Flying in a small aircraft or even going down the runway is especially valuable for a first-time, front-seat passenger. In this case, they can look down the runway while the airplane is accelerating (or, if it’s landing, while the airplane is approaching the runway). That view is fantastic, and it is not available for passengers …
Passengers in big airliners hear certain aviation sounds that have become commonplace in our flying experience. They hear machine made aviation sounds (like the engines humming as the jet flies through the air) and other assorted things like the flight attendant call button tones. But, on the whole, the auditory environment within the giant flying tube …
Even without having ever been in a functional airplane, Leonardo Da Vinci observed, For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will long to return. Flying in a small airplane, whether as the pilot or as a passenger, is …
In the outstanding TV series Sky King, which ran from 1951 to 1962, “Sky” would rush out to his twin-engine Cessna, the Songbird, start her up, and spring into the sky, ready to do good deeds at a moment’s notice. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? It’s not. It’s death-defying. Before any flight, all pilots must do …
People pretty much know how to behave as passengers on a jetliner as opposed to small planes. Sure, some people, the outliers, do ridiculous things like argue with and threaten the flight attendants (federal offense!), or try to open the cockpit door or escape doors during flight. Instead, we the majority tighten our seat belts …