Things Your Pilot Won't Tell You You may not be getting the airline you paid for. You may go to an airline website and buy a ticket, and get onto an airplane that has a similar name painted on it, but half the time, you're really on a regional   airline.The regionals aren't held to the same safety standards as the majors: their pilots aren't required to have as much training and experience, and the public doesn't know that. --Captain at a major airline If you're a nervous flier, book a morning flight. The heating of the ground later causes bumpier   air, and it's much more likely to thunderstorm in the afternoon. --Jerry Johnson , pilot, Los Angeles The smoothest place to sit is often over or near the wing. The bumpiest place to sit is in the back.If you're in the middle, you don't move as much. --Patrick Smith, pilot, and author of Cockpit Confidential Sit in the front if you want fresher air. The general flow of air in any airplane is from front to back.So if you're really concerned about breathing the freshest possible air or not getting too hot, sit as close to the front as you can.Planes are generally warmest in the back. --Tech pilot at a regional airline, Texas You never know where the safest seat is. There is no safest place to sit.In one accident, the people in the back are dead; in the next, it's the people up front. --John Nance, aviation safety analyst and retired airline captain, Seattle I've been struck by lightning twice. Most pilots have.Airplanes are built to take it.You hear a big boom and see a big flash and that's it.You're not going to fall out of the sky. --Charlotte, pilot for a regional earner,.North Carolina People don't understand why they can't use their cell phones. Well, what can happen is 12 people will decide to call someone just before landing, and I can get a false reading on my instruments saying that we are higher than we ideally are. --Jim Tilmon, retired American Airlines pilot, Phoenix Passengers' use of cellphones before landing is likely to   _  .
increase the risk of being struck by lightning make it difficult for pilots to control the plane cause the instruments of the plane to break down affect pilots' judgment about the height of the plane