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Cockpit Confidential
- Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel: Questions, Answers, and Reflections
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's summary
For millions of people, travel by air is a confounding, uncomfortable, and even fearful experience. Patrick Smith, airline pilot and author of the web's popular "Ask the Pilot" feature, separates fact from fallacy and tells you everything you need to know:
- How planes fly, and a revealing look at the men and women who fly them
- Straight talk on turbulence, pilot training, and safety
- The real story on congestion, delays, and the dysfunction of the modern airport
- The myths and misconceptions of cabin air and cockpit automation
- Terrorism in perspective, and a provocative look at security
- Airfares, seating woes, and the pitfalls of airline customer service
Cockpit Confidential covers not only the nuts and bolts of flying but also the grand theater of air travel, from airport architecture to inflight service to the excitement of travel abroad. It's a thoughtful, funny, at times deeply personal look into the strange and misunderstood world of commercial flying.
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SHB
- By Kindle Customer on 06-10-23
By: Dave Bio Baranek
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Into the Black
- The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her
- By: Rowland White, Richard Truly
- Narrated by: Eric Meyers
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and recently declassified material, Into the Black pieces together the dramatic untold story of the Columbia mission and the brave people who dedicated themselves to help the United States succeed in the age of space exploration. On April 12, 1981, NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral. It was the most advanced, state-of-the-art flying machine ever built, challenging the minds and imagination of America's top engineers and pilots.
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Great Story About a Flawed Spacecraft
- By John on 12-04-16
By: Rowland White, and others
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Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
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Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
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Rescue Pilot
- Cheating the Sea
- By: Jerry Grayson
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Jerry Grayson is an ordinary man who chose an extraordinary career. At age 17 he became the youngest helicopter pilot ever to serve in the Royal Navy. By age 25 he was the most decorated peacetime naval pilot in history.
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Great tales of adventure with fascinating facts about helicopters
- By david y muramatsu on 07-17-23
By: Jerry Grayson
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The Dream Machine
- The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey
- By: Richard Whittle
- Narrated by: Kevin Foley
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Marines decided to buy a helicopter-airplane hybrid "tiltrotor" called the V-22 Osprey, they saw it as their dream machine. The tiltrotor was the aviation equivalent of finding the Northwest Passage: an aircraft able to take off, land, and hover with the agility of a helicopter yet fly as fast and as far as an airplane. Many predicted it would reshape civilian aviation. The Marines saw it as key to their very survival. Opponents called it one of the worst boondoggles in Pentagon history.
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Innovation runs into government
- By Cx30 on 09-25-10
By: Richard Whittle
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Why Planes Crash Case Files: 2001-2003
- By: Sylvia Wrigley
- Narrated by: Charlie Boswell
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Why Planes Crash offers an exciting and compelling look at the critical moments which define an aviation accident, explaining both the how and the why of catastrophic accidents in modern times. From disintegrating airliners to in-flight suicide to maintenance shortcuts, the author looks critically into each factor that might have lead to the crash. Her investigations and deep insight aim to make the listener into a witness to the investigation, and, yet, it is comprehensive enough for anyone with no aviation knowledge to understand.
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Exactly what I was looking for...
- By Narada on 01-08-19
By: Sylvia Wrigley
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First Man
- The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
- By: James R. Hansen
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over 50 hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private documents and family sources, this "magnificent panorama of the second half of the American twentieth century" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) is an unparalleled biography of an American icon.
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Not really 'unabridged'
- By A Reader on 06-06-18
By: James R. Hansen
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The Flight 981 Disaster
- Tragedy, Treachery, and the Pursuit of Truth
- By: Samme Chittum
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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On June 12, 1972, a powerful explosion rocked American Airlines Flight 96 a mere five minutes after its takeoff from Detroit. The explosion ripped a gaping hole in the bottom of the aircraft and jammed the hydraulic controls. Miraculously, despite the damage and ensuing chaos, the pilots were able to land the plane safely. Less than two years later, on March 3, 1974, a sudden, forceful blowout tore through Turk Hava Yollari (THY) Flight 981 from Paris to London. THY Flight 981 was not as lucky as Flight 96: it crashed in a forest in France.
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Fill fill fill...
- By Rodney on 02-15-22
By: Samme Chittum
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Sully
- My Search for What Really Matters
- By: Chesley B. Sullenberger, Jeffrey Zaslow
- Narrated by: Michael McConnohie, Chesley B. Sullenberger
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed a remarkable emergency landing when Captain "Sully" Sullenberger skillfully glided US Airways flight 1549 onto the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew. His cool actions not only averted tragedy but made him a hero and an inspiration worldwide. His story is now a major motion picture from director/producer Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks, Laura Linney, and Aaron Eckhart.
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Really Dull.
- By Nick on 09-14-16
By: Chesley B. Sullenberger, and others
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Vulcan Boys
- From the Cold War to the Falklands: True Tales of the Iconic Delta V Bomber
- By: Tony Blackman
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Vulcan, the second of the three V bombers built to guard the UK during the Cold War, has become an aviation icon like the Spitfire, its delta shape instantly recognizable, as is the howling noise it makes when the engines are opened for takeoff. Vulcan Boys is the first Vulcan book recounted completely firsthand by the operators themselves.
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a compelling work but slow to start
- By Josh Boyle on 08-06-16
By: Tony Blackman
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Flying from the Black Hole
- The B-52 Navigator-Bombardiers of Vietnam
- By: Robert O. Harder
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress. Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian bombing sorties would have been impossible.
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Today I learned something new.
- By Rob Wilson on 02-20-21
By: Robert O. Harder
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Why Planes Crash
- An Accident Investigator's Fight for Safe Skies
- By: David Soucie, Ozzie Cheek
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Boarding an airplane strikes at least a small sense of fear into most people. Even though we all have heard that the odds of being struck by lightning are greater than the odds of perishing in a plane crash, it still doesn't feel that way. Airplane crashes might be rare, but they do happen, and they’re usually fatal. David Soucie insists that most of these deaths could be prevented. He’s worked as a pilot, a mechanic, an FAA inspector, and an aviation executive. He’s seen death up close and personal - deaths of colleagues and friends that might have been prevented if he had approved certain safety measures in the aircrafts they were handling.
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Me, Me, Me
- By WakeNCAgent on 09-13-19
By: David Soucie, and others
What listeners say about Cockpit Confidential
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Andrew R Clay
- 04-09-16
A good premise
Like rubbing a cheese grater across a sunburn, in which you gradually extract a few flakes of gold. And resembling more a collection of notes for a book, than an actual polished final product.
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5 people found this helpful
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- RTG201
- 09-01-17
Must Read
Great read for folks interested In commercial aviation. Great Job Patrick. Looking forward to edition #2.
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- J Moore
- 06-09-16
Just go read the blog
There is not much in this book that is not already available in his blog or the recent Freakonomics Podcast interview. I am sure that the interview will send people here. Not much new.
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- Basem Aggad
- 11-07-21
aviation for non aviation people
brilliant balance between interesting, technical and entertaining content in the form of easy to follow question and answers as it would've been asked (and probably have been) to the author over his career as an airline pilot.
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- Mike Gabriel
- 08-08-21
great listen very informative
after flying back and forth from Iraq several times I became quite educated on long distance flying. this gave me some good background information on flying.
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- K.Alvarez
- 02-05-24
My new favorite book
This book was really impressive. As an aviation professional, student and fan I can say this book occupies my no.1 favorite aviation book. This book goes into explaining every detail from a need to know basis for a regular person who is probably not as familiar with aviation. If you know nothing of aviation this book will end having feel smarter about the subject. It’s interesting how the author takes the time to explain briefly aviation history and mention accidents have long been forgotten by the general public. The book ends with a vocabulary to get familiar with common words heard at the airport/plane. I will definitely be coming back to listen to it. I have not heard an aviation book as chronologically complete as this one.
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- alex w
- 08-27-19
Great book
Very informative. Learned a lot about flying and airplanes. As a frequent flyer i really appreciate the book.
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- 40 yr trucker
- 12-30-19
Very informative, negative perspective.
Objective Information in this book is great. The opinions of the author come from a very negative point of view. Very much a glass half empty perspective.
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- Mark Hampson
- 06-05-18
For the skeptical flyer!
I fly enough to appreciate that air travel is not always predictable or convenient. I also work for a large tier 1 supplier in the industry and know first hand that there is no industry that takes safety more seriously.
This book gives the listener an insiders view of airplane and airline operations in a very accessible style. The performance is quite engaging and clearly spoken.
For a skeptical non-flyer, I would highly recommend this audio book the for the next 8 hour drive...that you could have flown.
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- VC
- 10-08-18
The Entire Picture of Airline Travel
Interesting insight into just about everything dealing with air travel. If you want to increase your knowledge of the 5W's regarding flying and maybe learn to be a better passenger and less of an inconsiderate dick, this is a good read for you.
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