Air Travel

Infantryman Robert Kotlowitz was one of only three in his platoon to survive an ill-advised attack on the Germans. Robert Williams served with the Tuskegee Airmen. Originally broadcast in '99 and '95.

The 737 MAX was grounded in 2019 after two deadly crashes exposed flaws pilots hadn't been told about. Journalist Peter Robison says Boeing cut costs and co-opted regulators in designing the craft.

The new novel Falling is a thriller and the debut of writer T.J. Newman who is a former flight attendant. It's about an airline pilot who faces a terrible choice.

Pedro Almodovar's ensemble comedy I'm So Excited is set on an airplane with mechanical problems. Neil Jordan's Byzantium centers on a pair of itinerant English vampires. The two films couldn't be more different, but the two filmmakers are very much in command of their craft.

Colum McCann won the National Book Award for his 2009 novel, Let the Great Wolrd Spin, about a high-wire artist. Critic Maureen Corrigan says McCann's new novel, TransAtlantic, also has its head in the clouds.

Helen Simpson once said that when it comes to short stories, "Something's got to happen, but not too much." Her latest short story collection, In-Flight Entertainment, may seem bleak and mundane — with subjects like mortality, infidelity and climate change — but it's also bursting with British wit.

Director Jason Reitman likes to fill his movies with tricky characters, and then put them in situations that test their convictions. His latest project, Up in the Air, is no exception: George Clooney's character has made a career of firing people.

Air travel keeps getting more confusing, frustrating and expensive, says columnist Scott McCartney. McCartney, who's covered the industry for 12 years at The Wall Street Journal, writes the paper's "Middle Seat" column.

Journalist Scott McCartney, who follows the airline industry, writes the weekly column "The Middle Seat" for the Wall Street Journal. McCartney is the journal's travel editor and deputy bureau chief in Dallas, Texas.

Editor and writer Walter Kirn lives in Montana, a place where many people are thinking of moving to - now that the United States is under threat of more terrorist attacks. Kirn was recently on Fresh Air to discuss his new novel Up in the Air (Doubleday) about 35 year-old Ryan Bingham, a well-traveled business man who has a goal of accumulating one million miles in his frequent flyer account. Kirn is the literary editor for GQ and a contributing editor to Time and Vanity Fair.

Editor and writer Walter Kirn's new novel Up in the Air (Doubleday) is about 35 year-old Ryan Bingham, a well-traveled business man who has a goal of accumulating one million miles in his frequent flyer account. Kirn is the literary editor for GQ and a contributing editor to Time and Vanity Fair. His fiction and non-fiction work has appeared in The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine. He also the author of two other novels, and a selection of short stories.

Writer and flight attendant Elliott Neal Hester. He writes the bimonthly column "Out of the Blue" for the online magazine, Salon. He's also working on an upcoming book about flying the "not so friendly skies."

Biographer A. Scott Berg on the life of Charles Lindbergh. Berg is the first and only writer to be given unrestricted access to the Lindbergh archives, and he found surprises at every turn while doing research for his book, "Lindbergh." (Putnam) Lindbergh broke records with the first transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in 1927. In 1932, his 20-month old son was kidnapped and later found dead. The resulting hysteria sent the Lindberghs into exile.

William Langeweische is a writer and a pilot. He grew up around planes and learned to fly when he was a child. His father, a test pilot, wrote a text that is considered to be the bible of aerial navigation ("Stick and Rudder"). Langewiesche has written his own book about flying from a different perspective, called "Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight."

Playwright, Actor and Director Sam Shepard talks about how he got started in theater. Shepard won a Pulitzer for his play "Buried Child" and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Chuck Yeager in "The Right Stuff." Shepard stars in the new film "The Only Thrill."

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Broken Arrow."

James Glab is an airline industry reporter, who is a contributing editor of "Travel and Leisure," "Frequent Flyer" and "Travel Weekly." He recently co-wrote "Rapid Descent," (Simon and Schuster) that looks at how the airline deregulation law, which promised better service and lower airfares, led to chaotic airline fares and deteriorated customer service.

Gonzales has a new book about his love affair with flying, called "One Zero Charlie: Adventures in Grass Roots Aviation." He grew up listening to the stories his mother told of his father's last flight in a B-17 bomber over Dusseldorf in World War II. Gonzales is a commercial pilot who competes in aerobatics flying.

Airline expert George Brown. In his new book, The Airline Passenger's Guerrilla Handbook, Brown explains how to beat the air travel system. He tells how to find the cheapest fares, accumulate frequent flyer points, how to beat jet lag, even how to make love while in flight.

Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan, who headed the six-year effort to fly a plane around the world without refueling. They completed their nine-day flight in their light-weight craft called The Voyager on December 23, 1986. They have written a book describing the adventure.