6. ATC—Air Traffic Control

Aviation Trivia -- (source USAToday 4/25/03)

Q. Who was the first person to fly from Hawaii to the West Coast? Amelia Earhart in 1935.

Q. When was the first in-flight movie? On April 6, 1925, a single-reel short was shown on a Deutsche Lufthansa flight. Silent films were ideal for showing on noisy airliners.

Q. Which is the oldest continuously operating U.S. Airline? Delta, established in 1929.

Q. How many commercial airports are in the country? 558

Q. What is the busiest airport in the world? Chicago O'Hare, which had 922,787 flights in 2002.

Q. Which does a typical airline pilot earn? $109,790. Flight attendant? $40,600. U.S. Flight Controller? $87,930.

Q. How many planes have been hijacked? 1,000.

Q. Which airline has never had an accident that resulted in a fatality? Qantas, the Australian carrier.

Q. What is historically the safest part of the plane to sit in? In accidents from 1970 to 2000, there was no significant difference in survival rates for passengers seated in the front or the rear of the plane, except for accidents during approach and landing, where the rear was safest.

Q. What are your chances of dying I a crash on a commercial airliner? 1 in 4,178,464. That means you could fly one flight per day for more than 11,000 years without incident. By comparison, 114 people per day die in auto accidents--the equivalent of a large commercial aircraft crash every other day.

Q. Can a plane fly with one engine? Yes

Q. In flight-attendant parlance, what's a "thumper?" A passenger who gets jollies from kicking of bumping the seat in front.

Q. Why does a thumper always sit right behind you? Some questions have no answer.

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