How to Keep a Plane in the Sky

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‘Eye-opening and quirky … compelling.’ Independent Non-Fiction Book of the Month

Rocket sleds. Chicken cannons. Artificial lightning.

Welcome to the fantastical world of test engineering.

‘Wildly entertaining and surprisingly profound.’ Guru Madhavan, author of Wicked Problems

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When we sit in an aeroplane, we trust that everything will work properly, that we will lift smoothly into the sky and touch down safely at our destination.

What we don’t generally consider is the wild, unseen world of test engineering that makes all this possible: the hidden heroes who bend plane wings, zap them with artificial lightning and repeatedly smash their tires into the ground until they reach breaking point.

Such outlandish experiments shape the products we use each and every day, from ‘childproof’ bottle caps to the cars we drive and the bridges we cross. They underpin our trust in the objects that we generally expect to work as anticipated and not (unexpectedly) crack, blow up or spontaneously collapse.

As Alex Davies reveals, this amazing reliability is thanks to the mostly invisible, maniacal, yet methodical work of test engineers, who divine how everything and anything could go wrong and then plan for it in advance – using rocket sleds, chicken cannons, bear testers and any means necessary.

Uncovering the surprisingly profound science behind the small print on the label, How to Keep a Plane in the Sky is a riotously entertaining must-read for fans of Humble Pi by Matt Parker; This Way Up by The Map Men, and Randall Munroe. 

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‘Things fall apart . . . but Alex Davies tells the story of the people who pick up the pieces, subject them to rigorous testing, and rebuild the world.’ Adam Rogers, author of Full Spectrum

'I can't remember the last book I devoured this quickly.’ PJ Vogt, host of the Search Engine podcast