Pilots in Command: Your Best Trip, Every Trip goes beyond the requirements of flight training curricula into what is both a rarity and a necessity: sage advice from real pilots, for student and professional aviators alike, about how to be true leaders. Captain-candidates at air carriers go through a "captains class," an extra module in pilot upgrade training that helps them learn to operate each flight as a good leader. Yet not every captains class provides tricks of the trade or solid, experience-proven, leadership advice. Pilots know that when things go wrong, everyone looks to the captain -- the pilot in command -- to make things right. In an easy-to-use format, on a range of topics that all tie into the application of basic leadership skills, the author covers crew roles, crew briefings, flight attendants, crew resource management (CRM), threat and error management (TEM), ground services, dispatch, customer service, abnormal and emergency situations, layovers, crew dynamics, 14 CFR Part 117 rest rules, and a new model of transformational leadership and professionalism for pilots. Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license applicants must now complete a comprehensive ground school with instruction on leadership, professional development, crew resource management, and safety culture. This book is an excellent resource for the new ATP training requirements. Pilots In Command shares with you the insights and techniques typically gained only from years of experience and interaction with your fellow pilots and crew at 35,000 feet.

A critical how-to guide to cockpit decision-making for every pilot, based on FAA-mandated pilot-in-command authority -- and pilot responsibility for flight safety and operations. Includes essential methods for self-retraining, techniques for maintaining awareness, and advice on improving piloting performance.

A poetic and nuanced exploration of the human experience of flight that reminds us of the full imaginative weight of our most ordinary journeys—and reawakens our capacity to be amazed. The twenty-first century has relegated airplane flight—a once remarkable feat of human ingenuity—to the realm of the mundane. Mark Vanhoenacker, a 747 pilot who left academia and a career in the business world to pursue his childhood dream of flight, asks us to reimagine what we—both as pilots and as passengers—are actually doing when we enter the world between departure and discovery. In a seamless fusion of history, politics, geography, meteorology, ecology, family, and physics, Vanhoenacker vaults across geographical and cultural boundaries; above mountains, oceans, and deserts; through snow, wind, and rain, renewing a simultaneously humbling and almost superhuman activity that affords us unparalleled perspectives on the planet we inhabit and the communities we form.

Redefining Airmanship offers the first concrete model of the abstract ideal of "airmanship," and gives the reader step-by-step guidance for self-appraisal and improvement in the areas of flight proficiency, teamwork, and good judgment in crisis situations. The author, Major Tony Kern, draws on his extensive flight and crew-training experience in the U.S. Air Force, but his model is invaluable for all pilots, whether military, recreational, or commercial. "Kern's work is a breakthrough, and a benchmark." --John J. Nance, author of Blind Trust

Though we routinely take to the air, for many of us flying remains a mystery. Few of us understand the how and why of jetting from New York to London in six hours. How does a plane stay in the air? Can turbulence bring it down? What is windshear? How good are the security checks? Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and author of Salon.com's popular column, "Ask the Pilot," unravels the secrets and tells you all there is to know about the strange and fascinating world of commercial flight. He offers: A nuts and bolts explanation of how planes fly Insights into safety and security Straight talk about turbulence, air traffic control, windshear, and crashes The history, color, and controversy of the world's airlines The awe and oddity of being a pilot The poetry and drama of airplanes, airports, and traveling abroad In a series of frank, often funny explanations and essays, Smith speaks eloquently to our fears and curiosities, incorporating anecdotes, memoir, and a life's passion for flight. He tackles our toughest concerns, debunks conspiracy theories and myths, and in a rarely heard voice dares to return a dash of romance and glamour to air travel.