Front Cover; Title Page; Copyright; Contents; Author's Notes and Acknowledgments; Introduction: The Painter's Brush; 1. Plane Truth: Things about Wings and Why Knots; The Airplane in Art, Music, and Film; 2. Elements of Unease: Turbulence, Windshear, Weather, and Worry; High Art: History, Hype, and the World's Biggest Planes; What Plane Is That? An Airfleets Primer; Revere Reverie: A Hometown Memoir; 3. What Goes Up...: Takeoffs , Landings, and the Mysterious Between; What's the Matter with Airports?; 4. Flying for a Living: The Awe and Odd of a Life Aloft

The Right Seat: Propellers, Polyester, and Other MemoriesAccommodations: On the Road with Patrick Smith; 5. En Route: Life in the Cabin; North Latitude: Fear and Loathing on the High Atlantic; Looking Out: Memorable Views from Aloft; 6. ...Must Come Down: Disasters, Mishaps, and Fatuous Flights of Fancy; Terminal Madness: What Is Airport Security?; The Ten Deadliest Air Disasters of All Time; We Gaan: The Horror and Absurdity of History's Worst Plane Crash; 7. The Airlines We Love to Hate; The Yin and Yang of Airline Identity; How to Speak Airline: A Glossary for Travelers; Index