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How do you put across to the general public a feel for the ‘power’ (NB the quotes) that the jet pilot has under the control of his (or her) left hand at brake release?
Not easy without using a comparison. A possible comparison is Michael Schumacher (they may not know about Alonso yet) uses 900 horsepower to get his X ton car to 100 mph in Y seconds. This pilot has a T ton aeroplane that gets to 100 mph in S seconds – if M Schumacher’s car weighed that much it would need H Horsepower to do the same thing.
Replace the letters with your own relevant numbers on the basis that the same HP per ton will give the same acceleration – ignoring drag differences.