"Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight," our pilots still intone. But who are they kidding?In Full Upright and Locked Position, former FAA chief counsel and senior aviation policy official Mark Gerchick unravels the unseen forces and little-known facts that have reshaped our air travel experience since September 11, 2001.With wry humor and unique insight, Gerchick takes us past the jargon, technicalities, and all-is-well platitudes to expose the new normal of air t...

As with the Air France Flight 447 tragedy, much of the time air crashes are a confluence of events; a cascade of bad luck, bad decisions, inappropriate airline company policy, the failure of aviation regulators, and sometimes insufficient training, or various combinations of all five.But why?Seconds to Disaster will demonstrate that part of that bad luck is often aided by the airline industry's own endless and aggressive pursuit of bottom-line profit. It contributes to a cre...

Naval Aviator Brad Morehouse finds himself relegated to the flight engineer seat of a commercial 727 following a tragic accident during the Blue Angel’s triumphant homecoming in 1983. From the lowest notch on the totem pole he watches the downward spiral of Omega Airlines as one crew blunder after another threatens to force the once proud captains’ airlines into extinction. Accidents were a growing concern in the airlines during those years. In 1978 a United Airlines DC-8 crashed in Portla...

A New York Times bestsellerFor millions of people, travel by air is a confounding, uncomfortable, and even fearful experience. Patrick Smith, airline pilot and author of the web's popular Ask the Pilot feature, separates the fact from fallacy and tells you everything you need to know...How planes fly, and a revealing look at the men and women who fly themStraight talk on turbulence, pilot training, and safetyThe real story on conge...

Three thousand feet above the Zambian bush, the DHC2 Beaver had only ten minutes' fuel remaining. Night was drawing in; ground features were indiscernible. I could not raise anyone on the radio. Would this be the end? John Flexman knew he wanted to be a pilot from moment he saw an RAF flypast as a boy of eight. At sixteen he joined the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy, getting his 'wings' in 1961 at the age of 18. From there on he never looked back. His flying career took him around the wor...

DANGEROUS LESSONS AND GUARDIAN ANGELS is an action packed true adventure book that spans thirty-five years of airline flying. Stories about transporting guns to Biafra, flying cargo up and down the Berlin corridor during the cold war, and flying sensitive missions, deep into Russia.Fasten your seatbelt and get ready for exciting,sometimes funny,and ocassionally death defying true aviation stories. Many of the stories in this book will put you on the edge-of-your seat; for example when the ...

Emergency is a collection of true stories about events where disaster seems imminent. Yet each situation is concluded without loss of life thanks to the skill of the pilots and their crews, whose bravery and resourcefulness have earned them well-deserved commendations. Written by a British Airways First Officer, Stanley Stewart, who has spoken at first hand with the pilots and crews involved in all the incidents recorded here, the book offers a unique insight into what really happened: not...

Originally published by Wm. Morrow in 1995, SKYGODS is the story of Pan American World Airways from its meteoric ascent to its plunge to extinction. Pan Am blazed the way across the world's oceans with its magnificent Clipper ships, launched the first international jet service, was the first to fly the behemoth 747, was the lead customer for America's SST and the Concorde, and was even taking reservations for the first commercial flights to the moon.SKYGODS is the true story of an A...

Travel with confidence; it just takes the right preparation and approach.Danielle Hugh is an international flight attendant with over 20 years flying around the world; also traveling extensively on her own time - experiencing both sides of airline travel. She answers many of air travels big questions: where to sit on a plane, how to travel with children, conquering fear of flying, when to check-in, how to pack efficiently, what luggage to take and how to avoid bags being lost or val...

The story behind the innovative widebody jet's "troubled but also path-breaking development," with hundreds of photos ( Airways).With the launch of its superjumbo, the A380, Airbus made what looked like an unbeatable bid for commercial aviation supremacy. But archrival Boeing responded: Not so fast.Boeing's 787 Dreamliner would generate more excitement—and more orders—than any commercial airplane in the company's history. This book offers a fascinati...

Fasten your seatbelts, ensure your seat is fully upright, your tray-table stowed and come fly with Danielle in this third installment of her sometimes turbulent, yet often amusing tales of life in the sky.There are more thrilling crew and passenger stories, valuable tips for anyone who ever dreamed of becoming a flight attendant, revelations of her own initial (failed) attempts to join the airlines, and perceptive insights into life above and below the clouds.Just when you th...

Take a look at life from behind the beverage cart.“They asked me to be groomed, be kind, and show up on time; it was too much pressure.”“It was like being a waitress, only I was hurtling through space and wound up in Paris.”“I thought it would be funny to climb into the overhead bin. How did I know the President of the United States would be on the flight that day?”Where flight attendant Marsha Marks goes, funny things happen, and she tells th...