We've talked to pilots as they've gotten off their airplanes, and none of them has seen an Iraqi plane flying in the sky during the 11 days of this intense coalition bombing campaign.

CNN: Gary Tuchman: No letup in coalition air campaign

As the passage implies, even something as seemingly simple as an airplane flying in the sky is actually just one part of a large sociotechnical system composed of various human and machine elements, from the pilot and airplane to a series of airports, communication and navigation systems, bureaucracies, regulations, rules and norms of flight, and more.

FORBES: A Domain Like Cyberspace

Membership will make it much easier for British scientists to propose experiments and to get access to facilities like a zero-G plane, which generates short periods of weightlessness by flying a series of parabolas in the sky.

BBC: Britain attracted to microgravity

The logistics of flying could be as important as the shape, size and weight of the planes in the sky, they believe.

BBC: Sowing the seeds of tomorrow's aircraft