Richard Havers and Chris Tiffney: It depends what you mean :)

I've known some crews who have a great time wherever in the world they are. I was once staying in a hotel in Lagos and waiting for the elevator to take me up stairs. It showed it was coming up from the lower level where the swimming pool was located. As the doors opened there were four British Caledonian stewardesses dressed in nothing but their bikini bottoms. I think they had fun!

As a general rule of thumb smaller airlines tend to have crews that have more fun onboard. However, what for us can be an exciting trip away is just a job for them.

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Orlando, Fla.: Is there anything you learned in the course of writing your book that made you change the way you fly?

Richard Havers and Chris Tiffney: As we're fond of saying, If God had meant man to fly then he'd have given us tickets. God hasn't given us any tickets lately!

Perhaps the key to enjoying yourself when you fly is to try to relax as much as possible. Most things that happen you have little or no control over, just go with the flow. However, as a rule of thumb be nice to people and they'll be nice to you. If I were still working in the airline business I'd run extra courses for our staff to try and teach them better manners. The pressures that everyone is living and working under just makes for fractious relationships at every level.

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Brooklyn, N.Y.: What was one of the most surprising stories you came across when researching this book?

Richard Havers and Chris Tiffney: Don't get us started....Up,Up & Away...

Mr Larry Walters, a resident of California, had long harboured a desire to fly. He joined the air force, but sadly his poor eyesight prevented him from training as a pilot. After leaving the armed services he decided one day to satisfy his urge to fly like a bird. Lacking the traditional means, such as an aircraft, hang glider or even parachute, he decided to resourcefully use balloon power.

He purchased 45 weather balloons, tethered them to a plastic garden seat and set about filling them, one by one, with helium. He reasoned that eventually he would have sufficient lift to float up to the top of the trees in the garden and admire the view enjoying the wonderful sensation of flying. A cautious man, he tethered the chair to his jeep with a thirty-foot rope and he took with him his air rifle to shoot out some of the balloons when he wanted to go back down. He also thoughtfully took some beer and sandwiches to enjoy on the way. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, at first the adventure was a roaring success. He achieved takeoff and began to climb. Once at his target height, the tree tops, he prepared to descend and looked down. And saw his friends cut the tether rope. He began to climb very fast. Petrified by the height and the danger of death if he got it wrong, he couldn?t bring himself to shoot any balloons. So, transfixed by fear, he climbed further. And further. He levelled out at 16,000 feet and began to drift, cold and petrified for fourteen hours.

Things began to get really out of hand when the air currents took him into to airspace of the approach to Los Angeles? airport. Several pilots reported seeing a man in a garden chair dangling below a cluster of balloons bobbing past them at over twenty thousand feet. Finally Larry summoned up the courage to start shooting balloons and effected a fairly controlled descent, until the dangling balloons caught on a power line, blacking out the Long Beach area for 20 minutes.

Unharmed by the current, Larry managed to climb down the pylon to safety and into the arms of the waiting police. As he was led away Larry commented to a reporter "A man can't just sit around." The authorities were not amused. Federal Aviation Administration Safety Inspector Neal Savoy commented "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we know which part it is, a charge will be filed."

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Richard Havers and Chris Tiffney: Thank you very much from both of us.
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