Title: 11 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Airplanes
111 Things You Probably Didnt Know About Airplanes
Presented by Lindsay Green
2Table of Content
- Introduction
- Airplanes are designed to withstand lightning
strikes - There is no safest seat on the plane
- Some airplanes have secret bedrooms for flight
crew - The tires are designed not to pop on landing
- Why cabin crew dims the light when a plane is
landing - You dont need both engines to fly
- Why there are ashtrays in the bathrooms
- What that tiny hole in the airplane window does
- Why airplane food taste so bad
- About those oxygen masks
- Why planes leave trails in the sky
- Contact Us
3Introduction
- Planes have changed a lot since the days of the
Wright Brothers (or, perhaps more
accurately, Brazilian inventor Alberto Santos). - Those first wood-and-cloth contraptions are an
entirely different species than the sleek Boeing
Dreamliners of today. - With the continual advancements in aerospace
technology, it's hard to keep up with all the
amazing things planes today are capable of doing
(and withstanding). - Below, 11 things you didnt know about airplanes
and air travel.
4Airplanes are designed to withstand lightning
strikes
- Planes are designed to be struck by lightningand
they regularly are hit. - Its estimated lightning strikes each aircraft
once a yearor once per every 1,000 hours of
flight time. - Yet, lighting hasnt brought down a plane since
1963, due to careful engineering that lets the
electric charge of a lightning bolt run through
the plane and out of it, typically without
causing damage to the plane.
5There is no safest seat on the plane
- The FAA says there is no safest seat on the
plane, though a TIME study of plane accidents
found that the middle seats in the back of the
plane had the lowest fatality rate in a crash. - Their research revealed that, during plane
crashes, the seats in the back third of the
aircraft had a 32 percent fatality rate, compared
with 39 percent in the middle third and 38
percent in the front third. - However, there are so many variables at play that
its impossible to know where to sit to survive a
crash.
6Some airplanes have secret bedrooms for flight
crew
- On long-haul flights, cabin crew can work 16-hour
days. - To help combat fatigue, some planes, like the
Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliners, are outfitted
with tiny bedrooms where the flight crew can get
a little shut-eye. - The bedrooms are typically accessed via a hidden
staircase that leads up to a small, low-ceilinged
room with 6 to 10 beds, a bathroom, and sometimes
in-flight entertainment.
7The tires are designed not to pop on landing
- The tires on an airplane are designed to
withstand incredible weight loads (38 tons!) and
can hit the ground at 170 miles per hour more
than 500 times before ever needing to get a
retread. - Additionally, airplane tires are inflated to 200
psi, which is about six times the pressure used
in a car tire. - If an airplane does need new tires, ground crew
simply jack up the plane like you would a car.
8Why cabin crew dims the light when a plane is
landing
- When a plane lands at night, cabin crews will dim
the interior lights. - Why? In the unlikely event that the plane landing
goes badly and passengers need to evacuate, their
eyes will already be adjusted to the darkness. - As pilot Chris Cooke explained to TL Imagine
being in an unfamiliar bright room filled with
obstacles when someone turns off the lights and
asks you to exit quickly. - Similarly, flight attendants have passengers
raise their window shades during landing, so they
can see outside in an emergency and assess if one
side of the plane is better for an evacuation.
9You dont need both engines to fly
- The idea of an engine giving out mid-flight
sounds frightening, but every commercial airplane
can safely fly with just one engine. - Operating with half the engine power can make a
plane less fuel-efficient and may reduce its
range, but planes are designed and tested for
such situations, as Popular Mechanics reported. - Any plane scheduled on a long-distance route,
especially those that fly over oceans or through
uninhabited areas like the Arctic, must be
certified by the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) for Extended-range Twin Operations (ETOPS),
which is basically how long it can fly with one
engine. - The Boeing Dreamliner is certified for
ETOPS-330, which means it can fly for 330 minutes
(thats five and a half hours) with just one
engine. - In fact, most airplanes can fly for a
surprisingly long distance with no engine at
all, thanks to something called glide ratio. - Due to careful aeronautical engineering, a Boeing
747 can glide for two miles for every 1,000 feet
they are above the ground, which is usually more
than enough time to get everyone safely to the
ground.
10Why there are ashtrays in the bathrooms
- The FAA banned smoking on planes years ago, but
eagle-eyed passengers know that airplane
lavatories still have ashtrays in them. - As Business Insider reported, the reason is that
airlinesand the people who design planesfigure
that despite the no-smoking policy and myriad
no-smoking signs prominently posted on the plane,
at some point a smoker will decide to light up a
cigarette on the plane. - The hope is that if someone violates the smoking
policy, they will do so in the relatively
confined space of the bathroom and dispose of the
cigarette butt in a safe placethe ashtray, not a
trash can where it could theoretically cause a
fire. - If you do smoke in the bathroom, expect a massive
fine.
11What that tiny hole in the airplane window does
- Its to regulate cabin pressure.
- Most airplane windows are made up of three panels
of acrylic. - The exterior window works as you would
expectkeeping the elements out and maintaining
cabin pressure. - In the unlikely event that something happens to
the exterior pane, the second pane acts as a
fail-safe option. - The tiny hole in the interior window is there to
regulate air pressure so the middle pane remains
intact and uncompromised until it is called into
duty.
12Why airplane food taste so bad
- Airplane food has a bad reputation, but the food
itself isnt entirely to blame--the real fault
lies with the plane. - A 2015 Cornell University study, reported
by Time, found that the environment inside an
airplane actually alters the way food and drink
tastes--sweet items tasted less sweet, while
salty flavors were heightened. - The dry recycled air inside the plane cabin
doesnt help either as low humidity can further
dull taste and smell making everything in a plane
seem bland. - About those oxygen masks
- The safety instructions on most flight include
how to use the oxygen masks that are deployed
when the plane experiences a sudden loss in cabin
pressure. - However, one that thing that the flight
attendants dont tell you is that oxygen masks
only have about 15-minutes worth of oxygen. - That sounds like a frighteningly short amount of
time, but in reality that should be more than
sufficient. - Remember, oxygen masks drop when the airplane
cabin loses pressure, which means the plane is
also losing altitude.
13Why planes leave trails in the sky
- Those white lines that planes leave in the
sky are simply trails of condensation, hence
their technical name of contrails. - Plane engines release water vapor as part of the
combustion process. - When that hot water vapor is pumped out of the
exhaust and hits the cooler air of the upper
atmosphere, it creates those puffy white lines in
the sky. - Its basically the same reaction as when you see
your breath when its cold outside.
14Table of Content
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