Back in the cockpit after time off recovering from COVID-19, an airline pilot forgot to start his plane¡¯s second engine for takeoff, a mistake that could have ended in disaster if he hadn¡¯t aborted the flight.

Another pilot, fresh from a seven-month layoff because of the pandemic and descending to land early in the morning, realized almost too late he hadn¡¯t lowered the wheels and pulled out of the approach just 800 feet (240 meters) from the tarmac.

Weeks earlier, a passenger plane leaving a busy airport headed off in the wrong direction, flown by a captain who was back on deck for the first time in more than six months.