Сan airplanes fly with only one wing? Or can they reach supersonic speeds — still with a single wing? If you answered no to both, you’re in for a surprise! Every commercial airplane you’ve been on has only one wing! As for supersonic jets, the British & French Concorde and the Russian Tu-144 Charger were the only commercial airplanes to have broken the sound barrier in the 20th century.
There’s still so much you probably didn’t know about airplanes! Can they avoid hitting birds mid-flight? Why are some contrails so short-lived, while others stay in the sky for a long time? Why is there turbulence sometimes even when the sky is clear? Interested? Let’s delve deeper into the topic!
TIMESTAMPS:
Can airplanes avoid hitting birds mid-flight? 0:25
How can a plane get struck by lightning and still continue its flight? 1:06
Can the airplane’s equipment be disrupted by mobile phones? 1:49
What does airplane mode do, exactly? 2:28
Is it really a must to keep the window covers open during takeoff and landing? 3:03
Why are some contrails so short-lived, while others stay in the sky for a long time? 3:42
Why aren’t there supersonic passenger airplanes? 4:17
Why are pilots’ and flight attendants’ seat belts so different from passengers’ ones? 4:48
Why does traveling by car feel faster than by airplane? 5:30
How many wings does an airplane have? 6:08
How can you drink your coffee on board a plane and not have it spilled when it banks? 6:46
Why can’t airplanes go to space? 7:34
Why is there turbulence sometimes even when the sky is clear? 8:08
What is a jet stream? 8:51
How can airplanes fly if one engine fails? 9:15
What is the yellow fixture on the airplane’s wings? 9:49
Preview photo credit:
KIEV, UKRAINE - JULY 10, 2015: Turkish Airlines Airbus A320 taxiing to the gate after landing at Borispol international airport: By Bychykhin/Depositphotos.com, https://depositphotos.com/78568438/st...
Animation is created by Bright Side.
SUMMARY:
- Accidents happen, and sometimes planes must make an emergency landing because a bird smacked into the windshield or got itself into one of the engines.
- Normally, after it’s hit by lightning, an airplane is sent for inspection, but it can still safely complete its current flight.
- Today the airplane mode is more flexible too, allowing Wi-Fi to work on board. That’s why you can connect to the on-board entertainment system even with everything else turned off.
- With window screens open, flight attendants have better lighting inside, can see if anything goes wrong outside, and the ground crew can also notice if something happens on board.
- Unlike passengers, flight attendants don’t have armrests or even comfortable enough cushions to sit on. All they have are small foldable seats near the galley.
- The first airplanes were called biplanes because they had two wings: one on the top and the other going through the bottom of the fuselage. They were connected by struts and wires, which made a kind of a box that basically kept the craft from falling apart in the air.
- There are forces at work on an airplane that don’t allow passengers to feel all the moves the aircraft performs. When it banks, it applies a certain force to itself so that it feels like you’re being pressed down, not to the side.
- The higher you climb, the thinner the air becomes, until you simply run out of it altogether.
- Clouds, especially thunderheads, can indicate that an area of turbulence is ahead. But sometimes a clear-air turbulence occurs, when a plane can drop a whole bunch and start shaking without any warning.
- An airplane can only fly with one failed engine if it’s already in the air. It can’t take off in this condition — and it won’t. While mid-flight, though, the single remaining engine will give the aircraft enough thrust to continue moving forward.
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