Chronicles maintenance-related accidents caused by individual, corporate, or governmental negligence and brings the industry's current state of affairs into sharp focus. The author, a former aviation engineer, examines how failures of the smallest of parts have brought down airliners, explaining sometimes esoteric mechanical issues for readers with no technical background. Vividly describing the terror of accidents and close calls, the author then follows the painstaking investigations to determine causes. He focuses on maintenance errors, which rank as one of the top three causes of airline accidents, and points to the factors that have led to an alarming situation-- continued reduction of licensed mechanics, the shutting down of maintenance bases in the United States, and the outsourcing of maintenance to lowballing contractors. The Federal Aviation Administration, which should be overseeing quality control, is caught in a conflicted dual role--charged with regulating safety on the one hand and assuring the fiscal stability of airlines on the other. Porter recommends that the numbers and job security of airline mechanics be increased and that they be vested with an authority level akin to medical professionals.