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The anatomy of a commercial flight – all you ever wanted to know: Part one  

Aerotime

Before departure Once you are onboard and safely seated, there will already be a rush of activity going on in the cabin around you. With all ground personnel off the aircraft, you will hear the familiar call over the aircraft’s public address (PA) system: “ Crew, arm the doors and cross-check ”.

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35 years ago: How a United Airlines crew landed an ‘unflyable’ DC-10

Aerotime

The primary flight controls on the DC-10 (ailerons, rudder, elevators, spoilers) were all operated by hydraulic pressure and the first officer was quick to realize that his controls were unresponsive to his inputs. On checking the hydraulic fluid pressure and quantity gauges, he noticed that they all read zero.

Runway 294
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10 Must-Read Books for Aviation History Fans

Plane and Pilot

Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying Wolfgang Langewiesche (1944) While not a history, per se, Stick and Rudder is a historic introduction to flight that has been used by flight students since some of the earliest days of organized flight training. Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed Ben R.

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