Half the cabin flies backward (actually a safer position to be in for a crash landing).

WSJ: The Many Ways to Catch Shut-Eye in the Sky

In both cases, Seidenberg took a step backward to the number two position, before eventually moving up to CEO again.

FORBES: Big Deal: Reflections on the American and US Airways Megamerger

And when America falters, our relative position will certainly slide backward.

CNN: Bill Clinton Speaks To A Meeting Of Newspaper Editors

"Using slow motion and freeze frame, Lane made sure that all of us sitting in that hot, poorly ventilated auditorium understood that Kennedy's head and shoulders were slammed backward and to the left, and that Lee Harvey Oswald's alleged shooting position was behind the presidential limousine, " Kelin wrote in a book, "Praise from a Future Generation, " about early critics of the Warren Report.

NPR: 50 Years On, Finding Profit In 'Truth' On JFK Case