Most airlines expect the captain and first officer to eat different meals in flight, so one contaminated dish cannot knock out two pilots at once. At China Eastern and Virgin Australia, however, the widely repeated details of how that pilot…

Before a U.S. airline flight pushes back, a dispatcher builds a dispatch release — a signed legal document that fixes the route, the fuel load, and the alternate airport. The captain must countersign it, and under 14 CFR 121.533 both…

Pilots eat different meals to protect the one thing a flight cannot afford to lose: two working pilots. Food poisoning is one of the few hazards that can incapacitate both crew members at once from a single source. The rule…

On a US scheduled airline, two signatures must land on the same release before your flight leaves — the captain's and a dispatcher's. Both people hold equal legal authority to decide the flight can go. That means someone on the…