| View Larger Image | Crossing Runways | Paperbackby Terry Paddack (Author)
| List Price: | $16.95 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | Virtualbookworm.com Publishing | | Page Count: | 424 Pages | | Publication Date: | June 30, 2004 | | Sales Rank: | 872,736nd |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Larry and Alison Deyer are living the good life in a waterfront home on Long Island, N.Y., but all that is about to change. They work at JFK Airport as air traffic controllers and are active members of the Air Traffic Control Union (ATCO). On Aug. 3, 1981, Larry, the union's president, is preoccupied with the impending strike vote against the FAA, while Alison is about to give birth to their first child. This pivotal moment creates a turbulent wake of circumstances when they intersect with disastrous results. It begins when the government, desperate for replacement controllers, hires Alison back to work, but not Larry because she was considered to be on maternity leave and not on strike like him. It culminates when Alison becomes the central figure of an investigation involving a tragic "miscommunication" between her and a military controller hired to replace the strikers. Who's to blame? Is there an F.A.A. cover-up? With lost lives and dreams scattered on the runway, the truth emerges in a Congressional hearing. But it isn't over until Larry goes on trial for striking illegally against the government. Take a trip inside the world of air traffic control where Crossing Runways is a metaphor for life. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 5 reviews)
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*Exciting! Entertaining! Engaging! even Earthy at times! by Lefty G (Arizona)  5 Stars
December 09, 2004
As one who survived it, Crossing Runways took me right back to the Patco Strike of 1981 and all the feelings attached to it. Mr. Paddack captures the moments as if they were in a freeze-frame. I didn't want to put the book down; I kept thinking "just one more page." This author obviously knows about that which he writes and possesses the talent to tell a tale well-be it tall or true! I'll be watching for his next masterpiece and you should be, too.
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"Hole in my being" by Junab Ali (St Petersburg FL) 5 Stars
December 05, 2004
What a story. Our story. It has the ring of truth because it is likely the truth of what happened behind the scenes. We'll never know. If only the ending were the same. This was a major event of my life. It is one that changed the path of my life forever. Perhaps I was more fortunate than many, recovering to my next profession rapidly and successfully. I thought. Although I'm retired from ATC having returned to it 18 1/2 years after the strike, after I read the first paragraph of the Acknowledgements, I became emotional and had to close the book, questioning myself, if I could read this book. You see I discovered "there is a hole in my being that will never be replaced". Live on Brothers. JA, SAT Class of '81, retired from HST.
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Amazing Realism... more than just a novel by William Stewart (Las Vegas, NV USA) 5 Stars
November 17, 2004
Though the names have been changed, and some of the situations are fictional, Terry Paddack has managed to capture the spirit and complexity of the events that resulted in and followed the world's worst Air Traffic Controller firing (1981). As a pilot and PATCO controller from that time, I recognize an uncanny resemblance between the actions of the FAA, the AFL-CIO and PATCO, and the events Mr. Paddack relates in Crossing Runways. The controller stresses and outlets for those stresses are real; the FAA/DOT, presidential and media lies are real, the outcome is real.
But, this is more than just a story of the PATCO strike and ultimate lockout (which, by the way, continues to this date). This is a story of intertwined lives. At every turn of a page, one realizes that the principal of six degrees of separation may be possibly wrong (it is much closer).
I ordered the book, not realizing how realistic it would be. I started reading and simply could not put it down. At every corner, I realized that this was - finally - someone telling my story, our story... the story of PATCO controllers. Mr. Paddack was relating incidents I knew happened back in 1981. And, further, he was relating the story of controllers that stayed on the job and the men and women (military and civilian) that were hired to replace us.
I cannot wait for Mr. Paddack to release another novel. With Crossing Runways as an example of his literary skill... the next work from Mr. Paddack will surely be on the New York Times "Best Seller" list.
EB (North Area, JAX ARTCC)
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Good reading by MK (St,. Thomas, Virgin islands) 5 Stars
November 16, 2004
I just finished CROSSING RUNWAYS and am very pleased to have read it. To be truthful I started out reading it as a "debt" to an good friend and former co-worker, but once I started reading it I could not put it down and powered through it in a short while. It was VERY enjoyable reading. I am both a former and current air traffic controller and know the real thing when I read it.
The author's knowledge of the subject matter is as much of an insiders view of what went on in those times as is possible to get. He was there and his experiences of those times have been well translated onto the pages of the book. The characters are real. Their trials and tribulations are real and this reader could easily relate to their difficulties which arose out of the Controller Strike of 1981.
Mr Paddack has a definite flair with the written word. I hope he will continue to write and that he will continue to write about things of which he has in-depth, specific knowledge. Readers can tell when they are getting "the real thing" and they will come away from this book with that feeling.
I look forward to his next novel. I expect it will be released by a major publishing company and will be a best seller. I expect nothing less from this extaordinarily sensitive and incisive individual.
MK (St.Thomas Tower, US Virgin Islands)
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A unique novel written by an author who was there. by Ronald Pencek 5 Stars
September 02, 2004
My hat is off to Terry Paddack. He has perfectly captured the atmosphere surrounding the air traffic controllers' strike of 1981. It may be a novel, but one can tell the author was indeed there as the real events unfolded. I was one of the PATCO (in the book ATCO) controllers and experienced the same highs and lows as the controllers in the story. As gratifying as it is to have "our" story finally told, Crossing Runways is not only about striking controllers. Through other characters, it also tells, in honest fashion, the tales of controllers that stayed, the replacements, and military controllers that filled the vacancies in civilian towers. Mr. Paddack takes this reader places he wishes he could have visited in 1981. I felt like a fly on the wall in the union's executive offices, FAA Headquarters, even the White House. The version presented in the novel is more than plausible, it has the ring of truth.
Intertwined with the structure history provides, Mr. Paddack weaves an action-packed yarn culminating on Christmas Eve. From that point, the author uses his literary license to tell us what might have been.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Crossing Runways. More than the enjoyment, I gained a new perspective into a historical event in which I participated. Thanks, Terry, for telling the tale. PK---GGG TRACAB
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