Word: preflight
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...extensive preflight tests, Ethan Nadel, a physiologist at Yale Medical School, verified that the demands placed on the pilot -- the equivalent of running two marathons back to back -- would not exceed the limits of human endurance. Since the wingspan measures 112 ft. and the plane flies just 15 ft. above the ocean waves, even a second's pause would result in a quick dunking. To keep the human engine from sputtering, Nadel, with the Shaklee vitamin company, developed a lemon-flavored cocktail of energy-rich glucose, water and a blend of salts to nourish the pilot throughout the flight...
...From preflight preparation to landing, piloting NASA's specially equipped ER- 2 high-altitude research aircraft is not for the fainthearted. The three pilots who flew the twelve solo missions through the Antarctic ozone hole found the task grueling. An hour before zooming into the stratosphere, each had to don a bright orange pressure suit and begin breathing pure oxygen to remove nitrogen from the blood and tissues, thus preventing the bends, which can result from rapid reductions in air pressure. Once airborne, "you have to have patience," says Pilot Ron Williams, who flew the first mission. "You're strapped...
...called black box (it is actually bright orange, for easy spotting) that monitors everything from airspeed to brake temperatures. It showed no indication that the pilot had extended the flaps. Nor did conversation between the pilots in the cockpit include a mention of the flaps during the preflight verbal checklist...
...program started in January, the airline's employees set performance goals for themselves, subject to management approval. In the case of the Boston maintenance station, the goal is to make sure that less than 4% of all flights miss their scheduled departure times because of delays resulting from repairs, preflight loading, cleaning or the like. King says one supervisor earned an extra $800 through the incentive program in the first three months of the year. While some airlines offer performance incentives to employees like reservation clerks, Eastern seems to be the only one extending such a program to its mechanics...
...conscience. George Hardy, a high engineering official at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where the boosters were developed, last week accused Allan McDonald, the top Thiokol engineer present at Cape Canaveral for the launch, of having drawn on a "convenience of memory" in testifying about his preflight safety objections. Rogers protested that the comment implied McDonald might be lying and asked Hardy to withdraw...