TITLE: Airport (by Arthur Hailey) YEAR: 1977
RELEVANCE OF THE TITLE: From the title the reader can understand that the story develops entirely into the structure of an airport.
LANGUAGA USED: The writer used a rather simple language to tell this story, aven if there were some words used in the description of some technician aspects of the airport thatI hardly understood. The language was also rather informel with a particular attenction to the frequent use of dialogues
WHAT IS THA BALANCE BETWEEN NARRATION AND DIALOGUE?: There's a perfect balance between narration and dialogues: the dialogue lets the reader understand the characters, their feelings, their problems, their desires and their decisions, while the narration lets the development of the plot flow more smoothly.
PLOT SUMMARY: The story takes place at a fictional Chicago airport called Lincoln International. The main character is Mel Bakersfeld, the General Manager, whose devotion to his job is tearing apart his family and his marriage to his wife Cindy, who resents his use of his job at the airport as a device to avoid going to various after-hours events she wants him to participate in, as she attempts to climb into the social circles of Chicago's elite. His problems in his marriage are further exacerbated by his romantically-charged friendship with a divorcee, Trans America Airlines passenger relations manager Tanya Livingston. The story takes place mainly over the course of one evening, as a massive snowstorm plays havoc with airport operations. The storyline centers on Bakersfeld's struggles to keep the airport open during the storm. His chief problem is the unexpected closure of primary Runway three zero, caused when a landing airliner turns off past the wrong side of a light, burying the plane's landing gear in the snow, and blocking the runway. The stuck plane later becomes a major problem as Trans America flight two experiences an emergency which requires that the runway become available. The closing of runway three zero requires the use of shorter runway 25, which has the unfortunate consequence of causing planes to take off over a noise-sensitive suburb, whose residents picket the airport in protest. The short runway two five is also later inadequate to land TA flight two which has suffered major mechanical damage due to explosive decompression caused by the detonation of the bomb brought on board by D.O. Guerrero.
Joe Patroni is the tough, grizzled, head of maintenance operations for Trans World Airlines (TWA), at Lincoln, who is drafted in by Bakersfeld to move the disabled aircraft. He fights to do so under the aircraft's own power without damaging it. This is in spite of the emergency, which could require the airplane be pushed off by snow plows (which would destroy the aircraft). D.O. Guerrero is a desperate man who is determined to find a way to solve his financial problems, regardless of what it will cost others. He builds a carry-on suitcase bomb that he takes onto Trans America Flight Two, "The Golden Argosy", a Rome-bound Boeing 707, in the hope of providing an insurance-fraud death benefit to his wife. The bombing plot is foiled with the assistance of a little old woman, Ada Quonsett, a habitual stowaway, whose help is enlisted by the flight crew of flight two to get at the bomb being held by Guerrero. Vernon Demerest is a womanizing pilot for Trans America Airlines and brother-in-law to Bakersfeld, who opposes him on a number of issues. Vernon's lover, airline stewardess Gwen Meighan, reveals to him that she is pregnant. They are both on duty aboard the Trans America flight that Guerrero bombs. A mostly separate plot line concerns Mel's brother Keith, an air traffic controller tormented by guilt and flashbacks from a past mid-air collision.