man you pilots fascinate me with what you do... flying rockets really. If i could do it all over again, i would have taken the advice of that Navy recruiter back in 87 who promised me that based on my perfect test score...he would "make me Top Gun"... I guess the pull of the blonde on the back of Cruise's motorcycle wasnt enough to sway me though.
In another life perhaps.
Regarding control to plane communications, I remember being on a flight about 5 years ago during a major winter storm, where we couldnt land in Detroit so they were trying to figure out where to put all the planes and they directed us towards Minnesota... the communication was on the stereo system on the seats and I happened to tune in to hear the controllers talking to all of the pilots...at one point it got heated up with frustrated pilots demanding their instructions, people talking over each other etc...so the controller shut everyone up by saying 'listen, no one will speak unless we address them specifically...understand??" so everyone shut up and they were able to get things organized...that was a frank and fantastic listening experience for a person on that plane that night.