Almost as soon as that thought passed through my mind, the load master had me sit in the jump seat immediately behind the left-hand pilot's seat. The left seat is the "pilot-in-command" seat in small airplanes. I assume that that holds true in large, jet aircraft, as well. Perhaps a reader who is more knowledgeable than I can comment further.
Nevertheless, one of the things that I like about flying from March Air Reserve Base as a private pilot (I rent a Cessna 182 from the base's Aero Club) is the fact that there is very little traffic. So, I'm not kept waiting very long for take-off clearance, generally. Therefore, it came as no surprise when we taxied on to the runway immediately.
From my little jump seat, I couldn't see much outside, but it seemed as though we were going to use runway 14, which is 13,300 feet long.
Once we were in position for take-off, the pilot in the left seat jammed all four throttles forward. There was a rumble as the four CFM International turbo-fan engines, each of which generates over 21,000 pounds of thrust, spooled up.
I was pushed back into my seat, as the aircraft began to accelerate.
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