The Flying Book
Everything You've Ever Wondered About Flying on Airlines
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
Whether you fear, thrill at, or, like many, have never bothered to stop and think about the wonder of commercial flight, The Flying Book will inform, surprise, reassure, and entertain. David Blatner takes readers from the cockpit to the runway, the control tower, the baggage and security systems, the airplane manufacturing plant, and beyond, explaining the many factors that make airline travel possible. There are stops along the way to examine airplane maintenance, pilot training, the effects of weather, safety statistics, tips for staying healthy, oddball aviation inventions such as the air car, and what aerodynamicists have learned from birds and bugs. With a brief history of aviation just to put it all in perspective, as well as minibiographies of some of history's great aviators, The Flying Book is a treasure trove of fascinating aviation facts. A delight for travelers-business, pleasure, or armchair-or any readers who like to indulge their sense of curiosity, The Flying Book captures the spirit, illuminates the science, and reveals the magic of flight.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fearful flyers take heart: Blatner's information-packed book will definitely educate and will probably soothe. Even though most anxious passengers dislike the"emotions and sensations" they experience while in the air rather than flying itself--which is why safety statistics don't always make them feel better--it can't help to read things like:"If air travel were as safe as driving in a car, a jet aircraft carrying 120 people would crash without any survivors every day of the year." Those whom flying fascinates will learn plenty too: why the Bernoulli effect is only part of the reason planes can fly (there's also the counterintuitive Coanda effect, with a neat little experiment to demonstrate it); what those chimes can mean (say, the pilot wants a cup of coffee); and how airplane toilets work, just to name a few. With lots of illustrations and sidebars, this book makes for good browsing, but it can be read straight through from"How Do Airplanes Work?" to"Behind Cockpit Doors" to"Flying Through History." For plane buffs and scaredy-cats alike, this is recommended reading.
