I've enjoyed reading Patrick Smith's regular column at Salon.com called Ask the Pilot. He's a commercial pilot who writes a regular question-and-answer type column for the news site that addresses people's common questions about flying. It's a good mix of technical flight explanations and opinionated editorials about the airline industry and modern day flight.
I recently noticed that he's published a book filled with this type of writing, so of course I bought a copy. From what I've read so far, it's highly entertaining and educational. If you fly on a regular basis, you'll learn a lot about what's going on behind the scenes. Which pilots are most respected, what flights pilots like the best, why routes are arranged the way they are, why your plane suddenly aborted a landing, and so on. It's an honest behind-the-scenes view from the pilot's perspective.
Smith's own opinions on which planes are the most attractive and the dire straits of modern aircraft aesthetic are insightful and very entertaining. Anyhow, I look forward to getting to the back cover.

Comments
Chris - January 17, 2005 1:51 am
How far from the airport is the landing gear lowered? Are there any exceptions to how far out it is lowered?
Thanks
Daniel Burka - January 17, 2005 2:42 pm
Chris, I've got no clue, why don't you go ask the author over at Salon?
paul sardo - March 20, 2005 12:25 pm
hello. i am trying to solve a dispute and you just may be the right person to finally put an end to this craziness. an international flight from newark/ney york to lisbon, portugal takes roughly 6 hours give or take a few minutes. a return flight from portugal back to new york takes 7 plus. it seems to be almost the same flight pattern so why is that?
Daniel Burka - March 20, 2005 12:43 pm
Paul, I am not the author of the book above who is an expert on aviation. However, Google (which is the expert on everything) has a good answer to your question with a long discussion following. Apparently it's mostly prevailing winds.
hobz - March 23, 2005 6:05 am
hey, how do u know about the pilot's abbreviations for A-Z?