Riddle me this: can airplanes fly with only
one wing? Or can they reach supersonic speeds — still
with a single wing? If you answered no to both, you’re in for
a surprise! There’s still so much you probably didn’t
know about airplanes, and neither did I — until today! Let’s review my list, shall we? 1. Can airplanes avoid hitting birds mid-flight? Technically, they can’t. Poor birdies. Accidents happen, and sometimes planes must
make an emergency landing because a bird smacked into the windshield or got itself into one
of the engines. But this is usually the case during takeoff
or landing, since birds don’t fly at the airplane cruising altitudes. Unless they’re wearing oxygen masks or something. Measures taken at the airports to prevent
this include loud sounds, like shooting blanks into the air to scare off the birds from the
runway, or even specially trained birds of prey, who bully the other birds so that airplanes
could take off safely. 2. How can a plane get struck by lightning and
still continue its flight? Normally, after it’s hit by lightning, an
airplane is sent for inspection, but it can still safely complete its current flight. The fuselage conducts electricity well enough,
and like with a lightning rod, the zap will most probably strike one of the tips of the
airplane — either one of the wings, or the nose. Then it seeks the ground but doesn’t find
it, exiting from the tail. It’s easier for electricity to roll through
the surface of the plane than go inside, so people on board are safe from its effects. Still, lightning is powerful, and there can
be some damage done to the airplane on the outside. 3. Can the airplane’s equipment be disrupted
by mobile phones? The short answer is no, the longer answer
is nooooooo -- your device can’t make any of the plane’s electronics malfunction. But there’s a catch. If you owned a smartphone about 5 years ago,
you might remember that weird noise coming out of any speakers around you when someone
called you. This normally doesn’t happen with modern
devices, but the danger is still there. Imagine a pilot trying to make out what the
control is saying and all they hear is static because someone hasn’t turned on the airplane
mode? I wouldn’t like to be on the same plane. Speaking of which… 4. What does airplane mode do, exactly? It might seem some sort of a magical button
that allows you to keep your phone turned on during the flight, but all it does is just
cut any radio transmission, cellular or Bluetooth. You aren’t likely to get reception at 30,000
feet anyway, but it can be important during takeoff and landing, when you’ve still got
signal. And today the airplane mode is more flexible
too, allowing Wi-Fi to work on board. That’s why you can connect to the on-board
entertainment system even with everything else turned off. 5. Is it really a must to keep the window covers
open during takeoff and landing? Absolutely. And yes. Most incidents happen exactly at these times,
so flight attendants need to have the clearest view possible. With window screens open, they have better
lighting inside, can see if anything goes wrong outside, and the ground crew can also
notice if something happens on board. In case of emergency, rescuers should also
be able to see inside for people trapped in the cabin. So only close that cover when you have safely
climbed to unfathomable heights you can’t escape anyway. Mwahaha. 6. Why are some contrails so short-lived, while
others stay in the sky for a long time? Contrails are a lot like clouds: they appear
from water condensing high up. Jet engines burn fuel, emitting CO2 and water
vapor, as well as other gases. Some of them allow water particles to collect
around themselves, creating water droplets and becoming visible from the ground. If it’s already humid up there, then there’s
more water, and the contrail is more prominent. And if it’s cold, the droplets might turn
into ice, staying behind for a much longer time. 7. Why aren’t there supersonic passenger airplanes? There used to be two of them in the past,
but both turned out to be unprofitable and dangerous. The British & French Concorde and the Russian
Tu-144 Charger were the only commercial airplanes to have broken the sound barrier in the 20th
century. They were thought to be the future of civil
aviation, but the costs turned out to be just too high, and a series of crashes sealed the
fate of both supersonic jets. 8. Why are pilots’ and flight attendants’
seat belts so different from passengers’ ones? Unlike passengers, flight attendants don’t
have armrests or even comfortable enough cushions to sit on. All they have are small foldable seats near
the galley. That’s why they need not only a seat belt,
like yours, but a shoulder strap as well. Also, in an emergency, flight attendants have
to be able to coordinate evacuation, so they have this extra protection. As for the pilots, they have a five-point
harness that keeps them firmly in their seats. This allows them to control the airplane even
when it’s rocking and swaying like crazy. Not that it’s going to rock and sway like
crazy on your flight. Hmm.
9. Why does traveling by car feel faster than
by airplane? Going 70 mph on an interstate makes you feel
the drive and excitement of speed. Flying at nearly 600 mph makes you drowsy
at best. This is because you don’t feel the actual
speed of anything: you can only see how fast you’re moving relative to other objects. The closer, the faster — in a car, everything’s
close to you, so you see trees, people, houses, and other cars zapping past you. On board an airplane, everything’s so far
away that it seems to go at a snail’s pace. 10. How many wings does an airplane have? Every commercial airplane you’ve been on
has only one wing. The first airplanes were called biplanes because
they had two wings: one on the top and the other going through the bottom of the fuselage. They were connected by struts and wires, which
made a kind of a box that basically kept the craft from falling apart in the air. It was necessary at lower speeds that early
planes could only muster, but as the engines increased in power, the second wing became
redundant. The one remaining wing still serves as a support
for the whole structure, though. 11. How can you drink your coffee on board a plane
and not have it spilled when it banks? There are forces at work on an airplane that
don’t allow passengers to feel all the moves the aircraft performs. When it banks, it applies a certain force
to itself so that it feels like you’re being pressed down, not to the side. A simple example: if you take a half-filled
glass of water, hold it in your outstretched hand, and spin around fast enough, you’ll
see the water crawling the side of the glass. At some point, you can technically achieve
enough spin to turn the glass to the side without spilling a single drop. You’d better not try it, though, the vertigo
is terrible. By the way, if you know the exact name of
this force, leave your guess in the comments below. 12. Why can’t airplanes go to space? Seems pretty logical for something that can
fly at enormous altitudes to be able to fly even higher, right? Not really: planes depend on air to fly because
their wings generate lift thanks to it. The higher you climb, the thinner the air
becomes, until you simply run out of it altogether. And the thinner the air, the more speed an
aircraft needs to keep the altitude. So when there’s no air, wings generate no
more lift, and the airplane simply stalls. 13. Why is there turbulence sometimes even when
the sky is clear? Clouds, especially thunderheads, can indicate
that an area of turbulence is ahead. But sometimes a clear-air turbulence occurs,
when a plane can drop a whole bunch and start shaking without any warning. It happens when two bodies of air clash at
very high speeds, and it’s invisible, so the pilots can’t tell when it would happen. The chances of getting into an area of clear-air
turbulence are higher at low altitudes over mountain ranges and near the jet stream. By the way… 14. What is a jet stream? There are several extremely fast rivers of
air high up in the atmosphere of our planet. Weather systems are also controlled by jet
streams. They move in strange ways but have a constant
flow, allowing passenger aircraft to sometimes use them. When an airplane comes close to a jet stream,
it may adjust to the direction of its current and fly a lot faster, propelled by the flow. Many airlines use this to their advantage
to cut the costs of fuel and make air traveling even faster. 15. How can airplanes fly if one engine fails? First things first: an airplane can only fly
with one failed engine if it’s already in the air. It can’t take off in this condition — and
it won’t. While mid-flight, though, the single remaining
engine will give the aircraft enough thrust to continue moving forward. It will tend to turn to the failed side, but
the pilot can straighten it up by pushing to the other. Besides, the airplane’s nose doesn’t even
need to face straight forward to fly in that direction, and can be a little crooked while
still continuing on its route. 16. What is the yellow fixture on the airplane’s
wings? Looking out the window on the plane’s wing,
you can see a small yellow double hook on it. It seems strange, since it might mess with
aerodynamics, but it’s there for your safety. In case of an emergency landing, these hooks
are used to secure ropes that help passengers exit the plane via the wing. If they’re slippery, the rope will help
you keep your footing and not fall over while climbing around. Hey, if you learned something new today, then
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