The central premise of the book is that flying a heavy jet is fundamentally different from flying a piston-engined aircraft. Davies outlines three major differences that define the "Jet Age" for pilots:
In a light prop, the backside of the power curve feels mushy. In a big jet, it is lethal. The PDF goes into detail about approach speed stability . If you are slow and you pull back on the yoke to stop sinking, you increase drag (induced drag from the AoA), worsening the sink rate. The solution? to gain speed—a counterintuitive act that saved lives during the 1970s accidents (e.g., the 1963 Vickers Vanguard crash). Handling the Big Jets.pdf