Crossing Runways                        

 

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Reviews

  • Brothers and Sisters -

    Here is a GREAT summer read - especially as we are rapidly 
    approaching - in August, 2006 - the 1981 PATCO Strike anniversary. 
    You can a copy of this inexpensive paperback novel directly from 
    Terry at his e-mail address, or, from Amazon:

    Labor activists around the world will mark in August of 2006 the 25th anniversary of what is arguably the single most consequential strike in the history of modern American labor-management relations. The refusal of nearly 12,000 air traffic controller strikers to return to work when ordered to do so by Pres, Ronald Reagan, and their subsequent firing, along with the unprecedented destruction of PATCO, their union, can be regarded as the beginning of the end of Organized 
    Labor's clout, if not also its significance. While membership numbers had been declining, along with strike 
    frequency before the PATCO strike, everything sped up thereafter. Employers who were ambivalent about taking on Labor felt emboldened by White House actions, and a anti-union Jihad was launched which continues to this day.

    British, Canadian, French, German, and Italian unions of air traffic controllers rushed to boost morale and lend material support to the PATCO strikers, with some even slowing air traffic or striking briefly in sympathy. By and large, however, many overseas labor activists - air traffic controllers and otherwise - remained puzzled about key aspects of the complex matter, and had 101 questions that in the din and roar of the occasion probably went unanswered.

    Now, thanks to a remarkable novel, aptly called Crossing Runways, we have a rare opportunity to get inside the PATCO strike, and learn and feel things as only fiction can make possible. The author, a former striking controller himself, writes with the authority and insight of a participant blessed with the sensitivities of a social scientist, 
    the eye and ear of an artist, and the heart and soul of a humanist. Among other things, he familiarizes his reader with pre-strike PATCO Executive Board machinations, the anti-union scheming of top-level federal agency bureaucrats, the reckless hubris of PATCO zealots, the secret unease of certain PATCO spouses, the ambivalence of the 
    AFL-CIO, and the chilling anti-Labor calculations of the Republican White House staff.

    Among scores of fascinating figures we get to meet the president of the United State, the president of PATCO, the president of the AFL-CIO, key federal agency power-holder, and key local union leaders via cogent pen sketches that reveal more than would 500-page biographies of each. We are treated to two dramatic fictional sub-plots, one of a bizarre revenge effort involving explosives, a violent death, the FBI, and a cliff-hanger of a court trial; and the other, a tale of a tragic "miscommunication" between two controllers that results in one of the most breath-taking runway tragedies ever 
    to wreck commercial airplanes and take many lives.

    While pro-Labor, the novel is not a simplistic polemic or an ideologically driven screed. It has fair-minded word portraits of good folk on management's side, and allows room for a reader to be disappointed in more than one PATCO stalwart. It leaves one with vexing questions about the value of the strike weapon, the nature of strike preparation, the ability of strikers to stay out one more day than can management, gains and losses from labor-management conflict, the complicated meanings of victory and defeat, and so on. While not its purpose, it can serve as a text in the schooling of wanabee union 
    activists regardless of whether controllers or not.

    Until publication of this novel, an all-too-rare account by an insider of a major labor dispute, unanswered questions far 
    outnumbered those for which we had some tentative answers in this entire PATCO strike matter. Now, drawing cautiously on the writer's material we can begin to fill in gaps and get our arms around more and more of the PATCO tale. Exemplary on its own account, the novel also reminds us to ask for this sort of fictional treatment - by a participant - of similar struggles. Organized Labor desperately needs far more novels of this quality, the better to help neophytes 
    understand, and old-timers get back in touch with all that is really entailed in the Good Fight.

    ARTHUR B. SHOSTAK, Ph.D.
    Professor of Sociology Drexel University
    Department of Psychology-Sociology-Anthropology
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

  • The following review of CROSSING RUNWAYS by Al Kulikowski in the October-December 2004 Journal of Air Traffic Control (www.atca.org)

    Crossing Runways is a novel based on the August 1981 air traffic controller strike, the events leading to the walkout on August 3, 1981, the strike itself as it dramatically unfolds, and the quick end with disastrous consequences. This novel, however, continues to a happy ending when the President allows fired controllers to return to work.

    The book begins with an experience all controllers are deeply aware of, but do not allow themselves to dwell upon. Larry is awakened by his wife Alison while he is experiencing a nightmare of that dreaded scenario-two airliners he is controlling collide on the runway at JFK airport. Larry and Alison, the central characters in the story, are controllers at the JFK Air Traffic Control Tower.

    The novel continues to describe pre-strike internal union struggles for power on a national level, the friction between leaders within the FAA, DOT and the White House, and the activities of the union local of which Larry is the President. The events leading to the strike, the personal and professional life odyssey of Larry, Alison, and some of their friends, the strike itself with its inherent conflicts, the militancy of striking controllers, developing unforeseen situations, the difficult no win position of the facility chief and head of air traffic control operations, are all skillfully woven into this fascinating and tragic story.

    The author, himself a fired former controller at the New York Common IFR Room, is knowledgeable and familiar with air traffic control procedures and operations. Most episodes, particularly before and during the strike, are based on well researched information. Terry Paddack has produced a book that with respect to ATC operations is technically correct, and should be captivating reading not only for air traffic controllers and those who are part of the aviation community, but the general public as well. He accurately captured the feeling of the controllers on strike, those remaining on the job, and the pain felt by most facility chiefs and ATC manages in seeing so many of their friends losing their careers so quickly.

    Crossing Runways although written as a novel, comes very close to what I remember happening in real life. It certainly has a potential for an exiting, action packed drama on the big screen.

     
  • Exciting! Entertaining! Engaging! even Earthy at times! , December 9, 2004
    Reviewer: Lefty G. (Arizona)
    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
     
  • Hole in my being, December 5, 2004
    Reviewer: Junab Ali (St Petersburg FL)

    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
     
  • Amazing Realism... more than just a novel, November 17, 2004
    Reviewer: William Stewart (Las Vegas, NV USA)

    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)
     
  • Good reading, November 16, 2004
    Reviewer: MK (St,. Thomas, Virgin islands)
    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)
     
  • A unique novel written by an author who was there., September 2, 2004
    Reviewer: Ronald Pencek

    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

    Crossing Runways is a highly entertaining story that held my interest from the opening paragraph.  The author has done an amazing job of creating a fascinating fictional account of actual historical events.  He has taken the insider's real-life perspective and skillfully woven it into the characters of his imagination to create an excellent first novel.  His first-hand knowledge of air traffic control and internal politics take the reader right inside the control tower and the negotiation rooms.  I read a wide variety of books, and this one was as good as any I have read in the recent past.  Although a first-time author, Mr. Paddack has certainly demonstrated his ability to deliver a professional product.  I highly recommend Crossing Runways, and look forward to his next release.

           From: K Thomas-Missouri
 

             

                        

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