Shannon Airport crashes documented in new book
Limerick man Peter McGarry has been researching the history of Shannon Airport crashes for a series of documentaries
Peter McGarry has been researching the history of Shannon Airport crashes for a series of documentaries.
Now, the Limerick man has written what is largely a forgotten chapter in the evolution of aviation - when it was in the throes of awesome change before the advances of the jet age.
Through Falling Stars: Lost Stories from the Shannon Airport Crashes, Peter shows his passion for the subject, with an unerring eye for detail and amply researched, shines brightly through every page as he gives accounts of aircraft that fell from the skies and also recreates the lives of aviators and travellers cut short in truly tragic circumstances.
This is a story worth telling, and Peter has told it well.
It is a story not only of human suffering but also of self-sacrifice and bravery.
“We board aircraft nonchalantly these days with the carefree ease of hopping on the next bus. We take our personal safety very much for granted, sure of reaching our destinations. It wasn’t always so,” he said.
“Many people most likely never heard of these terrible crashes or of those people who paid the ultimate price in the march towards aviation progress. The loss of aircraft and of innocent lives has always served to improve safety standards and make air travel a triumph of human ingenuity that’s now thankfully largely free from peril.”
In his book, Peter has done justice to the men, women and children who stepped on these planes and never made it home - they deserve to be remembered.
With compassion, the author delves into the heavy subject matter with humanity as he guides us with a flickering lamp along the road of the past, reconstructing the events and reviving the whispers and echoes.
In words attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, master of art and science, Peter quoted: "Once you have tasted flight you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward...for there you have been and there you will always long to return.”