High-flying Facts About Air Travel
1 Flying may not be as glamorous as it once was, but it still makes for an exclusive experience: Only about 5 percent of the world’s population has ever been on an airplane (though more than 80 percent of Americans have). Still, upwards of 8,000 planes are in the air at any given moment, more than 5,000 of which are above the United States.
2 Today’s planes utterly dwarf those from the early days of aviation. The bright red Lockheed 5B Vega that Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic in 1932 weighed less than 2,000 pounds, while a Boeing 747 can top 400,000. (Each of its four engines alone weighs nearly 10,000 pounds.) And the 1903 Wright Flyer went about 30 miles per hour.
Most modern jets, however, cruise at 575 mph— that’s almost seven eighths of the speed of sound at 35,000 feet.
3 During a longhaul flight, an airplane toilet may flush as many as 1,000 times. And when it does, everything inside gets sucked out at speeds faster than Formula 1 race cars. Early plane toilets left much to be desired: Waste sometimes leaked outside the aircraft, where it froze and occasionally fell, damaging cars and houses below.
4 Despite what you see in movies, it’s impossible to open the doors of a passenger plane during a flight. The cabin pressure pushing against the aircraft is simply too strong. Lightning also isn’t worth fretting over: The metal cage of the plane protects passengers, and the electrical systems are built to withstand lightning strikes.
Everyone knows 5 you can’t smoke on airplanes, so why are there ashtrays in the bathrooms?
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that they be installed so that rule breakers won’t dispose of their cigarettes in the trash and potentially start a fire, which could then spread throughout the plane in less than two minutes.
6 Food poisoning made a few flights in the 1970s and ’80s nearly disastrous. On a 1982 jaunt from Lisbon to Boston, the pilot and copilot both battled a bad batch of tapioca pudding but managed to land safely. Many airlines now have pilots and copilots eat different meals to lessen the odds of them both becoming sick.
7 You can lower your own chances of catching a cold (or worse) on board by choosing a window seat and staying put during your flight. That’s because, thanks to the
HEPA filters, germs don’t usually travel more than a two-seat distance. If you do have to get up, don’t fret. Cabin air is very clean and is completely changed about every three minutes.
8 When pilots say “air pocket,” they really mean turbulence. The euphemism is supposed to be a less distressing way to describe rough air leading to a bumpy ride. That said, there are no hardand-fast rules about the seat belt sign: Pilots use their best judgment about when it is safe for passengers to move freely about the cabin.
9 Perhaps you’ve seen video footage of particularly unruly passengers being restrained midflight with handcuffs or even duct tape. These methods may seem extreme, but crew members are well within their rights to use them. Although
restraint is always a last resort, many flight attendants’ kits include ties or tape. The FAA gives crew members latitude in dealing with disruptive passengers.
10 Putting your devices on airplane mode protects against radio interference, which applies not only to pilots communicating with ground control but also to the sensors the plane uses to gauge its distance from the ground during descent and landing. Today, most airlines offer inflight Wi-fi, either by linking up with cell towers on the ground (and simply connecting to the nearest transmitter as the plane travels), or by using satellites while flying over large expanses of water.
11 It can get cold at 35,000 feet— and with good reason. Hypoxia is a medical term for the absence of enough oxygen in your body’s tissues, which often results in fainting. The high pressure in cabins makes the condition more likely—as do warm temperatures— so airlines keep the thermostat low to be on the safe side. Bundling up is better than the alternative, but you might want to bring your own blanket. A Wall Street Journal report found that airlines clean theirs only every five to 30 days.
12 An analysis from Popular Mechanics found that passengers near the tail of the plane were 40 percent more likely to survive a plane crash than those in front. But Arnold Barnett, PHD, professor of statistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, figures you could fly, on average, once a day for 4 million years before succumbing to a fatal crash.
13 Even if you have no interest in flying, you might want to check out the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro, Alabama. The facility has exclusive contracts with all major U.S. airlines to purchase lost luggage (defined as not picked up after three months). Many of the bags’ contents are donated, but some items (think diamond rings and designer clothes) end up on the store’s shelves.