Posted on 09/26/2013 12:03:19 PM PDT by oxcart
Flying can be a mysterious experience: Planes are incredibly complicated, even scary machines, and pilots and flight attendants don't tell you too much about what's going on.
So it makes sense that people believe all sorts of interesting "facts" about air travel.
The problem is, a lot of them aren't true.
From "you get drunk faster in the air" to "the air in planes is riddled with germs," here are 10 airplane myths that needed to be debunked.
1. Opening a plane door while in flight is a real safety risk.
It isn't. When the plane is at cruising altitude, it's pressurized. That pressure means that getting a door open would require superhuman strength.
To quote Patrick Smith, an airline pilot, blogger, and author of Cockpit Confidential: "You cannot – repeat, cannot – open the doors or emergency hatches of an airplane in flight. You can’t open them for the simple reason that cabin pressure won’t allow it."
So don't worry about the occasional passenger going nuts and everyone flying out of the plane as the result of an opened door, it isn't going to happen. Which leads us to the next myth...
2. A small hole in a plane will lead to everyone being sucked right out.
Patrick Smith notes that while bombs and large-scale structural failures can cause disastrous, rapid decompression, a small hole in a plane's fuselage is a different matter.
After a foot-long breach in an Alaska Airlines MD-80 plane led to an emergency descent in 2006, Smith wrote in his Salon column: "The breach was a small one, and once the cabin pressure had escaped, it could be reasonably assumed that the plane was going to stay in one solid piece and fly just fine. Which it did."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
At 35,000 feet the outside air pressure is about 3.5 lbs. per square inch. If the cabin is pressurized to 7000 feet equivalent, the interior pressure is about 11.5 lbs. per square inch. The pressure differential is therefore 8 lbs. per square inch. Assuming the door is 3 feet by 7 feet (3024 square inches), the pressure on the door is slightly over 24,000 lbs. Given that the door must be initially opened inward, it is inconceivable that a door could be opened by a person.
Thank you for that 10 foot pole, Lurk, but I think you can see why I needed it in the first place.
Your post #55. Possible, but I’m not convinced on colds.
Hey! I guess I should have read further down-thread before my reply...
I give up.
that was an impressive (and amusing - from this point of view) show of patience on your part
Flying on one engine will slow you down considerably and make you very late. Flying on no engines will keep you up forever.
I’m reminded of one of my favorite movie quotes, from Saving Grace-
Maybe he thought he was going to the bathroom and picked the wrong door.
Yes, very likely. Would you excuse me?
Apples & Oranges.
Also, if you don't drive drunk, wear your seatbelt, excessively speed or you are over the age of 25 then your chances of dying in car accident go way, way, way, way down.
Meanwhile you can do all those and it won't matter if your plane goes down
Number 2 belies number 1. Once cabin pressure has equalized with the outside, due to a breech, then the door may be opened just as easily as if they were sitting on the ground.
“The pressure is on the INSIDE, pushing OUT. It’s not a far stretch to think that the pressure would HELP you open the door, not hinder you”
Perhaps. . .but the doors open inward therefore you are fighting pressurization forcing the door closed, so, in fact, opening a door inflight at altitude would require super human strength.
“12. Objects heavier than air can’t fly.”
So. . .they beat the air into submission?
;-)
And you have revealed your real fear: not a fear of flying, but a fear of lack of control.
You forgot to mention how the flight crew was mesmerized into ramming the Pentagon by radiation off the HAARP array, which EvilBoooosh controls from his secret Skull and Bones lair beneath the campus of UT-Austin.
Any place where you can sit and people bring you drinks is OK by me! The only problem is they charge $4 a drink so, between Dallas and Fort Worth is $40 bucks...
I agree with you that the article was badly worded (that portion anyway). And you have much more patience than I do with everyone who defends the article by giving alternate explanations of exactly the part you claim is badly worded!
It takes 4 Bloody Marys to make the morning flight from Shreveport to Las Vegas...I concur!
FReegards!
“The flight attendants have the ability to adjust the cabin pressure a little (most Boeing AC). “
The stewardesses controlling cabin pressurization. . .not the air crew? The air crew cabin has the same pressure as the main cabin, so, you are saying stewardesses can lower the pressure causing slight to severe hypoxia, therefore impair the pilots and other cabin crew?
Imagine an angry ugly old bitter stewardess (not hard to imagine on US flagged carriers), getting even by depressurizing slowly. . .thereby taking out the air crew and cabin crew and passengers. I am not sure the FAA would certify an aircraft that allows stewardesses to control cabin pressure.
Got a link for reference on that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.