6 Fun Facts About Airplanes

Let's dive into some fun facts about airplanes! By the end of this article, you'll know some awesome facts about planes to show off to your family and friends!

1. Why do cabin crews dim the lights during landing? In case of an emergency. If there is a situation where passengers are forced to exit the plane during a night landing, it would be much easier for them to get out if their eyes are already adjusted to the darkness.

   
   

   For a similar reason, passengers must keep their windows open during landing to spot a possible issue and find out which side of the plane is better to evacuate from.

   
   
   
   

2. Why do pilots eat different meals? To avoid food poisoning. In case you didn't know, pilots eat the same food as passengers in first and business class. However, copilots eat a different meal. This is to avoid both pilots getting sick in the situation that the food can cause food poisoning.

   
   
   
   

3. Why are there ashtrays in airplane bathrooms if smoking is banned? In case someone does smoke. Even though smoking in lavatories was banned in 2000, airplanes are still required to have an ashtray. This is because if someone inevitably does end up disobeying the law and smoking in the bathroom, they will need a place to dispose of it, and a lit cigarette inside a massive airplane running on jet fuel is not a good combination.

   
   
   
   

4. Why is there a small hole in my airplane window? To regulate cabin pressure in case the window breaks. Airplane windows are made of three different panels-- the exterior, middle, and interior. The exterior helps sustain cabin pressure with an airtight lock, but if anything ever happened to the exterior panel, the middle panel would become the new exterior panel. The small hole in the middle panel is called a "bleed hole" and regulates the air pressure around the middle panel so that nothing happens to it before it is needed.

   
   
   
   

5. Why does food taste so bland in the air? Your taste buds go numb. Due to the low amount of humidity and the lower air pressure at 35,000 feet up, a lot of your taste buds go numb. This decreases your sensitivity to sweet and salty flavors by about 30%, but spicy, bitter, and sour flavors taste the same.

   
   
   
   

6. Why do airplanes fly at 35,000 feet? Two reasons: efficiency and safety. Air is thinner at higher altitudes, allowing the plane to travel faster and use less fuel. However, they can't fly above 45,000 feet because the jet engines need a certain amount of oxygen to power the plane. Safety-wise, airplanes manage to avoid most storms and bad weather by flying above the clouds, which is another reason they fly so high.

   
   

   Another related fun fact: in order to avoid crashing into each other in midair, airplanes flying south, southwest, west, and northwest fly at even-numbered altitudes, like 36,000 and 38,000 feet, while aircraft flying north, northeast, east, and southeast fly at odd-numbered altitudes, like 37,000 and 39,000 feet.