When the holidays are spent aloft
Plus: The worst Christmas song of all time. Make it stop!
Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011 8:00 PM UTC 50Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
Ask the Pilot
Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
Trapped!
It's like your worst nightmare -- locked in an airplane restroom. But what if you're the pilot?
Monday, Nov 21, 2011 6:30 PM UTC 30Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
Are pilot layovers full of intrigue?
"Pan Am" makes the life look like nonstop adventure. Plus: What's with Obama's "fishhook"?
Thursday, Nov 17, 2011 4:00 PM UTC 30Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
10 years and counting
It's been a decade since Flight 587 crashed over Queens, N.Y. -- a milestone worth noting
Saturday, Nov 12, 2011 2:00 PM UTC 11Life Ask the Pilot, Plane Crashes
Into the vortex
The powerful, sometimes dangerous phenomenon of wake turbulence. Plus, Web addresses on livery? Really?
Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011 1:00 AM UTC 11Life Ask the Pilot
This is Warsaw, not Hollywood
The LOT Polish Airlines landing was difficult, just not in the way people think
Thursday, Nov 3, 2011 8:45 PM UTC 29Life Ask the Pilot
Safe outcome in Warsaw belly landing
How the LOT Polish 767 lost all three landing gear units is anybody's guess. Kudos are due to the well-trained crew
Tuesday, Nov 1, 2011 10:36 PM UTC 37Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
Oh my god, they’re duct-taping our plane!
Ryanair may be a "low-cost" airline, but trust me, it's not using duct tape to repair its planes, even temporarily
Thursday, Oct 27, 2011 12:00 AM UTC 27Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
What makes a great-looking jetliner?
Why the 787 fails in the tail and the A380 is ruined by its nose
Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011 12:00 AM UTC 24Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
My peculiar route to pilothood
I was into airlines as much as flying, seating charts and route maps as much as cockpits. The Blue Angels? Yawn
Wednesday, Oct 19, 2011 12:40 AM UTC 32Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
The imaginary perils of flying
Is the chatter between pilots and air traffic control a great way to kill time -- or too easy to misinterpret?
Thursday, Oct 13, 2011 1:00 AM UTC 26Life Ask the Pilot
Oops! Wrong button
One simple error and a plane falls 6,000 feet, rolling more than halfway onto its back. What happened? And: The 787
Thursday, Oct 6, 2011 7:00 PM UTC 30Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
Airline livery design hits bottom
When in doubt, add a swoosh, right? Please don't! Plus: Airline/culture crossover and "Pan Am" revisited
Friday, Sep 30, 2011 12:01 AM UTC 24Life Ask the Pilot, Pan Am
Why I’m not watching “Pan Am”
Not even the sexy promo shots -- of 707s, that is -- tempt me. Plus, a veteran of those storied days dishes dirt
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 1:15 AM UTC 66Life Ask the Pilot, Pan Am, Air Travel
The dreaded bag check
Why hold up the security line waiting for a TSA screener to amble over to have a look? There must be a better way
Friday, Sep 23, 2011 12:01 AM UTC 73Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
Cockpit blues
Has automation made flying easier? Or are pilots forgetting how to fly?
Friday, Sep 16, 2011 12:20 AM UTCLife Ask the Pilot
What’s the takeaway from Sept. 11?
Over the past decade, the attacks have inspired some lousy and very expensive decisions about travel
Sunday, Sep 11, 2011 2:01 PM UTC 127Life Ask the Pilot, 9/11, Air Travel
The paperless cockpit is here
The move to electronic manuals means it's time to retire my old black flight bag. Bring on the iPad
Friday, Sep 2, 2011 1:01 AM UTC 49Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel, iPad
Hurricane Irene shuts down the country’s busiest air corridor
Or is it better to play it hour by hour and hope for the best?
Sunday, Aug 28, 2011 10:29 PM UTC 47Life Ask the Pilot, Air Travel
Our airports ain’t what they used to be
They've becoming painfully generic as classic, friendly buildings get replaced by structures with no identity
Wednesday, Aug 24, 2011 12:30 AM UTC 45Life Air Travel, Ask the Pilot
Page 2 of 27 in Ask the Pilot
Patrick Smith's Ask the Pilot, a long-running feature on Salon, is the Web's most trenchant and insightful source for all things air travel, from safety and technology to airline culture and airport security. Send questions to patricksmith@askthepilot.com and look for answers in a future column.
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