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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
didn’t know about airplanes and air travel.
Airplanes are designed to withstand
lightning strikes
Planes are designed to be struck by lightning—
and they regularly are hit. It’s estimated
lightning strikes each aircraft once a year—or
once per every 1,000 hours of flight time. Yet,
lighting hasn’t 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.
1*There 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 it’s impossible to know where to sit to
survive a crash. Oh, and plane crashes are
incredibly rare.
Some 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.
The 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.
Why 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 T+L: “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.
You don’t 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 Mechanicsreported.
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 (that’s 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.
Why 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 Insiderreported, the reason is that
airlines—and the people who design planes—
figure 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 place—the ashtray, not
a trash can where it could theoretically cause a
fire. If you do smoke in the bathroom, expect
a massive fine.
What that tiny hole in the airplane window
does
It’s to regulate cabin pressure. Most airplane
windows are made up of three panels of
acrylic. The exterior window works as you
would expect—keeping 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.
Why airplane food taste so bad
Airplane food has a bad reputation, but the
food itself isn’t 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 doesn’t help either as low humidity
can further dull taste and smell making
everything in a plane seem bland. According to
a 2010 study from the Fraunhofer Institute for
Building Physics in Germany, it’s about 30
percent more difficult to detect sweet and salty
tastes when you’re up in the air. Next time you
fly, skip the meal, and maybe try a glass of
tomato juice instead.
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 don’t 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. According to
Gizmodo, a pilot will respond to that situation
by donning an oxygen mask and moving the
plane to an altitude below 10,000 feet, where
passengers can simply breathe normally, no
extra oxygen required. That rapid descent
usually takes way less than 15 minutes,
meaning those oxygen masks have more than
enough air to protect passengers.
Why 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. It’s basically the same
reaction as when you see your breath when it’s
cold outside.
http://www.timestelegram.com/zz/
lifestyle/20161117/11-crazy-things-you-
never-knew-about-planes
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
didn’t know about airplanes and air travel.
Airplanes are designed to withstand
lightning strikes
Planes are designed to be struck by lightning—
and they regularly are hit. It’s estimated
lightning strikes each aircraft once a year—or
once per every 1,000 hours of flight time. Yet,
lighting hasn’t 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.
1*There 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 it’s impossible to know where to sit to
survive a crash. Oh, and plane crashes are
incredibly rare.
Some 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.
The 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.
Why 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 T+L: “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.
You don’t 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 Mechanicsreported.
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 (that’s 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.
Why 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 Insiderreported, the reason is that
airlines—and the people who design planes—
figure 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 place—the ashtray, not
a trash can where it could theoretically cause a
fire. If you do smoke in the bathroom, expect
a massive fine.
What that tiny hole in the airplane window
does
It’s to regulate cabin pressure. Most airplane
windows are made up of three panels of
acrylic. The exterior window works as you
would expect—keeping 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.
Why airplane food taste so bad
Airplane food has a bad reputation, but the
food itself isn’t 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 doesn’t help either as low humidity
can further dull taste and smell making
everything in a plane seem bland. According to
a 2010 study from the Fraunhofer Institute for
Building Physics in Germany, it’s about 30
percent more difficult to detect sweet and salty
tastes when you’re up in the air. Next time you
fly, skip the meal, and maybe try a glass of
tomato juice instead.
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 don’t 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. According to
Gizmodo, a pilot will respond to that situation
by donning an oxygen mask and moving the
plane to an altitude below 10,000 feet, where
passengers can simply breathe normally, no
extra oxygen required. That rapid descent
usually takes way less than 15 minutes,
meaning those oxygen masks have more than
enough air to protect passengers.
Why 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. It’s basically the same
reaction as when you see your breath when it’s
cold outside.
http://www.timestelegram.com/zz/
lifestyle/20161117/11-crazy-things-you-
never-knew-about-planes
