Ask the Pilot | Patrick Smith

Ask the Pilot | Patrick Smith | Entertaining and Informative

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Ask the Pilot

	Ask the Pilot Patrick Smith Riverhead Trade, 2004 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 42 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Salon.com's most popular columnist tells why airline travel is still the safest way to get from here to there-and lots of other flight facts.

Even frequent fliers, probably don't have a clue how their plane gets from New York to Los Angeles in 5 hours. And many people probably think flying is more dangerous now than ever-even though it's still the safest means of transportation.

In Ask the Pilot, Patrick Smith-a commercial airline pilot and author of Salon.com's popular column-explains in frank and very funny language what fears are grounded in reality and which ones are airborne urban myths. He stacks up the facts, anecdotes, and advice to every flying question imaginable: * Just how safe it is to fly?
* What is the safest airline?
* Do airlines reduce cabin oxygen flow to save fuel and keep passengers docile?
* Can turbulence cause a crash?
* What's windshear - and can it really rip the wings off a plane?
* How does a plane get off the ground?
* Why does the plane sometimes bump, jig, and turn at a high angle during climbout?
* Has anyone ever survived a water landing by donning a vest or using a raft?
* Why are tray tables stowed before landing?

Frequent flier or neurotic aerophobe, this is the one book that will wise people up - and calm fliers down.

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A Good Balance

When dealing with an area of expertise that is particularly technical or complicated, it is often difficult to know where to draw the lines of communication, as it were: how much jargon to use, how deep to go. Mr. Smith has done an excellent job of conveying to the nonprofessional a wealth of information about a highly complex subject in a manner that is easily understood. While I don't necessarily agree with his every point (particularly where it leans toward the political), and this is not a resource for the professional seeking to advance his technical education, it is very well written and worth the read for anybody. This is Your Captain Speaking: A Common Sense Manual for Keeping Your Wings Level

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Entertaining and Informative

Patrick Smith has some great stories, and he gets the facts across in an interesting way. His writing style is so enjoyable to read, it'd probably be an enjoyable book even for someone with a pilot's license who knows about flying. He has a great weekly column [...] too (Fridays).

Takes the heat off

As an airline pilot, this book saves me explaining every detail of flying repeatedly to, what are often, the same people. Very accurate information presented in a simple manner. A real voice saver!!

FELT SAFER AT ONCE

This is a detailed but very understandable treatise on passenger aviation and aircraft used. I especially enjoyed the section on all the duplicate systems. Although aircraft wrecks make headlines, they are very rare. Having just read this book, I consented to fly 60 miles on an aircraft with only 1 out of 2 engines and felt perfectly content.

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