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Airplane and travel myths discussion and explanation.

I feel there are a ton of myths related to airplanes, and I wish to bust some of them, or atleast spread the word. I will do such below:

8 years ago by Macstiff with 9 comments

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  • Macstiff
    +4

    MYTH 1: A little hole in the hull of the plane will suck everything out. This is FALSE, although the heightened pressure inside the cabin will suck out the air. The decompression happens in a few seconds, and will "only" suck out passengers close to the breach. I believe that mythbusters did a experiment where they concluded exactly this. If anyone knows the link that would be great.

    • SillyHead (edited 8 years ago)
      +2

      https://youtu.be/4yG2h1aDB6k here's the mythbusters video.

      P.S. also a Reddit immigrant. There's so many of us.

      • Macstiff
        +3

        Yup that's it! Such a cool episode. How do you like the website so far?

        • SillyHead
          +1

          The sites a bit slow on mobile, but that's probably just the residual Reddit hug of death. I also like the how you can have an avatar image

  • Macstiff
    +3

    MYTH 2: The cargo of the plane is practically a freezer. This is also FALSE. You can safely leave your drinks and such things in the cargo of the plane, without the fear of them expanding and popping due to the cold. Although you should be aware of the air expanding and possibly popping cans this way. So all in all you can smugle your cousin Tom in your luggage without him freezing to death.

  • Macstiff
    +2

    MYTH 3: Receving or making calls from your mobile phone, could potentially crash the plane. This is personally my favourite myth, as I have never understood why this is a thing, and we can all conclude that it is FALSE. So apparently the air-companies have been afraid, that the electromagnetic interferens and the radiowaves, could disrupt the communication and navigations system. The proof of this, has always been missing, and therefore multiple airlines are starting to allow electronics turned on, during landing and takeoffs.

  • Macstiff
    +2

    MYTH 4: Birds can cause a plane to crash. This is TRUE, and indeed very scary. If a bird hits a plane either on the hull or in the engine, it could potentially make the plane crash. However fear not, because if you would be so unlucky to get your plane engine taken out by a bird, most modern planes can operate using only one engine. To acoid this however, most modern airports are using "intelligent scarecrow" which sends out high pitch tones, to keep the feathered threat at a distance.

  • Macstiff
    +1

    MYTH 5: You fly faster when going from west to east. This is TRUE. This is due to powerful jetstreams blowing from west to east. There are rotating around the earth in an altitude of 8-12 kilometers. There are 4 jetstreams in total, and pilots often plan their route in relation to the jetstreams as it will save time and money (fuel). An example of this would be if you fly to London from New York it takes 8 hours, the other way around it takes 7 hours.