Air Disaster 1 looks at the major aviation disasters of the jet age covering 1952 to 1977, from the early Comet, 707, Caravelle and Trident days through to the era of the widebody long range jetliner. 
Each chapter on each accident is a highly involved detective story in itself, one the reader lives through as if you were intimately involved with the outcome. 
Air Disaster 1 begins with the incredible story of the Comet mysteries where aeronautical engineers learnt that metal structures and pressurisation were indeed a new art, and follows on to investigate the TriStar which descended into the Everglades at night while its crew fumbled about on the cockpit floor, the early problems with the DC-10's cargo door, and the horrific 747 collision at Tenerife. 
Some others may come as a surprise - the fate that awaited the Caravelle whose crew used its engines to clear fog from the runway for takeoff, and the DC-9 caught in the wake turbulence of a DC-10. 
Each of the 18 accidents has been carefully selected to present a different facet of the problems facing the jet age, together with the answers that were found to them - different, rarely straightforward and uncovered only as a result of lengthy, dedicated, and painstaking investigation. 
Of 186 pages, Air Disaster Vol 1 makes compelling reading and is backed up with the excellent descriptive artwork, diagrams and maps of Matthew Tesch.

Air Disaster, Vol. 1

Politics & Social Sciences

MacArthur Job

Social Sciences

Motorbooks Intl

Air Disaster Volume 2 continues the theme established in Volume 1, examining the way the unforeseen hazards of jet age aviation progressively came to light through costly real world experience - often with an inevitable toll in tragedy and human lives. 
Yet for all their grim, spectacular consequences, these harsh lessons have helped to evolve a global transport system on a scale beyond anything the world has ever seen, and at a level of safety that statistically surpasses even the normal hazards of everyday life. 
Despite all of aviation's quite astonishing technical successes, and the overall standards of safety it has achieved, the art and science of advanced aeronautics and their associated technologies are not yet fully perfected. This book examines instances in which flying conditions were so adverse that accepted aviation wisdom, even after so many years and countless thousands of flying hours, was shown to be lacking. The fate of a DC-9 enroute to Atlanta in April 1977, a Boeing 727 taking off from New Orleans in July, 1982, and a Boeing 747 which flew into a cloud of volcanic dust over the Timor Sea in June of the same year, all further attest to the truth so clearly spelt out in Volume 1, that air safety standards are won at a price. 
Nor has the complex relationship between technological progress and expertise on the one hand, and human frailty on the other, been fully resolved. In aviation, perhaps more so than in other fields of human endeavour, mankind remains as much a victim of himself as of the elements around him. It is ironic that while one facet of the world airline industry was operating supersonic aircraft designed to stretch one foot in length as a result of atmospheric frictional heating at Mach 2 airspeeds, another was "saving" time and effort by using a forklift to change the wing engines of a widebodied trijet - with fatal consequences to all on board a DC-10 at Chicago in May 1979. Other tragedies examined in this book, in which human failings negated state-of-the-art technology in either flying operations or engineering maintenance, tell of similar contradictions. 
In this second volume, covering the years 1977 to 1991, specialist air safety author Macarthur Job and noted aviation artist Matthew Tesch continue their collaborative efforts, combining their skills and flying experiences to provide detailed, lucid analyses of the stories behind a further 15 significant jet airline disasters - and one amazing near tragedy. 
Based primarily on official investigation reports, supplemented by extensive external research, each of these events has been carefully selected to exemplify the problems encountered, both operational and human, as jet airline flying moved into its second quarter century. Liberally complemented with photographs and diagrams, Air Disaster Volume 2 continues the unique style set in Volume 1, with many specially drawn diagrams and explanatory graphics. Clear and accurate, they blend actual piloting experience with artistic skill to enable readers to properly visualise the compelling events related in the text.

Air Disaster (Vol. 2)

Reference

Matthew Tesch

Catalogs & Directories

Accidents are discussed in light of investigations and the changes they effected.

Air Disaster (Vol. 3)

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

Australian Aviation

Air Disaster (Vol. 4: The Propeller Era)

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Books by MacArthur Job