the.com/pilot
part god of the sky, part bus driver who isn't allowed to drink on the job
means A person who operates an aircraft, ship, or other vehicle — or, as an adjective, something done as a trial run before the full thing.
from From the Italian 'pilota,' which traces back through Medieval Latin to a Greek root 'pedon,' meaning the blade of an oar or a rudder — so the original pilot was a steersman of ships, not a flier of planes. The word kept to the sea for centuries; only in the early 20th century, when humans took to the air, did it climb into the cockpit. The 'trial run' sense (a pilot episode, a pilot program) is more recent still, borrowing the idea of someone who guides a venture into uncharted waters.
- crash odds
- You're likelier to die in the drive to the airport
- two-meal rule
- Captain and copilot often eat different meals on purpose
- left seat
- The captain always sits on the left side
- oxygen first
- Cabin air thins fast; pilots mask up in seconds
- autopilot truth
- Humans still handle the tricky takeoffs and landings
charles lindbergh — first person to fly solo nonstop across the atlantic in 1927
amelia earhart — first woman to fly solo across the atlantic in 1932, disappeared over pacific in 1937
chuck yeager — first person to break the sound barrier in 1947 in bell x-1