title: Controlled Crash: An Airline Odyssey, from Eels and Ethics to Blimps and Drunken Bears
author:  Eldon Brown 
description: Pilots like to say that every safe landing is really just a controlled crash. In his witty and entertaining memoir, Eldon Brown shares thoughtful recollections from his colorful and sometimes bumpy ride through a thirty-five year aviation career that spanned several airlines and countries.
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  # Man Overboard!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### F. Marion Crawford
  
  
  This page copyright © 2001 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  
  YES -- I have heard "Man over-board!" a good many times since I was a boy, and
  once or twice I have seen the man go. There are more men lost in that way than
  passengers on ocean steamers ever learn of. I have stood looking over the rail
  on a dark night, when there was a step beside me, and something flew past my
  head like a big black bat -- and then there was a splash! Stokers often go
  like that. They go mad with the heat, and they slip up on deck and are gone
  before anybody can stop them, often without being seen or heard. Now and then
  a passenger will do it, but he generally has what he thinks a pretty good
  reason. I have seen a man empty his revolver into a crowd of emigrants
  forward, and then go over like a rocket. Of course, any officer who respects
  himself will do what he can to pick a man up, if the weather is n