I think this might be my best chapter yet - now that the action has begun! Also, I made this stuff up, so please don't complain about the inaccuracies with the procedures!!

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I had already been sat in the flight deck for a good few hours, tirelessly cross-checking swathes of information from the displays and monitors adjacent to my seat, until only a few minutes remained before we were scheduled to depart. As the countdown timer passed 5 minutes,...