10 myths about airplanes and air travel that you shouldn't believe

Myth 1. Planes fly entirely on autopilot.

On the Internet, you can find statements in the spirit of "the autopilot steers the plane, and the pilots are sitting in the cockpit just for the sake of it." Alternatively, the pilots allegedly intervene only in emergency situations, and in the normal course of events, the ship flies by itself.

In general, modern autopilot systems are theoretically capable of flying from takeoff to landing without human intervention.

But this is only theoretical. In practice, when inexperienced pilots trust the computer too much, it can lead to disaster.

For example, in 2009, an Air France plane crashed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, killing 228 people. It turned outAnnual Safety Recommendations Review / EASAthat the speed sensors were iced over, the autopilot went crazy and threw the ship into a tailspin, and the crew sitting in the cockpit simply lost control without the help of a computer.

Rely only on the computer it is forbiddenCan cockpit automation cause pilots to lose critical thinking skills? Research says yes / Psyh.org, since with it pilots simply lose their aircraft control skills. And any contingency will become critical, even if the ship is in good physical condition. Therefore, the pilots teachP. Smith. Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel fly at different levels of automation, up to its complete shutdown.

Myth 2. Can you open an airplane door in the air?

This is a popular stamp, found in cinemaand in cartoons. The hero wants to quietly leave the plane, takes a parachute, gets out of the cabin and opens the door, and then jumps out and flies away safely.

actually open it up impossibleHow Things Work: Cabin Pressure / Smithsonian Magazine - unless you're Superman, or at least you've got a reasonably powerful hydraulic jack in your hand luggage. The internal pressure of the atmosphere presses the door tightly against the body, making the aircraft sealedP. Smith. Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel.

In addition, the so-called Cooper blade does not allow the ladder to be folded down in flight, keeping it in a blocked state with incoming air flows.

This device receivedP. Smith. Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel his name in honor of a certain Dan Cooper. He hijacked a plane to the US in 1971.

Trying to hide from the FBI, the man forced the pilots to depressurize the cabin and open the door, and then jumped out with a parachute. The plane continued its flight and safely returned to the airport. Cooper, by the way, was never found.

Myth 3. If you do not turn off the mobile phone, the plane will fall

Everyone knows that mobile phones must be turned off before takeoff. Otherwise, the electromagnetic waves emitted by them will damage the navigation systems of the aircraft and it will crash.

But in fact, mobile phones on board do not interfere with aircraft, but with ground infrastructure.

Aircraft equipment operates on other frequencies, and smartphones do not work for it do not affectThe Real Reason Cell Phone Use Is Banned on Airlines / Live Science. Therefore, there is no direct ban on their use in aircraft.

But the US Federal Communications Commission in 1991 releasedThe Real Reason Cell Phone Use Is Banned on Airlines / Live Science a recommendation to turn off phones in the air or put devices on airplane mode. The commission speculated that their signals could overload communication systems on the ground.

The logic is this: when the phones of many passengers are flying over land, they are constantly trying to connect to terrestrial cell towers, and switching from tower to tower happens too quickly. As a result, the infrastructure cannot cope with a bunch of signals.

However, this is only in theoryThe Real Reason Cell Phone Use Is Banned on Airlines / Live Science. Even in 1991, the FCC could not find clear evidence that such a situation could actually happen, and simply decided to play it safe. And since then, the speed of processing signals on cell towers has only grown.

Passengers often fly with their phones on, and many airlines provide Wi-Fi on board their aircraft. So the FCC's "recommendation" is anachronism.

Myth 4. Planes dump sewage in flight

Another popular myth is that when the waste bins from the toilets on the plane overflow, they are emptied in the air. Well, if it happens over a desert area or the ocean, but once in a while don't have toWhy is human waste falling from India's skies? / BBC News.

On the Internet, you can even find news about how frozen feces from airplanes fall on the roofs, which can kill. Just like in the show "The customer is always dead."

From this, many conclude that the dumping of waste right during the flight is an absolutely regular procedure, and they are rightly indignant that airlines do not think about ordinary people.

In fact, such a problem does exist. Workers in the Western aviation industry delicately called‘Airline poo’ falls on India village causing confusion / BBC News these wastes are "blue ice". And sometimes such meteorites even break throughBlock of ice crashes through roof of house in Bristol / BBC News through the roofs of houses.

But don't think that pilots empty the tanks in the air specially. "Blue ice" leaks occur when the aircraft's drainage systems malfunction when pipes burst. This is a rather rare occurrence. The crew is physically not able toIce falls / Civil Aviation Authority drain the contents of the tanks in the air, this can only be done on the ground.

Myth 5. When flushing, the toilet on an airplane can suck a passenger in

Another “toilet” tale: allegedly, when waste is drained, a vacuum forms in the toilet bowl of the aircraft, and the passenger can stick to the seat. Some even argue that this can cause serious injury - the waste collection system will literally suck in the intestines of the unfortunate.

Just like in the work of Chuck Palahniuk. Only not in the pool, but on the plane.

This myth appearedStuck on You/Snopes.com because of the news, which was published in 2002 by some publications, including the BBC and Reuters. Allegedly, an American woman sued a Scandinavian airline for being sucked to the toilet in an aircraft. The airline denied the rumor and said it was a fabrication.

In reality, the toilet doP. Smith. Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel will not be able to, even if you wash off the waste without getting up from it (although this is disgusting). It is physically impossible to press against the seat so tightly that a vacuum forms between it and the body.

Myth 6. Oxygen masks are needed to induce euphoria

By the way, one more thing about Chuck Palahniuk, if we already remembered him. AT "fight clubTyler Durden delivered a speech that went something like this.

So here it is not trueIn-Flight Emergency: When the Masks Come Down / Gizmodo. If the pressure in the cabin of the aircraft drops - and this can happen even if the aircraft is in good condition and capable of continuing the flight - passengers will have to breathe rarefied air, as on the top of Everest. This is not very good for well-being and may well kill.

Therefore, in case of depressurization, pilots urgently lower the altitude so that the air pressure becomes comfortable again. And while they do this, passengers will have to breathe through a mask.

Myth 7. You get drunk faster on the plane

Perhaps this explains the desire of some individuals to drink on board an aircraft or before loading onto it. It sounds more or less plausible: at high altitudes, the air is more rarefied, therefore, less oxygen enters the bloodstream, and metabolism changes.

Alcohol begins to be better absorbed and hits the head harder. Is it logical?

However, in fact, this is an old myth that has long been dispelled by practical research1. The Claim: You Get Drunk Faster at High Altitudes / The New York Times,
2. G. Roeggla. Effect of Alcohol on Acute Ventilatory Adaptation to Mild Hypoxia at Moderate Altitude / Brief Communications
3. Drunk and High in Denver / Slate.com Federal Aviation Administration. It has been established that the content of alcohol in the blood, when drinking equal volumes of the drink, remains the same at different heights.

The thinner air in the cabin of an aircraft can indeed cause mild discomfort and impair cognitive abilities, but not significantly. And it doesn't make alcohol stronger.

But less oxygen in the blood makesHere's Why Drinking Alcohol On A Flight Makes You Feel More Drunk / HuffPost UK Life a person who has drunk on board, fall asleep faster, skipping the phase slow sleep. This will create a false feeling that you can fall off your feet from one glass in the air.

Myth 8. One small hole in the hull and the plane will be torn apart

AT spy movies there are such scenes: the hero and the villain grappled in a desperate fight in the cabin of a flying plane, the positive character is trying to snatch a gun from the enemy.

An accidental shot, a through hole appears in the skin, the aircraft depressurizes, falls apart in the air into pieces, begins to fall... And at the last second the hero manages to jump out with a parachute, and the sinister dies when crash.

In reality, bullet holes in the body, of course, will not have the best effect on the condition of the aircraft, but it will not break into pieces due to a couple of holes.

After all, it's not a balloon.

There are cases when aircraft with much larger holes landed safely, although their passengers had to wear oxygen masks due to decompression.

For example, in 2006, the crew of an Alaska Airlines flight discoveredAsk the pilot / Salon.comthat their ship has a hole in the side with a diameter of 30 centimeters - the driver of the loader at the airport crashed and decided to modestly keep silent about it. And nothing, the plane successfully flew to its destination.

This myth is even checkedExplosive Decompression (Myth) / Mythbusters "Mythbusters" In order to slightly damage the test aircraft, they needed an armor-piercing charge - a pistol and a detonating cord were not enough. As you can see, aircraft are stronger than you think.

And yes, the little holes in the windows of airplanes that you might see are not the result of airline negligence, but a design feature. They are allowWhat's That Thing: Why are there holes in airplane windows? /Slate.com balance the pressure between the inner and outer panels of the windows, removing excess air from the passenger compartment.

In addition, these holes do not allow the glass to fog up. Don't worry, if you put your finger on them, it won't get sucked in - the holes, of course, are not through.

Myth 9. Airplane recirculation spreads germs

A popular scarecrow for germophobes, that is, people with fear microbes.

In airplanes, the air system is practically closed. The air is driven by air conditioners through the cabin until it enters the lower part of the fuselage. About half of it is thrown overboard there, the rest is returned to the cabin. Fresh air is pumped in and the cycle begins anew.

Can you imagine how many pathogenic bacteria are walking in such conditions?

Actually not very much. Floor filters that draw in exhaust air from the passenger compartment are excellent weed out The 5 most annoying myths about flying / Boston.com 94 to 99.9% microbes. Air in airplanes passesWhat You Need to Know About Air Quality During Commercial Flights / Trip Savvy a full cleaning cycle every 2 minutes, so there are far fewer bacteria flying there than in the office building where you work.

But the door handles, tray holders and armrests in airplanes are really teeming with bacteria. So try to touch them less and wash your hands more often.

Myth 10. Flying in an airplane is very dangerous.

Many people are afraid of flying on airplanes and believe that traveling by land is somehow calmer. But statistically, this is not true. Airplanes are the safest mode of transport. And in this respect they outnumberAre Trains Safer Than Planes? Statistics Are Clear About Which Mode Of Transportation Is Safest / Bustle.com even trains, and even cars and motorcycles, and even more so.

Plane crashes seem to us such frightening and dangerous events because they are very rare, and so much attention is paid to each incident.

Medium frequencyDifference Engine: Up, up and away / The Economist aviation accidents - 0.19 accidents per 1 million flights. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), indicatorsDifference Engine: Up, up and away / The Economist safety in the air is 60 times higher than that of cars. So the adage “You are more likely to die on the way to the airport than in a plane crash” is not far from the truth.

But even a crash or, as pilots put it politically correct, a “hard landing” of an aircraft does not meanIs there a chance to survive a plane crash: says Popular Mechanicsthat the passengers on board are doomed. US National Transportation Safety Board calculatedSurvivability of Accidents Involving Part 121 U.S. Air Carrier Operations, 1983 Through 2000 / NTSBthat 95% of people involved in air crashes from 1983 to 2000 survived.

And since then, security requirements have only grown. Modern aircraftP. Smith. Cockpit Confidential: Everything You Need to Know About Air Travel fire-resistant, the crew from them is easily evacuated, and the hulls made of composite materials are able to endure serious injuries without falling apart.

By the way, the ship in the photo above is a DC-3, the victim crashFrom Iceland - Iconic Airplane Wreck In South Iceland Riddled With Graffiti, Polish Media Reports / CNN in Iceland in 1973. All of his crew remained unharmed. And the body of the aircraft has become a kind of tourist attraction.