Airport Study Guide

Mel Bakersfeld is the main character around whom the book revolves. He is General Manager of Lincoln International Airport.

Tanya Livingston is Mel's love interest. She works for Trans America Airlines, and Mel often visits her. She was deserted by her husband, and has a daughter with him. Though there are rumors of her bedding Mel, however, those are untrue.

Joe Patroni is the tough and practical head of maintenance operations for Trans World Airlines (TWA) at Lincoln. He is drafted by Bakersfeld to move the disabled aircraft blocking runway 30. He fights to do so under the aircraft's own power without damaging it. This is in spite of the emergency, which could require the airplane be pushed off by snow plows (which would destroy the aircraft). His character is also the only one to continue in the "inspired" sequels to the film.

D.O. Guerrero is an increasingly psychologically disturbed bankrupt building contractor, who is determined to find a way to solve his financial problems, regardless of what it will cost others. He builds a carry-on suitcase bomb that he takes onto Trans America Flight Two, "The Golden Argosy", a Rome-bound Boeing 707, in the hope of providing an insurance-fraud death benefit to his wife (similar to the actual event of Continental Airlines Flight 11). The bombing plot is foiled with the assistance of an elderly lady, Ada Quonsett, a habitual stowaway, whose help is enlisted by the flight crew.

Vernon Demerest is a pompous and self-confident senior pilot for Trans America Airlines and brother-in-law to Bakersfeld. He opposes him on a number of issues of policy. Despite his overbearing attitude, he is an expert pilot who helps to bring Flight Two home safely, although the actual flying is done by Captain Anson Harris, an equally expert pilot who is being given his final "check ride" by Demerest before being certified for international flight captaincy.

Gwen Meighen is a senior Trans America Airlines stewardess on Flight Two and Vernon's lover. Before taking off, she reveals to him that she is pregnant. She is badly injured by the bomb set off by Guerrero, but survives.

A mostly separate plot line concerns Mel's brother Keith, an air traffic controller tormented by guilt and flashbacks, due to his self-blame of not realizing the imminent danger of a mid-air collision and failing to take steps to prevent it from happening. Other plot lines focus on Cindy Bakersfeld's social aspirations, the ambitious lawyer leading an ultimately doomed effort to sue the airport for noise over his clients' homes, and a disagreement between Mel and Vernon over flight insurance sales.