#47 Flight Into Danger (30th Anniversary Review)

[tomswift2002]

Published: January 1991
Publisher: Archway Paperbacks (1991-1998?)
Author: Gary Cohn
Other Hardy Boys by author: Casefiles #92 Sabotage At Sea, #104 Wild Wheels

Plot: When the sky is your battlefield, superior firepower always calls the shots!

Top Gun!

Frank's old friend Ray Adamec, former ace navy pilot, has been hired to test pilot a superhot, supersleek jet -- the MAX 1. But then Ray disappears, and the MAX 1 is nowhere to be found. Frank's pilot license proves invaluable as the Hardys take control of the MAX 2. Their mission: find Ray and recover the MAX 1 before it falls into dangerous hands.

Finding a clue to the whereabouts of the MAX 1 in the Utah desert, the boys set out to investigate. Instead they find themselves outnumbered and outgunned in a high-tech, high-altitude air battle. They've flown into the middle of a subversive plot posing a deadly threat to the top levels of the U.S. space program and the US government!

Review: Flight Into Danger takes place just a few weeks after Foul Play.  The author mentions that it's January on page 2.  Of course Joe's complaining that Frank pulls him from his bed to go an see an air show in the middle of January, and he'd rather be back in his warm bed!  (I can't blame him, especially if it's a very cold January morning!)  Apparently the air show commemorates (in the book) the 65th anniversary of Eric Lachlan's record-breaking flight from Bayport to the far north back in the 1910's to 20's, when he was flying a bi-plane. (I wonder if this was Gary Cohn's nod to the original 1930 Hardy Boys book The Great Airport Mystery, although by January 1991, that book was only 61 years old.)  Of course, just like Joe, I have to wonder why they scheduled an air show in the middle of winter!  They could've maybe done something like the British and former British colonies do in regards to the King/Queen's birthday: honor the King/Queen's actual birthday on that day, but have the big celebrations in the late spring (Victoria Day) when people can be outdoors.

Otherwise, at the air show Frank meets up with an old school friend, who is now a test pilot for a new type of fighter craft.  Ray Adamac even takes Frank up and lets Frank fly the plane, at which point the plane decides to loose an engine and fall to the ground.  Frank and Ray recover and manage to land safely.  However, the next day, Ray is kidnapped, the MX-01 (the prototype airplane that Frank was flying) is stolen, and a number shady characters all of sudden start showing up.  Finally it's discovered that Ray is a Network agent, and the inventor of the MX-01 was actually developing the plane for the Assassins! 

Now then, here's an interesting twist, while the Gray Man is mentioned, he does not appear in this book, as the Network did not want the Hardy's involved in this operation, so they didn't have the Gray Man contact them, however, Ray is a novice agent and when he started getting into trouble, he turned to Frank and Joe knowing that they were Network agents as well.   I found this rather interesting, as in the previous summer, the Hardy's had been on another Network assignment where they were not reporting to the Gray Man either in Buried In Time. 

Also. while Callie appears in the first part of the book, she is only in the book for the first 30 pages before she's sent packing to Florida on a family vacation.

Also, Fenton, Laura and Aunt Gertrude are mentioned,  but are conveniently out of town for this book.

Anyway, while this was a fast paced novel, it was kind of  a forgettable book as well. 

But I will say one thing that always stands out for me, is the cover art!  That dog-fight in the air that Frank and Joe are in seems to promise a really good action packed book.  As I said, there was a lot of action in the book, unfortunately the story was kind of forgettable.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

[MacGyver]

I remember this book fairly well. At least, that is, I recall the start of it with Frank and Joe going to the air show. I also remember that Frank is about the only one who doesn't get out of his seat when everyone else seems to panic about a stunt gone wrong.
   I also recall Frank specifically mentions Looney Tunes as well. The end of the book is funny too with the bit about the kid at the gas station thinking the plane he had seen was a UFO.
Beyond that- yeah, I don't remember the middle too much. The Network and Assassins angle is interesting though.
   

[tomswift2002]

Frank doesn't get out of his seat during the stunt, because he's the one flying the plane that is doing the stunt!

[MacGyver]

Okay- maybe I am getting this book confused with another one.