Aero-Linx!

You're on short final. The runway isn't in sight yet, but from evaluating the approach at altitude, you know where it lies: lined up with the riffle on the second bend in the river. Full flaps, you nudge the throttle slightly to hold your altitude until the threshold comes into view. From here on, there is no go-around. The controls are soft and there is little margin for error. Almost simultaneously, the strip comes into view, the edge of the river slips by, and the mains touch down. You're not the first one who has landed here; your well-worn copy of Galen Hanselman's Fly Idaho! is proof of that.

Aero-Terms!

The Brodie landing system was a method of landing light aeroplane devised by James H Brodie, a Captain of the United States Air Force during World War II. The method of landing involved catching a hook attached to the plane upon a sling which itself was attached to a cable.

"I don't think there's anyone in Russia who doesn't know what a drunk person looks like."

Source: Katya Kushner, who was a passenger onboard Aeroflot Flight 315 on December 28, 2008. Several passengers complained to flight attendants after being greeted as they came onboard by Alexander Cheplevsky, one of four pilots scheduled for the roughly 11-hour trip. Those passengers feared the pilot's slurred speech and garbled responses indicated that he was drunk. Flight attendants tried to downplay those fears, but discord quickly spread throughout the cabin, and Cheplevsky initially resisted efforts to have him leave the cockpit and speak with passengers. When he did emerge, his alleged bloodshot eyes and difficulty in standing up sent passengers ov