The exotic blend of international travel, the authority of commanding the ever larger and faster airliners, and those dashing uniforms turned heads, drew autograph hunters and attracted groupies. Pilots also made a lot of money. Today it is different. Captain Dave Ryter earned so little when he was a co-pilot for a major airline that he lived in a gang area of Los Angeles, commuted for hours to work and made less money than a bus driver. A pilot's life: exhausting hours for meagre wages
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Jan 11, 2010 - 39 comments

Were they arguing? Were they asleep? It's not clear yet why two pilots overflew the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles before turning around in Wisconsin. What is known is that they dropped radio contact over Kansas, that Air Force fighters were put on alert, and that, according to MN Public radio, passengers saw cops and stern-looking men in suits waiting on the jetway when they were finally allowed off the plane. MSP alt-weekly City Pages aggregates info about the flight as it comes in, and discussion on local sites is spirited.
posted by COBRA! on Oct 23, 2009 - 74 comments

Stories that Fly is a citizen media project that features a growing collection of digital stories about general aviation. The stories are contributed by student journalists, aviators, and interested community members and cover regional airports, events, and people in the Ohio aviation community.
posted by netbros on Mar 23, 2009 - 3 comments

Aviation Explorer "Your online source for aviation information and media...aviation web resources for pilots and flight enthusiasts." I'm neither a pilot nor a flight enthusiast, but still found this site interesting (especially the accidents section, which reminded me of this previous thread on cockpit voice recorders).
posted by jdroth on Jan 21, 2004 - 5 comments