passengers on any of the flights acted up either. Maybe that's because we were adults, not overage adolescents dedicated to rooting out rules so as to defy them. Listen up, Nance--you can't blame the airlines or their recent troubles for "concourse Marxism" in certain of the passenger base--they're that way in more places than at high altitude, dude.

Rating:
Summary: Nailbitting but overdone with detail
Review: I don't want to fly with John Nance, but I can't put his books down once I begin to read one. He knows enough about the frightening events that take place on airplanes or makes up enough new ones to scare a timid soul into taking the bus.

In Turbulence, the setting is post 9/11 and Meridian Airlines is dealing with internal problems. Meridian is a mirror image of any airline that flying passengers have been on with poor service, too little space, lack of good information, and passengers traveling with personal problems. Add to the mix a captain who had been a good domestic pilot of super big airplanes
who had bid on an international flight route and was not given enough training on the differences of international and domestic flight. The pilot was insecure and working on an ulcer; the copilot was hostile towards him and trying not to worry about his own problems at home. The lead flight attendant was hostile and hated the passengers she was supposed to be serving.

Several passengers with problems of their own had experienced problems with Meridian before takeoff to South Africa. The delay is long and uncomfortable with no acceptable explanation.
During the flight the pilot mistakes a mechanical signal for an engine fire and lands in the middle of a civil war in Nigeria.

With no confidence in the pilot, the passengers revolt in a rage, the lead flight atttendant hides in the cockpit, and the plane moving through the skies becomes a threat to the controllers on the ground who have no idea what is actually going on inside the plane.

The suspense is almost unbearable. Read the book, but not on a trip that involves waiting in airports, boarding airplanes, or sitting close to people that are strangers.

Rating:
Summary: Road Rage at a new Altitude
Review: I don't want to fly with John Nance, but I can't put his books down once I begin to read one. He knows enough about the frightening events that take place on airplanes or makes up enough new ones to scare a timid soul into taking the bus.

In Turbulence, the setting is post 9/11 and Meridian Airlines is dealing with internal problems. Meridian is a mirror image of any airline that flying passengers have been on with poor service, too little space, lack of good information, and passengers traveling with personal problems. Add to the mix a captain who had been a good domestic pilot of super big airplanes
who had bid on an international flight route and was not given enough training on the differences of international and domestic flight. The pilot was insecure and working on an ulcer; the copilot was hostile towards him and trying not to worry about his own problems at home. The lead flight attendant was hostile and hated the passengers she was supposed to be serving.

Several passengers with problems of their own had experienced problems with Meridian before takeoff to South Africa. The delay is long and uncomfortable with no acceptable explanation.
During the flight the pilot mistakes a mechanical signal for an engine fire and lands in the middle of a civil war in Nigeria.

With no confidence in the pilot, the passengers revolt in a rage, the lead flight atttendant hides in the cockpit, and the plane moving through the skies becomes a threat to the controllers on the ground who have no idea what is actually going on inside the plane.

The suspense is almost unbearable. Read the book, but not on a trip that involves waiting in airports, boarding airplanes, or sitting close to people that are strangers.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Nance Novel I've Read
Review: I have finally faced the fact that a Nance novel can't be put down, and so I plan a special day for one. My "Turbulence" day was great - and, like the rest of his novels, I was captured. He taps that fear of being trapped five miles above the earth with no way out except a safe landing.

Most of his plots involve political intrigue or seriously disturbed crews. Turbulence, however, hits very close to home for anyone who has recently flown on "Cattle Chute Airways" (and there is a lot us). Customer neglect and now the stress of terrorist fears, pack airplanes with passengers on the dangerous edge of revolt. Nance crams his plane with believable characters and builds the story to a gripping peak.

Turbulence carries a definite message. It is like Blind Trust (Nance's nonfiction book about air safety) but in a very pleasant tasting pill. I hope that airline operators and passengers get the message. This experience is much more pleasant as a novel.

Rating:
Summary: A great read with a strong message to the airlines
Review: I have read all of John Nance's novels and several of his nonfiction books. This is my favorite novel by Nance.

Like all his novels I was unable to put it down. I have learned to set aside and entire day to reading one of his books. In this book Nance not only did his normal incredible job of making you feel like you are actually in the cockpit, but he also did a wonderful job of showing how bad some airlines are treating the flying public. Nance is an airline captain for a major airline and I applaud his clear descriptions of how badly the flying consumer is often treated. While this book is fiction it deals with a real problem - air rage. Air rage is a real and frightening problem that is only going to increase as the airlines continue to overcrowd us and hire poorly training personnel. In this exciting story Nance shows us a realistic portrayal of humans caught in a failing greedy corporate system.

As a human factors professional, private pilot, and a person that loves a good story based on facts I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: So much for subtlety
Review: In his zest to make the airline in this book as detestable as possible, Nance has fashioned a company that is so universally infuriating that he destroys any believeability in this novel. I fly relatively often and have seen poor airline behavior, but the consistency of the antipathy towards passengers and between employees that Nance describes is just ridiculous and completely uncredible. This novel would have been less heavy handed in its approach to the airline, then it would have been less humorous and more foreboding.

Rating:
Summary: High Comedy?
Review: In the fashion of other John J. Nance novels, this one keeps you turning pages. "Turbulence" is an exciting adventure that takes place on an airplane of Meridian Airlines. The flight attendants are contemplating strike, the customer service agent hates passengers, Meridian, and his job, while the pilots seem to be lacking in sufficient training. There are many angry people within the pages.

In "Turbulence", both the action and the inaction of various characters in the story brings about bizarre and dangerous interpretations by other of the story's characters. Incredible danger aboard an already malfunctioning airline is the result of such far-fetched translations.

Not only is the cockpit crew lacking in qualities usually attributed to those flying passenger airplanes, but this flight has a "nurse Rachet"(from Ken Keysey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") as the head flight attendant. Add some terrorists, paranoia and undisciplined behavior from disgruntled passengers and you have "Turbulence".

Nance's novels are quick to read because you don't want to put them down and "Turbulence" follows suit in this respect.

Rating:
Summary: Been there, done that, got the T-shirt
Review: Some folks here bagged on Nance and his black-and-white characters and his over-the-top portrayal of nasty airline types. I'm here to tell you I had to do business in Dallas and flew weekly (weakly?) from Southern California to there; I do not consider the nastiness and poor customer service descriptions by Mr. Nance to be overstated. Stuffed in an unair-conditioned aluminum cylinder with 250 of my brothers and sisters for two hours plus while a line of thunderstorms ambles by is an experience that is not to be savored as a fond memory. That they are regular occurrences with American out of Dallas -- just because they don't want you wandering around the airport like a herd of cats -- was enough to cause to relate very intimately with Nance's mistreated passengers on Meridian.

War and Peace it is not. It *is* a comic-book adventure, granted, but I thought it more compelling, more fun to read, and less condescending that Finder's extraordinary Powers. (Yet another gratuitous swipe at that poor unfortunate piece of literature!)

As Steve Wright would say, "You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"

Rating:
Summary: Too many inconsistencies in the plot
Review: The problem with this book is that the author isn't trying to tell a story. Instead, he has a MESSAGE that he wants to get across to the reader: American airlines aren't treating their passengers the way they should, and this is going to backfire on them sooner or later.

In order to push this message the author had to concoct a story that would bear out the message. And this he did, but the story is too unrealistic to be believed, and it even contains several inconsistencies that highlight how unbelievable and poorly constructed the plot is.

Inconsistency no. 1: The plane lands in Katsina in Nigeria in the middle of a battle between rebels led by Jean Onitsa and the Nigerian government troops. Onitsa stages a mock hostage taking of the passengers and demands ransom money from the USA and the Nigerian government. But this mock hostage taking will only work if the pilot of the airplane either backs up Onitsa's claims or at least does not dispute Onitsa's claims that he has taken the passengers as hostages. Onitsa had no way of expecting this to be the case, so the whole idea of the mock hostage taking is crazy. (In fact the airplane happens to have a radio failure so the pilot is unable to dispute Onitsa's claims and Onitsa succeeds in getting a $10 million ransom from the Nigerian government! But Onitsa had no way of knowing there would be a radio failure, so Onitsa's "clever" stunt makes no sense.)

Inconsistency no. 2: James Haverston, an airline employee at Heathrow airport, is worried about one of the passengers, Brian Logan, and checks him out on the airline's computer database. The next day he gets a frantic call from Washington. Does Haverston recall anything special about a passenger named Logan? If there was a problem with passenger Logan it is VERY important that Haverston confirms it. But by then Haverston has forgotten the name of the passenger he was worried about the day before, and therefore refuses to confirm that he had a run-in with a passenger named Logan, even though he would otherwise like to help the man in Washington. In reality all Haverston needs to do is to check the flight's passenger list to get Logan's first name and then to check the database again, at which point he would recognize Brian Logan's history and could confirm his encounter with Brian Logan.

A more general inconsistency or unbelievable twist in the plot has to do with the relationship between Brian Logan and the pilot. Logan, with much justification, becomes more and more antagonistic towards the pilot, and inspires an uprising among the passengers against the pilot. At one point they even try to break into the cockpit by force. The pilot is equally antagonistic towards Logan and the passengers. But then suddenly and without much justification they settle their differences and start cooperating! One gets the feeling that the author felt that he had gone too far and wanted to steer towards a Hollywood happy ending, and that's what he wrote, with Logan and the pilot becoming friends at the end! But considering the pent-up situation and the degree of enmity between Logan and the pilot their sudden reconciliation rings very false.

I've just talked about some of the negative aspects of the book so far. To conclude this review I'll just say that if you can ignore these problems with the plot and the author's promoting of his message then the book is fairly good and keeps you reading. So it's definitely not a total failure.

Rennie Petersen

Rating:
Summary: Nailbitting but overdone with detail
Review: Throughout the tale, Mr. Nance went above and beyond with the details that would be the focus of the story. It would however be these details that would be the downfall of the story.

From switching back and forth between plots and different settings, it became increasingly hard to put the book down. The tale of this plane, almost surreal as it made its way through Africa and Europe after encountering what we see every day in the airline industry.

This novel has left the impact of what ifs, what if something like this were truly to happen, in this crazed 9/11 world, how would we respond? The legacy of the attacks that day will never be forgotten, but at the same time it has not been remembered as a mistake of shooting down an American plane could easily occur.