Ask the Pilot

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  • Ask the pilot

    The raging battle over Southwest Airlines, a brief history of no-frills airlines, and bad Hooters Air jokes.
    By Patrick Smith June 20, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    The ugly skies: Readers' letters have made me even more depressed about the state of American flying. Plus: A Hooters Air sighting!
    By Patrick Smith June 13, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Why are American airlines famous for the worst passenger service in the world?
    By Patrick Smith June 6, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    We have a winner! The pilot reveals the answers to his reader quiz. Who knew Satchel Paige flew his own airplane?
    By Patrick Smith May 30, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    The pilot begs: Don't let the dastardly French name the next-generation Boeing passenger jet!
    By Patrick Smith May 23, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    What's the worst-named airline of all time: Russia's Kras Air or Taiwan's U-Land Airlines? Plus: The pilot tests his fans with his second reader quiz.
    By Patrick Smith May 16, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    What in heaven's name was Japan Airlines thinking when it ditched the crane? The pilot offers some lessons in airliner art appreciation.
    By Patrick Smith May 9, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Stripping down in the cockpit. Plus, lessons on how to stall out at the speed of sound.
    By Patrick Smith May 2, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Are jet contrails really CIA poison? And how do gay flight attendants get along with redneck pilots?
    By Patrick Smith April 25, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    The pilot protests the destruction of a defenseless Iraqi airliner. Plus: Geeky details about flaps, ailerons, spoilers and slats. But not flaperons.
    By Patrick Smith April 18, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    The pilot goes south, to the anti-paradise of Santo Domingo and the tropic embrace of Guatemala City.
    By Patrick Smith April 11, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Will the war in Iraq spell doom for U.S. airlines and their workers?
    By Patrick Smith April 3, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    From Addis Ababa by way of Bahrain: The pilot contemplates African dignity, and understands why he wants to fly.
    By Patrick Smith March 28, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    The airport city of Miami International -- a metropolis for airline geeks to savor.
    By Patrick Smith March 21, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Do big airplanes get the best pilots? And do we really want to know what happens when seven pilots room together?
    By Patrick Smith March 14, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Why stop in Anchorage on the way from Tahiti to Paris? Plus, the mysteries of the Muslim qibla.
    By Patrick Smith March 7, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Ode to the humpbacked 747 (and a shout out to the svelte Brazilian Embraer). Plus: Why do jetliner wings always have to block the view?
    By Patrick Smith February 28, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Terminal One: At JFK International Airport, in an enormous swath of asphalt, glass, and aluminum flying machines, the pilot stalks old ghosts.
    By Patrick Smith February 21, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    The tragedy that is Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport; more Hollywood movies about airplanes. Plus: Do pilots eat the same crappy food as passengers?
    By Patrick Smith February 14, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Giant nets to stop a brakeless Concorde? Just one of Hollywood's ham-handed attempts to fly. Plus, why icing on a plane is a slippery business.
    By Patrick Smith February 7, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Who are the best writers about airplanes? And can autopilots really land planes by themselves?
    By Patrick Smith January 31, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Two poems about airplanes (and women). Plus: Everything you ever wanted to know about jet fuel.
    By Patrick Smith January 23, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Can we stop bombs in our baggage? And, how do pilots amuse themselves at 30,000 feet?
    By Patrick Smith January 13, 2003

  • Ask the pilot

    Were United's pilots to blame for the airline's failure? And: How worried should we be about the specter of shoulder-launched missiles taking down a domestic jet?
    By Patrick Smith December 19, 2002

  • Ask the pilot

    United isn't the first great airline to fall on hard times. Does anyone still remember Eastern? Or the glory days of Pan Am?
    By Patrick Smith December 10, 2002
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