As a captain for American Airlines, Filucci flies to Miami to report to his job.

From there, he flies an Airbus A300-600 to places like Panama City, San Jose, Costa Rica, Santa Domingo and the Dominican Republic.

The commute from Wichita to Miami isn’t so bad.

“It’s really an opportunity to catch up on reading,” he said.

Filucci moved to Wichita in January when his wife, Julie, joined Cessna Aircraft as national manager for Cessna Pilot Centers.

Filucci takes the commute in stride.

There are other airline pilots who live near or travel to Wichita and fly to hubs in Denver, Dallas or Atlanta to start work. Filucci must change planes in Dallas or Atlanta to get to Miami.

He points out that there are other airline pilots with long commutes.

“I don’t hold the award for the longest distance,” he said.

“I’ve met commuter pilots in my career who’ve commuted to the East Coast… all the way from Anchorage, Alaska.”

He’s heard of pilots who have married, moved to Europe and commute to the U.S.

Filucci has never missed work because of flight delays on his commutes , but has come close.

Filucci learned to fly while in the Maryland Air National Guard, mainly flying C-130s. He joined American Airlines in 1986.

While he was in the National Guard, there were few job openings at the airlines.

“We used to joke that you had to have at least three lunar landings to get hired,” Filucci said.

Then the industry was deregulated, and there was an explosion of growth. The airlines needed qualified pilots.

Since that time, Filucci has lived through the highs and lows of the airline industry. He’s managed to avoid the furloughs that have hit some other pilots.

Timing is everything.

“It has nothing to do with skill,” he said. “It has everything to do with luck.”

Filucci has traveled the country doing air shows, flying Chinese warbirds in a routine with a partner. When his partner had to quit flying because of health issues, Filucci stopped doing the shows.

He is currently active with the Formation and Safety Team, a group that trains formation flying to pilots of restored vintage aircraft.

He and his wife own a 1946 Globe Swift and are planning to build a home and hangar at the Benton Airpark.

What do you see ahead for the airline industry?

“That’s the question on everyone’s lips right now. There’s going to be some consolidation in the industry. We just saw Northwest and Delta consolidate. In the future there will be more inroads (in the U.S. industry) made by foreign-owned airlines.”

What about air travel?

“Air travel (will) just keep growing and growing and growing. That will happen once we get out of this recession. (It) looks like the population of the world will keep expanding. (And) more people in the world are moving to middle class and moving up. (That will help stimulate) high demand for air travel.”

What advice would you give someone considering an airline pilot career?

“I would just make sure they go in it with their eyes open…. I would tell them it looks like now you’re not going to make as much money and the retirement options are virtually nonexistent….

“If you start with a commuter (airline) these days, which is a typical road young guys take, those guys are making $14,000 to $16,000 (a year) in starting wages. It’s a lot of hard work for very little return.”

Anything else?

“I would tell them if their passion is for aviation, they should go out and earn their keep in the corporate world.”

What do you like best about your profession as a pilot?

“I always thought it was the merging of the left side and the right side of the brain. One part of aviation is the technical and the mathematical side. The other is the art and the beauty of it.”

Shapiro, of Souderton, first thought the delay in her usually 15-minute flight from Allentown on the morning of Nov. 16 was routine. Instead, the 35 passengers and three crew members found themselves bracing for a landing without the plane’s front wheel.

Crew members on the de Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprop, operated by Piedmont Airlines as a US Airways Express flight, reported hearing a “creaking and groaning noise” as the plane taxied to the Allentown runway. They thought the noise was normal. Once airborne, the nose gear took “three to four seconds longer to retract than the main landing gear,” according to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report.

Upon the approach to Philadelphia, a red light indicated unsafe nose gear when the crew tried to extend the landing gear.

“That is when the pilot made an announcement,” said Shapiro, 49, a computer trainer for Oracle, who was on her way to San Francisco for business. Her heart sank “about a good foot.”

Crew members tried other ways to drop the gear, according to the NTSB report. They contacted the control tower, and performed a flyby. The nose-gear doors were open, but the gear was not visible.

In the cabin, Shapiro said, the flight attendant prepared passengers for an emergency landing. One passenger, who was also an airline flight attendant, helped explain the crash position – feet on the floor, hands on legs, head down – and answer questions. No one panicked or cried, Shapiro said.

“I’m sure we were all getting religious or getting upset inside, but for the most part, we were pretty good,” she said.

A passenger across the aisle from Shapiro pulled out the air-sickness bag.

When the attendant “said no sharp objects, and take your glasses off, I think a lot of it really hit home then,” Shapiro said.

As the plane descended, she heard the two attendants yelling, “Head down, brace; head down, brace,” even as one went hoarse.

The plane landed on its back wheels. The crew tried to keep the front of the plane from coming down until the slowest speed possible, according to the NTSB report.

Shapiro thought she would “fly out of her seat” when the plane’s nose hit the runway and skidded 525 feet.

“Oh, that was rough,” she said. “It is amazing how much smoother a landing is with wheels.”

When the plane stopped, the cabin erupted in cheers and applause for the crew. Out the window, Shapiro saw emergency crews surrounding the plane with hoses.

“They just started foaming us like crazy,” she said. “They were all dressed up in those suits and looked like space guys.”

The preliminary NTSB report said the links – cables or tubes on top of the steering columns that help center the wheel – in the nose gear were broken.

Steven Farrow, president and chief executive officer of Piedmont Airlines, called the landing “very, very unusual,” and praised the crew.

“This is the first time we have had to make a landing without all three wheels,” he said. Piedmont has 55 planes and about 150,000 landings each year, and has flown this type of 50-passenger plane since 2001. Farrow declined comment on the specifics of the investigation.

According to the NTSB, there were 32 landing accidents involving large U.S. commercial aircraft between August 2000 and November 2007.

Passengers got off the tilting plane in Philadelphia using stairs pushed up to the front exit. A bus took them to a US Airways lounge, where they were treated to fruit and pastry. Airline personnel retrieved luggage left behind and rebooked missed flights.

When a friend asked if she was going to continue on her trip, Shapiro said she would.

“Unless I flap my arms, I’m not going to get to San Francisco any other way,” she said.

If you are forever wrestling with the controls and you have aching arms when you land, you are not using the pilot’s best friend – the trim wheel.

Trimming the controls allow a pilot to balance the lift and drag being produced by the wings and control surfaces over a wide range of loads and airspeeds, reducing the effort required to adjust or maintain a desired flight attitude.

A properly-trimmed aircraft can be flown literally with your fingers lightly on the controls. Get into the habit of trimming every time you change attitude or power settings, first letting the aircraft stabilise into the desired attitude.

Use small corrections and take the time to trim correctly – the aircraft will naturally want to stay in equilibrium whether in straight-and-level flight or in a constant ascent or descent.

If you can take your hands off the controls and the aircraft stays in the same attitude, it is trimmed correctly.

The most common example of a trim tab is the elevator trim found in almost all aircraft. The elevator trim tab is adjusted to maintain the angle of attack without pilot interaction.

A properly-trimmed aircraft increases fuel efficiency by reducing drag. A climbing aircraft has a tendency to yaw which increases parasitic drag because more of the fuselage is facing into the wind.

Elevator trim balances the control force necessary to maintain the aerodynamic down force on the tail. Certain flight configurations, such as slow flight, require a lot of trim to maintain the desired angle of attack.

Trimming increases aircraft stability as a properly-trimmed aircraft will return to the same attitude and airspeed after encountering any disturbances such as turbulence or gusts of wind.

There is also trim for the rudder and ailerons used to counter slipstream or the effects of the centre of gravity being to one side. This can be caused by a larger weight on one side of the aircraft compared to the other, such as when one fuel tank has a more fuel in it than the other or when there are heavier people on one side of the aircraft.

Aileron trim is found mostly on large fixed-wing aircraft.

If the aircraft has a rudder trim wheel, use it – it’s a lot easier than flying with one foot on a rudder pedal to centre the ball.

Take the time to learn the skills of correct trimming and you will be surprised at just how easy a properly-trimmed aircraft is to fly.

GPS technology is available for widespread use by hikers, drivers, boaters, or flyers, and smart pilots know to take advantage of it. GPS is even being included in the latest versions of wireless phones.

GPS was developed by the US Department of Defense in the 1970’s; at that time it was known as NAVSTAR GPS. The primary purpose was for military use. In 1983, a Soviet plane shot down a Korean Air Lines flight that had entered Soviet airspace. As a result, 269 passengers on board the flight were killed. President Ronald Reagan reacted by issuing a directive making the Global Positioning System available, upon completion, for worldwide civilian use at no charge to the user.

Three components make up the Global Positioning System: a series of 24 or more satellites that orbit the earth sending precise microwave signals, control and monitoring stations on the surface, and receivers. Longitude, latitude, and altitude are the three-dimensional location factors given to the receiver, plus time, when the signal is received. This signal makes available a reliable positioning navigation path and timing services for use by civilian operators.

GPS is utilized by both the military and civilian sectors. Because GPS guidance components can be used for military purposes, civilian exports of GPS receivers are controlled by the U.S. government.

GPS relies on three basic components to work: absolute location, relative movement, and time transfer. Navigation is done through the absolute location component. Traditional GPS has three dimensions, but a fourth dimension, time, is becoming an increasingly critical element to many industries. Each and every satellite carries more than one atomic clock which adds accurate time data to GPS signals. It is possible to accurately measure time within 100 billionths of a second. This precise calibration of time is used for communications systems, power grids, and financial networks. To enable complex multi-camera sequencing and to manage audio and video data, Hollywood movie studios make use of the time component of GPS.

GPS has greatly improved the operation of aircrafts. GPS can provide continuous and accurate positioning information in real time throughout a flight. It allows all aircraft to plot routes that are safe, flexible, and make best use of fuel. GPS allows for a reduction in the separation minimum between aircraft and has thereby reduced aircraft delays and increased the efficiency of air traffic management.

The cost of the GPS receiver is far outweighed by the advantages of having it onboard, so no pilot should ever fly without access to GPS. While you can get a good GPS deal from eBay, it isn’t worth the risk of receiving a defective product, especially if the problems are not discovered until you are in flight. If you are shopping for a receiver, please ensure that you purchase this from a reputable company that has extensive knowledge of aircraft and the aviation industry.