Flight to St Antony

Aviation Fiction

A Crime Mystery Novel By Tony Blackman

 

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Flight to St Antony  is about a twin engined airliner flying from London Gatwick to the Caribbean island of St Antony which had to ditch a few miles short of Nelson airport. Peter Talbert is asked by the insurance company to look after their interests and he starts by managing to talk to Helen, one of the two flight attendants who survived, before she had been formally intervied by the accident inspectors.

The Air Accident Investigation Board, AAIB, soon establishes that both the cockpit voice recorder and the crash recorder are transmitting their locations from the sunken aircraft but two days later when the divers went down to bring up the recorders the voice recorder was missing. The situation becomes more complicated as Jackson Turner, Jacko and a suspected drug runner, plus two of his cronies were on the aircraft near the back in economy and apparently were all drowned. Jacko was known to have purchased a diamond worth of $50m in Amsterdam with money he had claimed had been obtained from share dealing. However, though two of the survivors were killed Peter suspects that Jacko was still alive, had taken on the identity of one of his henchmen and still had the diamond.

Peter goes back to the UK and talks to the pilot who flew the aircraft on the flight before the final flight and  works out why the aircraft had to ditch.

Helen and Peter go sailing and get involved with the drug smugglers. They manage to escape as their captor flees the island to Antigua.

Finally Peter manages to recover the memory module so it was possible to hear the pilots as they realised they would have to ditch, confirming Peter's explanation of what had happened.

 

 

 

Customer Reviews
4 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
 
 
 
 
 
 
5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping mystery, recommended, November 7, 2008
This review is from: Flight to St Antony (Paperback)
Air is the safest way to travel, with thousands throughout the country dedicated to maintaining that position. "Flight to St. Antony" is a story of figuring out where one flight went wrong. Peter Talbert is charged with investigating a flight that tragically crashed on the Island of St. Antony, left to dig through the evidence and figure out why. Figuring it out should be hard enough, but there are those who want the mystery to stay and mystery, giving Peter the challenge of his life. "Flight to St. Antony" is a gripping mystery, recommended.
 
 Author's expertise mixes nicely with good storytelling ability
By Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Flight to St Antony (Paperback)
Aviation and mystery enthusiasts will discover a fast-paced compelling story that delivers both the human and technical side of tragedy.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Our main character is a highly sought after aviation insurance expert, Peter Talbert. Peter's investigative assignment takes him to the small island of St. Antony near Barbados.

Following the disastrous night-time ditching of Alpha Delta Airlines flight from London, Gatwick, and then to Barbados, Peter is called into service by Hull Claims Insurance Company. Hull Claims may be liable for a vast sum if the airline's fuselage was, in anyway, the cause of the ditching. Peter's assignment is to determine if this is the case. ....

....Author Tony Blackman is a noted aviation authority. As such, his mystery is incredibly convincing. This is the fourth mystery written by Tony with his central character, Peter Talbert, deeply involved in the investigation. There is no doubt that you will find yourself equally engaged in seeking a solution to the mystery. Enjoy.
 
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent aviation mystery written by an expert
By Cy B. Hilterman "Cy. Hilterman" (Cherry Tree, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Flight to St Antony (Paperback)
A twin-engine commercial jet airliner is supposed to fly on one engine in the event one engine fails. Tell that to the passengers and crew of Worldwide Airlines flight 442 flying from London's Gatwick Airport to the Barbados, carrying passengers and crew of 245. When one engine sputters and has to be shut down the crew felt confident that they could fly on one-engine easily and make their destination. When strange things occur on board the Independent Transport Aircraft Company 831 airplane, the crew still felt they could successfully land the plane. Helen Partridge and Linda Sutcliffe were crew members assigned to the rear area of the airplane. They prepared the passengers as well as possible in case they would have to ditch in the ocean.

Any aviation buff will love this story. Even if you don't understand all of the author's abbreviations, which are listed for your information, the story itself is a terrific mystery that grows and grows to the very end. Tony Blackman  is very educated in all particulars of aviation. Being a pilot for years, he became an electronics expert and helped develop some of the in-plane displays and avionic systems in use in various areas of the world.

Tony, you amazed me with your knowledge and especially your way of weaving a mystery that doesn't give the plot away until the very end. Keep these coming. Your writing is great.
 
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent example of an aviation techno-thriller
By Charles Ashbacher "(cashbacher@yahoo.com)" (Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com)) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   
This review is from: Flight to St Antony (Paperback)
An airplane flying nonstop from England to the Caribbean inexplicably develops engine trouble and is forced to ditch in the ocean a few miles from an emergency landing on St. Antony.....


Peter Talbert is an aviation expert and an investigator for an insurance agency. He is as good as there is and he begins probing the crash. At first nothing makes sense, it is the consensus that what happened could not have happened. This starts him on a methodical path towards the truth. His probe runs into difficulty when he learns that a known drug dealer was on the plane and he had an extremely valuable diamond with him. ....


Finally, all of the clues come together and the impossible becomes possible and then known. Like most such "impossible" events, a combination of errors, synergistic mechanical breakdowns and human malfeasance led to the crash. Until the explanation is given in non-aviation language, it is hard to understand just what went wrong. However, the reading of the transcript as the flight crew calmly work the problem in an attempt to save the plane keeps you spellbound.
This is an excellent example of the techno-thriller, although in this case, it is all about airplanes and what can go wrong to make them fail. It is clear that the author is an expert in aviation and he transfers that expertise to the lead character in the manner of a gifted writer.

This is the fourth book in a series of six featuring Peter Talbert, insurance investigator. The other titles are Blind Landing, The Final Flight, The Right Choice,  Now You See it and Dire Strait. They will appeal to anyone who likes a mystery story as well as to the aviation enthusiast and followers of Peter Talbert will feel very much at home! People who have read one book have great difficulty not going on to read the rest.

 

AVAILABLE

978-0-9553856-6-7

Order  Flight to St Antony  978-0-9553856-6-7, 0-9553856-6-0,  from any bookstore  OR  Amazon UK, Amazon USA  

 

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