We Are Going in: The Story of the Grand Canyon Disaster

We Are Going In is the story of a tragedy. It is a search for the truth told as an authoritative documentary, presenting some of the author's theories about what happened along with a great deal of established or irrefutable fact, and distinguishes the two plainly from each other as it goes along. The book is written in a spirit of compassion, and as a result is as dramatic and moving as it is informative. It uniquely falls into several categories not often melded with each other: humaneness, incisive factuality, and undeniable spirituality, on a level not religious but definitley transcending worldly existence. The author's style moves back and forth between mundane or technical subjects, or the grave, terrible circumstances and events that caused the accident, and surprisingly pertinent, compelling insights into the human psyche and the spiritual underpinnings of the physical world. The technical passages are clearly explained in layman's terms and give the reader a deep sense of understanding what happened. On the other hand, for the reader who may prefer to enjoy the book simply as a drama, the author provides an outline of where most of the technical sections are, and has written the book in such a way that these can be skipped without disrupting the continuity or the substance of the story. Though this is a serious and tragic story, it is also embellished here and there with bits of tasteful humor, never at the expense of the victims, whose loss has no humor in it whatsoever, but often to poke fun at the people who would laugh or did laugh at being poked. The total effect takes the reader through the full range of his emotions, and challenges him intellectually. But the main thing is that the book appeals to the human heart and encourages the reader to care. We Are Going In is a history of a disaster, a midair collision over the Grand Canyon between two airliners in 1956, yet leaves the reader with much more.