Sky Writer -- John Nance Is A Pilot, Aviation Expert, Author, Even A Cinematic Chief Of Staff

Conceivably, sometime next November you could read a book by John Nance on an Alaska Airlines flight, then shake the pilot/author's hand as you pass the cockpit while disembarking.

When you get home, you might see him talking about aviation safety on ABC's "World News Tonight," or find him quoted in a newspaper story about the ozone layer or earthquakes. And later, during prime time, you may catch a made-for-TV movie based on one of his eight books - and see him again, in a cameo role.

As if his career weren't already eclectic or hectic enough, Nance, 49, who lives in University Place in Pierce County, is landing in Hollywood.

His most recent novel, "Pandora's Clock," a suspense-thriller that draws on his aviation experience and explores the notion of viral annihilation, is being made into a two-night movie, one of NBC's big events planned for the November "sweeps" ratings period.

Citadel Entertainment is shooting the film now in soundstages and various other locations in the Seattle area, including a 747 cabin mockup at Boeing's Renton plant. Nance is spending a fair amount of time on the set, serving as technical consultant when he's not in a real Boeing 737 cockpit on the way to Alaska or California.

"Pandora's Clock" is about a 747 flight from Frankfurt to New York. A passenger collapses en route and the crew seeks to land. But the German government says the passenger carried an incurable deadly virus, and no European country will accept the plane.

The all-star cast includes Richard Dean Anderson ("MacGyver"), Jane Leeves ("Frasier"), Daphne Zuniga ("Melrose Place"), Robert Loggia ("Jagged Edge"), Stephen Root ("NewsRadio"), Robert Guillaume ("Benson") and Grant Goodeve ("Eight is Enough" and "Northern Exposure").

The movie is being directed by Eric Laneuville, whose acting credits include "St. Elsewhere" and who won an Emmy Award for directing an episode of "I'll Fly Away."

Nance wrote the novel before popular media seized on the topic of real-world pathogens, and "everything in the movie is plausible," says producer Michael Gallant. "It really is a doomsday scenario that is possible."

By the end of the film, the mystery of the virus is solved and the 747 survives an airborne terrorist attack - a feat that will either make Boeing stockholders cringe or make them proud, depending on how they look at it.

Either way, isn't it ironic? An aviator who is dedicated to countering hysteria over air travel with rational, honest answers has written a novel about explosions in the air.

Nance says he accurately portrays the integrity of aircraft structures - and tells an entertaining story.

"I'm pushing the airplanes to the limit," he says. "If you look at it statistically, I'd have to write one million novels before I write about a crash."

He's already used up that one crash, however. His first novel began as an attempt to explain how crash investigations work, using fictional incidents. His publisher saw other potential. "Final Approach" (1990) ended up being about intrigue surrounding a post-crash investigation.

Nance, a Texas native who also has a law degree, has proved himself a stickler for technical detail and considers himself a journalist first.

His early books were documentary: "Splash of Colors" (1984) is about the demise of Braniff, an airline he worked for, and "Blind Trust" (1986) is a breakthrough examination of how human factors played a key role in the crash of a commuter plane in Maine.

Like his father, Nance is an amateur geologist, which led him next to the topic of earthquakes. The result was "On Shaky Ground," a prescient look at their potential to devastate.

Next came "What Goes Up" (1991), an examination of global warming in which he concluded the debate portrayed by the media actually is a matter of typical scientific nuance.

After "Final Approach," other novels followed: "Scorpion Strike" (1992), "Phoenix Rising" (1994) and, to be released soon, "Medusa's Child."

While flying is important in his fiction, "Aviation is not my subject. It's my stage. Nobody else is writing on that stage."

In the real world, as an airline captain, Nance is one of few in the aviation technocracy willing and able to communicate with lay people. He has worked in radio and television as a reporter. Journalists seek him out as a reliably rational, detached voice in the aftermath of a crash.

"I'm on everybody's Rolodex," says Nance. "I just happen to have the perfect juxtaposition of skills."

Over the years, the demand for sound bites and interviews grew so great that he signed a somewhat exclusive contract with ABC News.

"It is ridiculous that we have 29,000 airline pilots and I'm the only one who can be called about this," he said of air-accident analysis.

What with flying airliners and writing books and giving speeches, "time management is a serious challenge," Nance concedes.

He learned to master it while flying C-141 cargo planes for the Air Force Reserve during Desert Storm. He flew missions and wrote a book under a publisher's deadline.

"When I deactivated, I realized I had put the throttle up times two and wasn't breathing hard," he says. He just wasn't managing time well before.

Nance is a lieutenant colonel in the reserve. In "Pandora's Clock," he will have a bit part as the Air Force chief of staff.

"That's a pretty good way to cap a career," Nance says. "Just pass everything over and go straight to four stars."