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Broken Wings: A Flight Attendant's Journey
by Nattanya Andersen
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Avia Pub (1999-04-16)
ISBN: 0968497608
EAN: 9780968497609
Paperback: 319 pages
SKU: M9579
Condition: Very Good
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Nattanya Andersen's cherished career as a flight-attendant for one of the world's largest airlines careened to a halt when a jet-engine-explosion five feet away from her mid-air left her with post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD). The mental health professions' apparent lack of knowledge concerning the treatment of PTSD-sufferers, and Nattanya's desire to help herself, lead her to search for empirical studies on PTSD and other health-issues and dangers facing air-crew--and by extension their passengers--on a daily basis. In Broken Wings Nattanya documents the symptoms and repercussions of PTSD, and portrays the treatment an injured-at-work employee, in particular if ill with PTSD, can expect to receive from the employer, the Workers' Compensation Board, and the Union. Interwoven with her struggle against the system are chapters about air-rage, air-quantity and quality in aircraft-cabins; airplanes as illness-incubators; cosmic-radiation-exposure; turbulence; air-traffic-control; pilot-training; flight-phobia and anxiety, and air-crew-duty-times, all backed up by data from dozens of scientific studies. Nattanya also gives us insight into the air-crew-lifestyle, the role of flight-attendants, and passengers' on-board behavior. But Broken Wings is not just about the aviation-industry, and it is not just dry facts and figures. It is a story about fear, betrayal and the phoenix-like rebirth of a soul from the moment of the accident to the time when Nattanya emerges as a complete - albeit scarred - person from a situation which came close to breaking her. It is an utterly compelling story, even for readers who have no interest in the airline-industry. In light of the September 11, 2001 events and the regularly occurring aircraft-crashes and incidents worldwide leaving uncounted numbers of passengers and crew with PTSD, Broken Wings indeed makes timely and gripping reading.
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Customer Reviews
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Government bashing in print.
Rating  (1)
Date: 2007-01-16
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
It is the story of an injured flight attendant (psychological injury) and her 10 years of trying to get the government to provide disability to her. At times the book bashes the Candian Government, the insurance industry, the unions and the Aviation Industry.
I read the entire book hoping that somehow all the side stories and negative comments would end in a conclusion worth reading about...but it did not.
It is just not worth your time.
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This is a very good course literature for those who are studying psychology.
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-09-30
This is a very good course literature for those who are studying psychology and for Human Factors courses. The book is an excellent illustration on how PTSD can develop and get worse by bad treatment.
It was not the engine explosion, which caused the authors Post Traumatic Stress. It was firstly the poor information from the captain and his negligence to arrange a proper counseling debriefing after landing (see ISBN 0-9754818-8-6) and secondly the absolute lack of empathy from the airline years after the accident that caused and aggravated her PTSD.
The book contains a lot of very valuable information based on knowledge, reports, recorded researches and finally some assumptions with which I don't always agree, e.g. her explanation of aircraft pressurization and ventilation. The cabin air deteriorated a lot after introduction of recirculation fan. That is true, but pilots get their air from the same duct as passengers and no extra oxygen is added. We have our oxygen masks for emergency as have the cabin crew and passengers.
Read the book, but don't get afraid of flying. In 2004 no passenger was killed in airline accidents in the western world and less than 500 in the whole world.
Gunnar Fahlgren, Ret. airline captain (SAS) and Human Factors consultant.
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Couldn't Put it Down - not even the third time through!!
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-05-25
Finally a book that spells out the truth about what being a flight attendant is all about!! Nattanya Andersen's descriptive powers made me feel like I was on that 727 with her, and she took me on her entire journey, never letting go of my attention. I have done a whole lot of reading with regard to this subject matter and in the end I have to say that this is the one book I go back to time and time again. Not only does it answer questions about PTSD, it also spells out quite clearly the dangers that all of us are exposed to while cruising at 33,000. As a frequent flier I feel that this book has really been an invaluable source of information that has greatly changed the way I travel. It has also been a great inspiration. As someone who has suffered from PTSD, brought on by an "airborne incident", I feel that this book has really influenced me profoundly.
As much as I have enjoyed the "Humorous" accounts of the flight attendant's life in such books as "Cabin Pressure", and as informative as Sandy Purl's "Am I Alive" was...I have to say that Ms Andersen's research and "Tell it as it is" style made this book well worth reading (more than once) and I have urged everyone I know to get a copy.
Brava Nattanya!!
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There is a MORE cheery Flight Attendant book than this...
Rating (1)
Date: 2005-04-30
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is kind of a downer, especially compared to the new book I've seen at Amazon, called Flying by the seat of my pants: Flight Attendant Adventures on a Wing and a Prayer. (That author, lets you read a free chapter on her website). If you love the idea of flying around the world, like I do - it's kind of cool to read a book where the Flight Attendant loves her job.
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flying drivel
Rating (1)
Date: 2003-02-07
5 out of 19 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is possibly the worst book I have ever read. I think this author just wanted to quit her job and this was her way of quitting and still getting paid. I also think she must have been turned down by a lot of pilots. I don't know any, but I'm sure that if they are as crazy as they say, the MOT would have found them by now. Drinking I can believe. Crazy? I think the author is the pot calling the kettle black. Sorry, but don't waste your time
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