Tracon Book

When technology goes too far . . .

Thousands of lives hover in the skies above Chicago. An average day in the TRACON for air traffic controller Ryan Kelly. Cool and confident, he juggles airliners like a casino dealer shuffles cards from the dark vantage of the radar room at O'Hare Airport.

There's just one problem. A billion-dollar one. Kelly fears the airlines' coveted collision avoidance system will cause the very midair it's supposed to prevent. When peculiar readouts flash across his scope, two jets tangle over Lake Michigan and several hundred people die, propelling Kelly into the political and public crosshairs. Evidence vanishes. Hidden forces sabotage his reputation. His tightly coiled world spins out of control. There's only one way to clear his name and expose the renegade computer . . . but at great peril to the one he loves. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paul McElroy wrote TRACON, his debut novel, while working full-time as an editor at the Seattle-Post Intelligencer. During his 21 years as an award-winning journalist, he also worked at the Chicago Sun-Times, suburban Chicago Daily Herald, Woodstock (Ill.) Daily Sentinel and a weekly newspaper.

To achieve such a high level of technical accuracy and realism in the novel, the author interviewed more than 100 aviation professionals, including air traffic controllers, pilots, avionics specialists and others. He also logged some 80 hours jacked in on the scopes at five different control towers, radar rooms and an en route center.

McElroy has been interested in aviation all his life, flying for the first time when he was 10. He also covered aviation as a reporter, including the crash of an American Airlines DC-10 in Chicago in May 1979. He is a dynamic speaker who has made numerous presentations in front of large audiences helping people to understand and grasp the benefits of new technology. His skill at describing technical concepts in lay terms has won him acclaim from air traffic controllers for his authentic portrayal of their profession.

A native of Chicago, McElroy has lived in the Seattle area for the past 16 years and is now researching his next book.