Originally Posted by
kittiepride
(2) Is there at all a key that goes into an airplane ignition? Don't laugh at me!
In a small piston-driven airplane, definitely. And for most of them you turn it just like you do on a car to start the engine. Some newer piston planes as well as turboprops and jets operating in non-airline service have locks on the doors which require a key, but once you get inside you just need to know the right switches to get the plane started up. I have never seen either on a commercial jet though - I guess there's no need to lock the door from the outside thanks to our fine TSA agents guarding access to the airport apron.
Originally Posted by
freshairborne
Reading some of these posts are more stressful than flying a single-engine approach in a simulator! Haven't tried one in an (airline) airplane yet.
It's not particularly relevant here, but I did a single-engine approach in a Seneca I on my commercial/multiengine checkride followed by a single-engine go-around (where I forgot to retract the landing gear) followed by that particular single engine actually failing during the go-around. Fortunately, this time we had only reduced power on the other engine and hadn't actually shut it down, or else it would probably be a much more interesting story.