Heathrow by David Hough
Publication date: 31 May 2016
Format: Paperback and Kindle ebook (Please note: you don't need a Kindle reader to read this book - you can download it from Amazon onto your computer/ipad/iphone) (#ads)
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When a fire disrupts the London Air Traffic Control Centre, the controllers move to an emergency control room at Heathrow – which is exactly where a group of terrorists want them.
The crisis deepens and the whole of London’s Air Traffic Control system comes under attack. Despite facing personal danger, the controllers struggle to keep the airspace safe. Desperate measures are needed to discover who is behind the attack, and what they want. Measures that put innocent lives at risk. As the answers begin to emerge, it becomes clear that far more is at stake than the safety of aicraft and passengers. By then, there seems no way to stop a terrorist attack far more shocking than anyone had imagined. |
What the readers say
“It's like Die Hard with wings!”
“A real rip-roaring, page-turner of a read!”
“All of David Hough’s stories are great, but there is something extra special in his writing when he writes about aviation.”
“An imaginative story.”
“Just magical!”
“An absorbing aviation novel.”
“Unputdownable!”
“A real rip-roaring, page-turner of a read!”
“All of David Hough’s stories are great, but there is something extra special in his writing when he writes about aviation.”
“An imaginative story.”
“Just magical!”
“An absorbing aviation novel.”
“Unputdownable!”
David's thoughts on Heathrow
How would you describe this book?
An aviation thriller which, unlike most books in this genre, digs deep into the work of the UK’s air traffic control (ATC) organisation. It is set among the ATC systems around the London area in the 1990s. There have been aviation novels written by pilots, but they show only a limited view of ATC. This book tries to redress the balance.
Where did the idea for this book come from?
Surprisingly, the idea came from recent history. I have a passion for studying history. Not the ancient sort, but the events of the past fifty to one hundred years. I had been reading about the political fallout from certain events (I don’t want to reveal the plot here) that affected our national defence system. I saw an opportunity for a novel that explored the actions of one small group of people.
Did you have to do any research?
In terms of the setting, not a lot. In the last years of my job as an air traffic controller I was based at the UK college of ATC as an instructor. The job included running training courses offsite at the London Air Traffic Control Centre. On those occasions I had the opportunity to pop across to Heathrow and observe the work of the controllers in the tower. Painting the ATC setting wasn’t too difficult. My research was confined more to understanding the background of the people who carry out the attack on Heathrow.
What was the hardest thing in this book to write?
The hardest part of the planning was trying to get under the skin of the terrorists who attack Heathrow. Although I knew what it was like to be a controller under stress, I had to use my imagination to understand the motivations of the people who carry out the attack. It helped that I had worked as a civilian controller at a military radar station in Northern Ireland at the time of the Irish ‘troubles’. I came closer to acts of terrorism than most English people. But the leader of this attack is not Irish. I needed to read widely on the much wider motivations of terrorism… and a particular group of individuals who acted to undermine our national defence.
An aviation thriller which, unlike most books in this genre, digs deep into the work of the UK’s air traffic control (ATC) organisation. It is set among the ATC systems around the London area in the 1990s. There have been aviation novels written by pilots, but they show only a limited view of ATC. This book tries to redress the balance.
Where did the idea for this book come from?
Surprisingly, the idea came from recent history. I have a passion for studying history. Not the ancient sort, but the events of the past fifty to one hundred years. I had been reading about the political fallout from certain events (I don’t want to reveal the plot here) that affected our national defence system. I saw an opportunity for a novel that explored the actions of one small group of people.
Did you have to do any research?
In terms of the setting, not a lot. In the last years of my job as an air traffic controller I was based at the UK college of ATC as an instructor. The job included running training courses offsite at the London Air Traffic Control Centre. On those occasions I had the opportunity to pop across to Heathrow and observe the work of the controllers in the tower. Painting the ATC setting wasn’t too difficult. My research was confined more to understanding the background of the people who carry out the attack on Heathrow.
What was the hardest thing in this book to write?
The hardest part of the planning was trying to get under the skin of the terrorists who attack Heathrow. Although I knew what it was like to be a controller under stress, I had to use my imagination to understand the motivations of the people who carry out the attack. It helped that I had worked as a civilian controller at a military radar station in Northern Ireland at the time of the Irish ‘troubles’. I came closer to acts of terrorism than most English people. But the leader of this attack is not Irish. I needed to read widely on the much wider motivations of terrorism… and a particular group of individuals who acted to undermine our national defence.