FROM THE PRESS

FROM MARIAN STATES

Mrs. Marian States, Mother of Captain Edward States
"When the media was full of the news of the crash of flight 587 I followed "US Read" on the Internet daily. The writers did a wonderful and thorough job of reporting and raising questions. Many of these questions remain unanswered to this day.
By bringing attention to the eyewitness statements, many of which the government chose to ignore, you have done more than pay tribute to the horrific waste of lives caused by the tragedy of Flight 587.
As the Mother of Captain Edward States and in the name of his Co-Pilot Sten Molin, their crew and all their passengers, I thank you for writing this book. "

FROM THE PILOTS

In 1942 George “Bud” Day was only 5’2” and weighed 116 lbs., but don’t let these dimensions sway your thinking. He has the heart of a lion and was one of the greatest F-100 jockeys in Vietnam. Before he entered pilot training in the USAF he earned his law degree which helped him fight for veterans’ rights. He forced the government to pay veterans medical expenses, known as Tricare For Life. On his 67th mission in Vietnam, his F-100 was shot down over enemy territory and he was captured. He devised a successful escape plan and lived for 3 weeks with shattered bones and nothing much to eat. He was only a few miles from the safety of friendly forces when he was recaptured and sent to the Hanoi Hilton where he endured 5 years of savage beatings & foul food. It was here that he teamed up with Lt. Commander John McCain. McCain made the following statement in his book, “There has never been a doubt in my mind that Bud Day and Norris Overly saved my life”. To this day “Bud” is the most decorated person in all of the armed services. He was a Medal of Honor recipient, and has every other medal that was out there. Brian suggests that you read Robert Coram’s great book about “Bud” called American Patriot. You won’t be able to put it down.

"Dear Brian-
The book is great, a heart grabber. Here are my latest comments - This is a fascinating first person story, about a preventable disaster. Riveting, a great read.
Col. Bud Day MOH "

Wing Commander Peter Ayerst joined the RAF in 1938. He flew Spitfires and Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain where he destroyed 9 German aircraft, and 2 probables. He earned the most coveted RAF medal, The DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross). He is now the only spitfire production test pilot who is still alive.
"Thank you very much for sending a copy of your book '93 Seconds To Disaster'. I have now read it and it is incredibly interesting, particularly as I have no experience on large jet aircraft. All my jet flying has been on fighter jets and therefore I was amazed at the problems the large jets have with the rudder. The amount of detail that you book covers is truly amazing and I found it extremely informative, one is never too old to learn. I send you my best wishes. Wing Commander Peter V. Ayerst."

USAF Lt. Col. Robert J. Goebel, Ret. was a great WWII fighter pilot. He flew the P-51 Mustang and scored 11 confirmed kills. Not only was he an exceptional leader, he also wrote a wonderful book entitled "Mustang Ace". Brian highly recommends this amazing book.
"Before I read ' 93 Seconds to Disaster' I felt comfortable with the notion that several government agencies staffed by the most capable people available and dedicated to maintaining the highest level of Commercial Air Transportation safety were 'minding the store' No Longer. Capt. Brian Power-Waters, through his persistent and relentless investigation, has raised serious questions about how technical requirements and administrative matters are handled today. He has shown courage in voicing these concerns,where he has found culpabilities ,even at the highest levels . We all owe him a debt of gratitude."

W.H. McDonald Jr., President of the Military Writers Society of America
"Captain Brian Power-Waters has authored many great books related to aviation and is more than qualified as a commercial pilot. So, when he presents us the facts and his conclusions in his book "93 Seconds to Disaster: The Government's Great Cover-up" he has my fullest attention. I have about two-thousand hours flying as a crew-chief in Huey helicopters and am a huge reader of aviation books. I am a retired safety manager for the federal government. I have also been personally involved in many aircraft crashes as crew member and have survived--all this gives me a unique special interest in what the author had to say in his book. This book is a fascinating read but is not something you would want to read while waiting in an airport lounge for your flight to board. But this is a book that all passengers should read and absorb his message. In the post 9/11 days there was another aircraft that crashed in the New York City area. It was the American Airlines A-300 Airbus Flight #587. It crashed shortly after take off into a neighborhood in Queens, New York on November 12, 2001. This book deals with the investigation and the possible causes of that crash and the rush to judgment made by the government which blamed the co-pilot. His book gives us an insider look at what went on and his intelligent and educated conclusions. He also adds some personal interest to the book by giving some background information on the crew so we get to know them as real people and not just a name on the investigation reports. This book is well researched and hard hitting. I think all pilots, either private or commercial, would get a great deal from this reading experience but there is something of interest for all non-pilots as well. The book is a great education on aviation accident investigations but it is also entertaining. The author gives us lots of details of the accident and what they think happened. This book is a must read book! I personally endorse it and ask you to read it."

Ronald Williams, USAirways, Ret. Captain
"Captain Power-Waters hits the mark with 93 SECONDS TO DISASTER. It is very informative and easy to read. Brian has done his research and backs all of his comments with compelling facts that he has pieced together . The data proved to be very disturbing ,especially concerning American Airlines flight 587. Having been involved in pilot flight crew certification for the past 16 years, I now feel that more research must be done on composite materials for fatigue failures, especially in the older aircraft."

R. St. Amour, Retired ATCS 1964/2004
In May of 1968 Frederick St Amour took the FAA entrance exam and scored a 99 out of a possible 100 however with his 5 point preference for military service his rating on the list for possible employment was 104. He was hired in October of 1968 and attended the FAA Academy. In 1974 he was selected for a position at the newly formed "Common IFR Room" at JFK Airport in Jamaica Queens, New York. He was assigned to the Newark sector of the multi-approach facility and worked there until 1978 when he was selected to cross/train into the JFK sector approach control at the Common IFR Room. He worked controlling Air traffic in the New York Area (depending on which sector needed people) at either the JFK or EWR sectors until August 1981 when the PATCO strike occured. He was removed from his position as an Air traffic Controller by the FAA/President Reagan. He was rehired in 1996 and returned to the Newark Sector Approach once the “Black Ball Order” was lifted by President Clinton.
I have read every one of Captain Brian Power-Waters books. This in my opnion is his second best effort. Safety Last ( his first book ) was ahead of it's time in discussing aviation mishaps. I had personal knowledge of one of the accidents described in that book. His latest book attempts to make a little more sense of a terrible loss of life that could have been prevented. The rush to attribute blame and cause by the NTSB and the FAA is nothing new. I was an Air Traffic Controller in New York at the time of this crash. One of my best friends was the last Controller at the N.Y. Tracon to talk to the pilots of that ill fated American Flight 587. Captain Power-Waters brings the reader into the cockpit and behind the scenes on that tragic morning in 2001. He gives the readers incite into the accident, investigation and rush to conclusion by the Airlines, Aircraft Manufacturer and NTSB. I highly recommend this and other books by Captain Power-Waters.

Robert F Dorr was an Air Force veteran, retired senior American Diplomat and has authored 75 aviation books. His book is the history of the Hell Hawks, a group of fearless fighter pilots during WWII. It was co-authored with Thomas D. Jones who was a USAF pilot and flew on four space shuttle missions. They have done a remarkable job of depicting the lives and heroic deaths of the Hill Hawk pilots. His book will put you in the cockpit of air to air combat and ground support missions. You will share the hair-raising exploits of the 356 fighter group. It is a well written book that combines great story telling and factual reports from the pilots themselves. A very good book.
"Early in this book, we read a quote from a Capitol Hill lawmaker to the effect that the Federal Aviation Administration is essentially useless. The quote dates to about 2001 and remains valid today. In this book, Brian Power-Waters demonstrates that the government did a poor job of analyzing what remains, at this writing, the most recent major loss of an airliner in the United States. The author explains why the National Transportation Safety Board didn't do its job very well, either. The result, whether the government intended it or not, as Power-Waters tells us in detail, is that a fine airline pilot was scapegoated after he could no longer defend himself. This is a well-designed, thoughtful book that brings an important story in front of us in an attractive and affordable way."

Being a flight attendant was the profession Alicia Lutz-Rolow always dreamed of doing since she was a young child. As an adult, she achieved her dream and was accepted into the American Airlines Flight Service Academy. Alicia gained tremendous pride and a sense of accomplishment in attaining this highly competitive and sought after career. She has been a flight attendant veteran for over 32 years. The love and pride she has for her profession and flight crew family has inspired Alicia to speak out in her book, The Plane Truth From An American Airlines Flight Attendant, against the corporate management currently deteriorating the Airline industry. She describes the conditions of the commercial airline industry when she first joined compared to the last 10 years when flight safety and maintenance has taken a back seat to out of control corporate greed and corruption. She hopes her book will encourage flight crewmembers and the flying public to stand together for their safety.
"Unbelievably compelling and informative. My hats off to Captain Brian Power-Waters for having the guts to take on the commercial airline companies as well as the FAA (Fedeal Aviation Administration), who are the very ones that are suppose to be policing our skies but are instead sleeping with the corporate executives while looking the other way, and the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) for their negligent incompetance and rush to judgement to place blame on the Cockpit Crew of American Airlines Flight 587...Captain Eddie States and First Officer Sten Molin, who were piloting the aircraft that crashed into Belle Harbor Queens, New York on November 12th, 2001, just 2 short months after the devastation of September 11th, 2001. He exposes the continous corruption and greed that is a constant in the Aviation Industry which allows for too many aircrafts to go up to the skies in a "known" safety compromised manner. His in-depth knowledge comes from piloting commercial aircrafts for over 28 years while employed by US Airways. In Chapter 6 of 93 Seconds to Disaster, he explains aircraft dynamics and facts about the Airbus (which was the type of aircraft used on Flight 587), such as Airbus Certification..."G Meters"...and Vertical, Lateral and Longitudinal Axis' thoroughly but simple enough for anyone to comprehend, and that allows for even the non-technical reader, such as myself, to understand how and why this horrible accident was able to transpire. In Chapter 9, entitled "Wake Turbulance", which is ultimately what caused the demise of American's Flight 587 and all who were aboard, he explains this phenomenom which is unstable radical air caused by the aircraft taking off ahead of yours that cannot be seen and the necessity for a minimum of a 2 minute wait time before following in the same air path. I could not put this book down. As an American Airlines Flight Attendant of over 32 years, I always feared that there was much more to the "explanations" that I and other Flight Attendant Crewmembers received from American Airlines management after this tragedy occurred...Thanks to the honorable Captain Brian...now I know the TRUTH! He is my "HERO" for taking on such a powerful force which is that of the Aviation Industry's airline companies' corrupt and greedy corporate so called leaders and their despicable government buddies, who think and care nothing about the health and safety of the millions and millions of passengers who travel our skies as well as the Flight Crewmembers who work for them...Captain Brian wrote this book to get the TRUTH out...knowing full well the retaliation and intimidation he would receive for his safety advocacy. He is a TRUE pilot whose first and foremost duty is to protect his passengers and Flight Crewmembers. Everyone should read this book. It will teach and inform everyone who uses commercial airlines for their form of transportation, of things that they need to know "before" they step onto an airplane from ANY airline. GREAT BOOK... Thanks Cap! Alicia Lutz-Rolow/American Airlines Flight Attendant"

Dan Corsello , American Airlines, Ret. Captain and former Journeyman Air Traffic Controller
"I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As both a retired American Airlines Captain on Boeing 767's and a former Journeyman Air Traffic Controller at Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center, I thoroughly enjoyed reading 93 SECONDS to DISASTER. It is a well researched book that is written in a manner that creates a deep emotion in the reader whether that person is an experienced commercial airline pilot, a student pilot, or simply has a love for aviation. Unfortunately, those of us familiar with the lax attitudes regarding aviation safety of both the FAA and NTSB continue to realize their long-time and continued method of 'Preventative Maintenance' is what I refer to as 'THE AUTOPSY METHOD'. In the writing of the book, [Captain Brian Power-Waters] developed the situation initially in 'aviation speak' familiar to those of us in the industry and then referred to the situation in language that those who are not in the industry would understand the end result objective [he] had in mind. Very well done, Captain! I congratulate you for your fine work in telling the world that the Government agencies involved, the manufacturer airline training procedures all need to be improved to have one common goal: safety of the flying public. Everyone employed in the aformentioned needs to remember that a passenger flying at any given moment is probably someone they love more than anyone - a Wife, Husband, Son, Daughter, Mother or Father! The capital letters show the importance of each. Thank you so for the writing of this book and I know all who read it will be impacted by its content. Even though I could write much more of what the book meant to me, I should now sign off."

Carl T. Butterworth, Senior Captain, American Airlines, Ret. Brig. Gen. (ANG)
"If you think your airline captain is trained to recover from any position that the airplane might encounter, you'd be wrong."

Andrew I. Michalak , American Airlines, Ret. Captain
"Thanks for writing your excellent book concerning the tragedy of American Airlines Flight 587. In it, you have raised questions that need to be addressed, and, in doing so, you have helped make the rest of the world aware of these questions."

AVweb's Kevin Lane-Cummings
"The job of the FAA is to promote aviation safety and to encourage and develop civilian aeronautics -- an "economic" influence that some say interferes with its safety duties. The NTSB, on the other hand, is all about safety: investigating accidents and promoting ways to reduce them. But government watchdogs question the independence of even that organization.

When American Airlines Flight 587 crashed just after departing JFK airport in November, 2001, the accident investigation teams jumped to work as they always do. The conclusion from the NTSB was that the probable cause of the accident was, "The in-flight separation of the vertical stabilizer as a result of the loads beyond ultimate design that were created by the first officer's unnecessary and excessive rudder pedal inputs."

Captain Brian Power-Waters has assembled an extensive evaluation of the accident and the investigation into its causes, and is convinced that undue blame has been placed on Flight 587's first officer.

Captain Brian Power-Waters' new book, 93 Seconds to Disaster, has chapters covering the chronology of the pilots and the lfight, information about large-aircraft upsets, an evaluation of use of composites for aircraft, pilot training and a review of the abilities and pressures put on NTSB investigators.

Using a mixture of official reports and his own interviews and eyewitness accounts, Captain Power-Waters has created a very readable book that puts a new perspective on the accident that, he says, should have changed how airliners are made and how pilots are trained."

Randal L Long, a pilot since 1993, is educated in Professional Aeronautics, focusing on Safety Investigations with over 20 years analyzing accident reports and working toward improving the growing technologies in Aviation.  

"93 Seconds to Disaster is a must for anyone’s collection on the growing improvements and problems of today’s Aviation industry.  Captain Brian Power-Waters XIII has completely captured the issues that our government’s agencies appear to neglect.  By removing all the clutter that so often fills accident reports, Captain Power-Waters focuses the reader’s attention on what are the obvious and in most cases irrefutable facts.  What kind of professional design causes a vertical stabilizer to simply snap off in air while a pilot attempts to control the “properly designed” rudder pedals?   What are we doing flying the public around in aircraft made of composite materials made from carbon and glass fibers that have not gone through the years of rigorous testing and knowledge comprised by the military?  How can the FAA just sit calmly aside stating that such aircraft are fine and need only a visionary check?  Who will force the FAA to make airlines conduct testing that would show fatigue problems hiding below what the human eyes can observe?  Must more innocent people die before someone takes action?  Captain Brian Power-Waters has taken the facts and broken them down into easily understandable issues that prove this was no accident caused by human error, but a poor design that can still be fixed before more human tragedies."

Major Rob Balzano “Balz”could easily pass for the poster boy of fighter pilots. He is strikingly handsome, a great F-16 pilot and is a graduate of the Air Force Academy (it's very difficult to get an appointment and even harder to graduate!). There were 1400 graduates in his class and almost every one put in for fighter pilot, but only the top 200 got it. “Balz” was one of the superior graduates, was assigned the F-16, and has just completed a tour in Iraq.  

Brian Power-Waters is a remarkable pilot and writer. His latest book, 93 Seconds to Disaster, gives amazing insight into a terrible aviation tragedy. More importantly, his investigative research and thorough understanding of commercial aviation and aircraft maintenance , allows the reader to understand the complexities of today’s commercial aviation industry, the shortcomings of the FAA and the NTSB and the preventable nature of commercial aviation accidents. I was truly impressed by Brian’s ability to take such a technically challenging subject and convert it into an understandable book. You don’t have to be a pilot to understand the message that Brian, so eloquently conveys throughout the book. As an F-16 and Gulfstream pilot, with over 15 years flying experience, Brian’s book has opened my eyes to a number of issues that we – as an aviation nation – face today and in the future. Brian is leading the way in the “crusade of passenger safety”. A noble battle that is in every passenger’s best interest. A must read for pilots, aviation enthusiasts, and commercial aviation passengers! Well done Brian – I look forward to more of your work in the future. Check-6!

Rob Balzano, Fighter Pilot and Gulfstream Pilot