Photo: 123 RF Paying Attention to Safety Briefing Why people don’t listen to inflight briefing? Last weekend, I was on a flight to see the world’s tallest tropical timber tree at the Tawau Hills Park in Sabah, Malaysia. This was my first flight after more than 2 years of the Covid-19 pandemic. I was looking …
Photo: Travel3Sixty Fear of Flying Help me! I am scared of flying! Careen Loo wrote to me by forwarding this Instagram video with screaming passengers https://tinyurl.com/27y52tcs She asked me 3 questions: 1: Whether the turbulence was considered moderate or severe. Well, I would classify this as severe turbulence. Turbulence is categorized into: Light – just …
Ditching – An Emergency Water Landing Is it safer to crash a plane on land or water? What are the chances of surviving a water landing? These 2 questions come from Praveen Upadhyay. Whether it would be safer to crash on land or water would depend on the choices available. If the misfortune happens near …
Photo: 123RF Flying without Fear Why is flying on an airplane so nerve-racking? For more than 2 years after restrictions and lockdowns due to Covid-19, people are rushing back to fly again. As the urge to fly to places where international borders are opening up, air ticket bookings are reported to be fast picking up. …
A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600 Breaking News! Virgin Atlantic, the first UK airline to allow their cabin crew to show off their tattoos! Virgin Atlantic cabin crew are permitted with effect from May 31, 2022 to display their tattoos to ‘encourage staff to be themselves’ and ‘champion individuality’ according to its chief People Officer, Estelle …
Photo: 123RF A QANTAS Boeing 747-400 Goodbye to the Iconic 747 as she flies into the sunset Imtiaz Hussain who has fond memories of the 747 Jumbo Jet asks why Boeing has decided to stop producing this plane. Well, Boeing had indeed announced on July 2020 that they have decided to retire this very famous …
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Photo: 123RF A Super Jumbo Airbus A380 Why do airplanes not just fall out of the sky due to gravity? Gebo Pol wants to know how an iron bird, such as the Airbus A380 weighing about 560 tonnes, is able to stay in the air and not fall out of the sky due to gravity. …
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Photo: 123RF Singapore Airlines Boeing 777 Why you shouldn’t be scared about flying I have just received a query from an air traveler in my Messenger. She asked whether she should be concerned about flying on her upcoming flight on the Boeing 777 with Singapore Airlines. This concern probably arose after the crashes on the …
Do planes fly in a straight line or follow the curvature of the Earth? Do planes fly in straight lines or follow the curvature of the Earth below? When I began to learn how to fly, during my first lesson, my instructor told me to maintain a ‘straight and level’ flight at 3000 feet. …
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A Malaysia Airline Boeing 737-800 It felt as if we were going to die! Recently, a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800, similar to the China Eastern Airlines plane which crashed on 21 March 2022 in Wuzhou, China, encountered an unusual event that caused the aircraft to dive. The CAAM (Civil Aviation Authority Malaysia) press release attributed …
Can a plane window shatter in mid-flight? What happens if a plane window shatters mid-flight? Airplane windows are relatively strong. The main thing to know is that aircraft cabin windows are not made of glass but with stretched acrylic. You won’t be able to break an airplane’s window with your fist as it has …
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Photo: BobMil42 Airbus A340 Fuel Dumping in progress Why pilot dump fuel during an emergency? Prior to hanging up my uniform as a captain on the Boeing 777 in 2006, I encountered an emergency which potentially could have led to a depressurization if not properly handled. We could have ended up like the Helios Airways …
Photo: DavidCB N1819U McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 United Airlines What happens if the pilot loses complete control of the aircraft? This week’s question comes from Herbert Garrison. I assume he meant the total failure of the control wheel or control column, a device to physically fly the plane. On the modern Airbus, we refer to it …
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Source: Wikipedia Helios Airways Boeing 737 If both pilots were incapacitated, would the flight attendant know how to land the plane? Scott Richards asks the above interesting question. Well, AIRPORT 1975 was an attempt to portray such a possibility. In this movie, the captain of a small plane suffered a heart attack and crashes into …
Image: 123RF An upside-down plane? Can an airliner fly upside down? This is an interesting question from Lisa Anderson. Perhaps she may have seen the movie Flight where Academy Award winner Denzel Washington ‘skillfully’ maneuvered his plane during an uncontrolled dive. Miraculously he put it upside down before rolling the wings to right-side up for …
Boeing 787’s wings are incredibly strong Why a plane’s wings don’t break? When sitting by the window seat, one may notice the wing tips shaking up and down during turbulence. In aviation jargon, this is known as flexing of the wings. This may lead some nervous flyers to imagine that the bending motion may …
Image: 123RF An Air Transat Airbus A330 What are the chances of landing safely on some islands if both engines fail while flying over the ocean? To have two engines fail on a plane is extremely rare. Amongst others, there were 2 such incidents – one was caused by a flock of wild geese at …
Slithering snake on board Airbus A320 caused plane to divert In my last posting (see here), I mentioned that there is a check list for every emergency on board the plane. Now I must confess that there is none for ‘Snake on board cabin’! That was exactly what happened a few days ago day when …
Slithering snake on board Airbus A320 caused plane to divert. Read More »
Loss of Braking memory action involves 8 steps What is the first thing to do in case of an emergency on a plane? I shall answer this Quora question from a pilot’s perspective. Pilots will follow this mantra, ‘AVIATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNUICATE’ when encountering an emergency. They are taught to aviate, a pilot’s jargon to mean …
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Source: Starboard76 John Travolta flying his own Boeing 707 What is the largest plane you can fly with a private pilot license? A private pilot license (PPL) is basically the most basic of the 3 flying licenses and it restricts a pilot from operating any plane over 12,500 lbs. However, actor John Travolta was able …
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