new Qantas book "The Flying Kangaroo"

[RooFlyer]

This sounds like a rollicking good read: The Flying Kangaroo by Jim Eames.

Brings to full and rich life the extraordinary characters, events and challenges that have made Qantas an Australian icon. 'Everyone who has ever flown will enjoy The Flying Kangaroo. These are stories of passion and dedication, of risk and resilience, of excellence and Australian larrikinism, of inventiveness and determination. They reflect my pride for an airline that connected the world and became a national icon.' - Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny, Pilot in Command QF 32

A review in The Australian (not sure if that's pay-walled, sorry).

It was the “Bahrain Bomber” baby and it miraculously slept through one of the most harrowing incidents to affect a Qantas jet despite being wrenched from its mother’s arms and ending up under a pile of debris

In two minutes of terror on a Boeing 707 the plane approached, and possibly even reached, supersonic speeds as it hurtled towards the sea in a 19,000ft dive that took it well beyond the stresses it was supposed to bear.

The story is among a riveting collection of untold or forgotten stories gathered by author and former Qantas director of public affairs Jim Eames in his latest book, The Flying Kangaroo.
Eames, whose department played a role in getting Dustin Hoffman to insist “Qantas never crashes” in the award-winning movie Rain Man, turns up a *number of stories refuting the actor’s claim as well as highlighting how close the airline has come to disaster.

The rest of the review isn't as sensationalist as the extract, so I think all in all I'll want it under my Christmas tree

 

[PaulST]

Looks good although I can't but help think that I'd rather stay naive about QF's 'near misses'. I'd like to believe that their safety record is due to attention to detail or pilot training (but it's probably just due to good luck).

Having said that, I'll be at SYD on Sunday so I might try and see if I can pick up a copy there.