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one of those rare aviation books that will appeal as much to average readers and regular airline passengers as it will to pilots and aviation buffs
Have you ever felt a pang of nerves just after taking your seat on a jetliner when the cabin lights suddenly flickered off for a few seconds before coming on again as the plane was getting ready to depart?
TRAVEL BOOKS: Veteran pilot reveals the mysteries of aviation
Are the engines OK? Is the aircraft fully fuelled, about to burst into flames from some undetected electrical short deep within its bowels?
Or, what about those strange airport codings they put on your bags.
Vancouver is YVR, Winnipeg is YWG and Boston is BOS. So far, so good. So why, then, is Toronto YYZ not TOR and - even more bizarre - how did Chicago get saddled with ORD instead of CHI?
Then there's those noisy, rumbling takeoffs, where we all know that planes finally leave the runway only because the passengers simultaneously pray and pull upwards on their armrests. What on earth is that thumping, jarring noise coming from beneath the plane?
There are but a few of the questions that receive answers in a fascinating new book, which aims to answer common questions posed by passengers and take away some of their fears of flying.
A captain for Air Canada and a certified meteorologist, Morris takes the reader on an imaginary flight from Toronto to Hong Kong, explaining along the way everything that goes into airline travel.
The book covers the physics of flight, how airplanes work and how they're built, how pilots are trained and how their skills are kept sharp and how aircraft are routed for fuel efficiency and safety.
Morris does a great job of explaining some fairly complex subjects in ways the average reader will understand, often using amusing stories from his 20-plus years as a pilot.
Did you know that the full fuel load of an Airbus A340-500, the largest passenger aircraft currently registered to fly in Canada, is enough to fill up a Honda Civic 3,600 times?
Weight of the paint to cover a Boeing 767: 672 kilograms.
Number of engines owned by Air Canada? None. (It's a trick question; they're all leased.)
And as for those opening questions: the lights flicker when the external power source that charges the plane before its engines are started is removed; the older airport codes were started by the U.S. National Weather Service but are now designated by the International Air Transport Association using a more random three-letter system. Chicago's ORD is for Orchard Field, the original name for O'Hare; and the bumping noise on takeoff is simply the front wheel running over lights buried down the centreline of the runway.
From the Flight Deck is one of those rare aviation books that will appeal as much to average readers and regular airline passengers as it will to pilots and aviation buffs. And at 162 pages, it would be a fun, one-sitting read for someone to enjoy on their next flight across the continent or over an ocean.
