Fatal Words: Communication Clashes and Aircraft Crashes [Paperback]

Part three deals with proposed solutions to the problem, and in this section he details a machine that can interpret language, check grammar, sentence structure, and meaning before allowing a message to be transmitted. He admits that this is a long time in the future, and proposes a short term data link system. I realize the machine he developed, while excellent research, is a prototype, but with all respect to the efforts of Dr. Cushing and his graduate students, I feel he may be barking up the wrong tree. The constructs of the machine are so complex, and the commands and menu options he envisions are so unwieldy that I can't imagine a machine that checks grammar and content of every transmission, and won't (at least to my understanding) let any non-database words pass its parser, being fast enough to keep up with the Air Traffic Control needs of Jackson, MS, much less LaGuardia at five in the afternoon. I am absolutely not closed minded on this subject, and am a huge proponent of CPDLC, which was in testing by American Airlines and Miami Center last year. I would love to see a revised edition of the book (it was published in 1994) with the latest technology added and the computer programs he developed to be updated and possibly integrated with CPDLC. The appendix is a very detailed (excruciating to a non-computer programmer) explanation of the constructs of his lab test system containing two computers that could converse with each other via the data link system and menus he developed. I read it, but only marginally grasped the material. The appendix information is best ignored by pilots and controllers, although it is probably very insightful to programmers and linguists.

Overall it is the best book I have seen on the role of communications in aviation accidents, and I give it four stars for two reasons only: one, it diverges into a computer programming book in the last third of the text, which I had not expected given the summaries of the work I had read; and two, Dr. Cushing numbers every line of transcript throughout the book and then makes reference to that numbered line in the discussion. This is fine when the discussion is near the quotation, but often he refers to a line number that you read about fifty pages earlier instead of reprinting the quotation which makes the reader fumble back and forth looking for the line in question. This is an excellent work overall, just understand that it is technical reading and requires a basic understanding of 'aviation English' and grammar to fully comprehend the author's discussions and analyses. I eagerly look forward to reading more by Dr. Cushing in the future.