Interesting premise - the demise of a once great airline - Eastern. The author fails to present facts and evidence proving his theory that there was a sinister government led plot to doom the airline - including ties to Iran-Contra-Gate. There's plenty of hyberbole and poorly hidden political bias. It also appears the author either didn't try very hard or avoided interviewing many of the people he criticizes.
Too bad - failed opportunity. ( )

Many years, I was newly single, unemployed., and broke. My father, a financial wizard, suggested I buy stock in Eastern Airlines because the company had a good reputation and the stock was $8 a share. He had me buy one hundred shares. Two weeks later, the price had doubled so my investment was not worth $1600. I wanted to sell it but he said I should hold on to it. I finally got rid of it for twenty five cents a share. FINAL DESTINATION: DISASTER by George Jehn provides an amazing story of what went so wrong and why.
There are many threads to the story. The suspects include Frank Borman, head of Eastern Airlines, Frank Lorenzo, head of Texas Air Corporation, men who were supposedly working for the Eastern Airlines employees union, and President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush. It includes drug running, the Nicaragua contras, and sabotage.
Eastern Airlines, which was possibly the best airline in the country, dropped from record high earnings to a dangerous low in one quarter. The working personnel loved their jobs and agreed to major cuts in order to save it, not realizing that there was nothing they could do.
The company began cutting back on maintenance and training and sought other ways to make flying Eastern less desirable.
The most telling is the results of the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight #980 in Bolivia in 1985. Once the plane disappeared, the US government agencies responsible for finding the plane, retrieving the black boxes, and searching for survivors took no action until forced to do so and then did so only reluctantly. It waited several months, stating it was impossible to get to the mountain site, until the weather became difficult and provided $600, less than a minimum of financial support necessary, for a team to go to the site. The black boxes and passengers bodies were never found.
George Jehn, eighteen year veteran pilot for Eastern Airlines and representative of the Air Lines Pilot Association, tells all in this amazing book. It documents lies, sabotage, drug running, and coverup and helps us understand what could happen when the people making the decisions have a different goal than their employees and stockholders, have support in the highest levels of government, and will do almost anything, including the deaths of passengers on their aircraft, to get what they want.
It is a must read.
FINAL DESTINATION: DISASTER should become a movie.
I received a copy of this book through Goodreads First Reads. ( )