December 2010 — A diverse gathering of aviators from all age groups could probably debate for hours the first airline airplane that required administrative thinking to manage the cockpit. If alcohol were included in this debate, days rather than hours would pass before a collective agreement occurred, if at all. For my purposes, and the fact that we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of its birth, my money is on the DC-3.
Regardless, all airplanes dictate a given level of cockpit management for any given phase of flight. That fact is not news for most readers of this magazine. What defines us as competent pilots is our ability to establish a priority for each management task. That ability keeps the proverbial blue side up, especially when non-normal circumstances occur. Such was the case for one of my flights from London back to JFK.
