Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

DEBUNKED: 10 Airplane Myths That People Still Believe
Business Insider ^ | 09/24/13 | Alex Davies

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Travel
KEYWORDS: aerospace; airline; aviation; jet; myth; plane
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 141-160161-180181-200201-207 next last
To: Political Junkie Too

“Pilots don’t control the airflow to save on costs, they control the air temperature to save fuel costs.”

I don’t understand your statement. In the jets I fly there is a thermostat that controls cabin temperature. The range is from about 65 to 85 degrees. It modulates a valve that controls the cooling effect on the air used for pressurization. The fuel flow meters do not change in the slightest as I change the temperature.

What is the basis for your statement?


161 posted on 09/26/2013 3:08:04 PM PDT by CFIIIMEIATP737
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: oxcart

11. The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone.


162 posted on 09/26/2013 3:11:14 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hulka
Actually, the FAs can only control the cabin temperature “slightly”. On the old B-727s there was a rheostat in the mid cabin galley that could change the temp + or - 3 degrees.
We called it “the pacifier”. Would you design an airplane that would give the FAs any control of pressurization?
163 posted on 09/26/2013 3:21:32 PM PDT by BatGuano (You don't think I'd go into combat with loose change in my pocket, do ya?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 119 | View Replies]

To: SgtBob

Or say “take that (fill in the city)”! My reply was always “sometimes the runway will jump up at you”.


164 posted on 09/26/2013 3:32:59 PM PDT by BatGuano (You don't think I'd go into combat with loose change in my pocket, do ya?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: knarf
We had a drop when my brother and I were flying to Germany. All the drinks went straight to the ceiling - crap dripping everywhere. And amazingly noone started screaming or cussing out the flight crew.

Of course, it was probably 20 years ago - so....

165 posted on 09/26/2013 4:03:43 PM PDT by mykroar (China and Russia are playing chess while Obamas's playing 52 card pick-up.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: corkoman

Not true...pressurization is controlled from the cockpit and the back of the bus folks have nothing to do with it..and yes I was an airline pilot...


166 posted on 09/26/2013 4:07:37 PM PDT by StraysDaddy (I've fought the wars, hired the whores and done the chores..and am completely fed up!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Izzy Dunne

The doors open in, not out. Pressurization works to keep the door closed.


167 posted on 09/26/2013 4:11:40 PM PDT by Taxman (So that the beautiful pressure does not diminish!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: oxcart
5. You can get stuck on a plane toilet if you flush while sitting down.

You can get stuck, but only if your body forms a perfect seal on the vacuum toilet. This is difficult to do. Adam Savage of "Mythbusters" tried it out, and despite serious suction, got up without a problem. But it's still probably a good idea to stand before flushing.

You'd have to be a perfect a$$hole. :-)

168 posted on 09/26/2013 4:17:33 PM PDT by upsdriver ( Palin/West '16)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FreedomNotSafety; kidd
Opening a door is a risk. Just because it is extremely hard to open the door does not mean it is not a risk if and when the door is opened.

Even Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime couldn't open one of those doors. It takes over 10,000 pounds of force to counteract the air pressure differential between the inside and outside.

169 posted on 09/26/2013 4:45:22 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not really out to get you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Bernard Marx
Then why does D.B. Cooper's bail-out keep coming to mind?

That was from the rear air stairs door on a 727. They were controlled from the cockpit. After that incident in 1972, the rear door and stairs on all 727's were modified to make them inoperable in flight. Have you flown on a 727 recently? Just about all the 727's still in airline service at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 were retired by the end of 2001.

170 posted on 09/26/2013 4:56:29 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not really out to get you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: G Larry

uh...D.B. Cooper!?!?!?!
**************************
The stairs on a 727-100 are outside the (pressurized) “cigar” ,, the door leading to the stairs is not subject to intense negative pressure as it is protected from the airstream by the stairs ,,, with D.B. they were opened with a very low airspeed ,, a speed that would have allowed the hydraulics to operate the stairs.


171 posted on 09/26/2013 4:58:43 PM PDT by Neidermeyer (I used to be disgusted , now I try to be amused.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Hulka

“12. Objects heavier than air can’t fly.”

So. . .they beat the air into submission?

;-)
******************************
That would be a helicopter.


172 posted on 09/26/2013 5:05:17 PM PDT by Neidermeyer (I used to be disgusted , now I try to be amused.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 113 | View Replies]

To: Hulka; Izzy Dunne
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.

Even an Olympic class weight lifter couldn't open them. The doors are wedge shaped. The cabin side edgse of are larger than the outside edges of the door. There are literally tens of thousands of pounds of force forcing the door into the door frame.

173 posted on 09/26/2013 5:05:23 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not really out to get you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: Izzy Dunne
To explain it by saying that "it's pressurized" shows a complete lack of understanding of the problem.

I understood the post. Your explanation makes no sense at all.

174 posted on 09/26/2013 5:13:07 PM PDT by SandwicheGuy (*The butter acts as a lubricant and speeds up the CPU*ou)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: qam1

>>>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<<<

Not true. There is another drunk speeding idiot under 25 itching to kill you in head-on collision.


175 posted on 09/26/2013 5:38:50 PM PDT by cunning_fish
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 110 | View Replies]

To: BatGuano

I believe Boeing and Lockheed, make aircraft with doors that can open in flight.

C-17 and C-130.


176 posted on 09/26/2013 5:48:52 PM PDT by AFreeBird
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: qam1

“11. Flying is safer than driving”

way safer!!!

by the way, I’ve crashed and totaled one airplane.


177 posted on 09/26/2013 6:01:02 PM PDT by dalereed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MNDude
Is that you, Jesse?


178 posted on 09/26/2013 6:10:03 PM PDT by Alas Babylon!
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: CFIIIMEIATP737
I recall reading stories (perhaps a myth) that pilots were not running the air conditioners in order to save fuel.

I just did a short Google search, and found some articles on older Boeing 747s where this was possible.

-PJ

179 posted on 09/26/2013 7:01:38 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 161 | View Replies]

To: Billthedrill
12. Male flight attendants aren’t gay.

Hot towel? Hot towel?

180 posted on 09/26/2013 7:13:05 PM PDT by Rodamala
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 156 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 141-160161-180181-200201-207 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson