The Airport: Terminal Nights and Runway Days at John F. Kennedy International - Hardcover

Kaplan, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688092470 ISBN 13: 9780688092474

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1994

Synopsis

A detailed portrait of JFK International captures the airport's exoticism and mystique, reporting on everything from its notorious criminals, its mind-boggling organization, its infamous delays, and its place in the world. Reader's Digest Cond Bks.

About this title

Reviews

Kaplan, a novelist ( Pearl's Progress ) and journalist, writes engaging vignettes depicting New York's famed (and often maddening) JFK airport. He introduces Sammy Chevalier, who oversees Kennedy's crucial bird patrol, keeping engines safe, and 80-year-old Dr. Louis Abelson, founder of the airport medical facility, who can park anywhere at Kennedy with impunity. Kaplan observes a full-scale disaster drill, listens in on airport security precautions and accompanies a Department of Agriculture inspector checking for contraband. Kaplan writes with style and wit, but his book seems even more a mosaic than JFK itself. Photos not seen by PW. Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Just when you thought it was safe to fly away on a summer holiday, along comes this almost indecently gleeful reminder that the sky, even more than the sea, can be terribly unforgiving of mistakes. If the author (a freelance journalist) is not on a par with Arthur Hailey as a storyteller, he's at least as good as the pop novelist at evoking the workaday routines of a commercial aviation hub, in this case New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Wittingly or not, however, Kaplan accentuates the negative in his episodic take on JFK, starting with the inadequate roadway system that guarantees traffic jams at almost any hour of the day or night around the five main terminal buildings, which handle over 31 million passengers a year. He goes on to provide chilling recaps of fatal jetliner crashes at JFK (and elsewhere), segueing into accounts of how emergency crews are trained to deal with and avert such disasters. Covered as well are the air-traffic controllers, cab drivers, cops, customs inspectors, firefighters, flight attendants, immigration officials, mechanics, pilots, and other specialists needed to keep the Big Apple's gateway to a wider world operating. Of particular interest is the enterprising physician, now retired, who had JFK's lucrative medical concession, which treats drug smugglers who have ingested their contraband as well as the victims of heart attacks, industrial accidents, and a host of assorted mishaps. Kaplan probes the reasons why JFK's poorly protected cargo facilities have been a magnet for organized crime; and on the strength of a free ride to Heathrow in the SST Concorde, he explores fear of flying--or, more precisely, crashing. While the absorbing text includes statistical assurances as to air travel's relative safety, its behind-the-scenes reportage on JFK is not calculated to instill much confidence in either frequent or occasional fliers. (b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Profiling John F. Kennedy International, one of the busiest airports in the world, Kaplan assembles vignettes of the lesser-known aspects of airport control, e.g., the "Birdman" who patrols runways for dangerous gulls, the cab drivers trying to earn a living, and the arrivals of Third World exiles and their first tastes of America. The bulk of the book is a history of the airport and its importance to the New York metropolitan area. The remaining text offers interesting trivia and stories involving customs inspectors, plane crashes, and how the fortunes of the airlines affect employees. All in all, this reads like a collection of magazine articles and lacks cohesiveness. Only regional collections need consider.
Eric C. Shoaf, Brown Univ. Lib., Providence
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is an unusual idea for a book, and Kaplan admits the obvious at the outset: that much of the day-to-day information herein will be hopelessly out-of-date in a short time. Actually, The Airport seems to be a grown-up version of a young readers' series on the operations of a large airport. As a result of this nuts-and-bolts approach, initial chapters featuring the hustle and bustle of airport life, strange airport characters, and descriptions of baggage-handler tasks tend toward the mundane. Even discussions of how the airport personnel felt when a Pan Am jet out of Frankfort, Germany, blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, are obvious. Only when Kaplan delves into why JFK International is truly famous does the book catch fire; then there's plenty of hot gossip about pilots and flight attendants. Finally, there are cogent comments about the change in air travel from the 1960s, when only the wealthy flew, to the anyone-can-fly, reduced-fare 1990s. Joe Collins

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688092470
• ISBN 13: 9780688092474
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 278