Coffee spills in the cockpit can be dangerous. The solution is some plastic, for now

It’s a legend immortalized in the 1964 flick “Fate is the Hunter”: An airline pilot is enjoying a coffee and accidentally spills the piping-hot liquid on the cockpit’s crucial electronic components. It’s not just Hollywood, however. Years of public documents show that spills can have terrifying — if non-fatal — consequences in the air.

It’s a legend immortalized in the 1964 flick “Fate is the Hunter”: An airline pilot is enjoying a coffee and accidentally spills the piping-hot liquid on the cockpit’s crucial electronic components. It’s not just Hollywood, however. Years of public documents show that spills can have terrifying — if non-fatal — consequences in the air.