Flying is a funny business. I mean there you are, strapped into a seat inside a giant capsule with wings, speeding through the air, until it has to touch down on some foreign tarmac with nothing but a pair of minuscule wheels to support its weight.
It's all pretty weird, right? Yet, we're all kind of okay with it.
However, this doesn't mean there's still a lot to wonder about. Following are some strange questions posed to British Airways flight crews, and answered by Captain Steve Allright, a training captain with over 11 000 flying hours, recently, we've gathered 9 strange facts about flying:
1. Jet engines are a lot less complicated than you think
Air is sucked in at the front of the engine and then squeezed through a series of rotor blades into a combustion chamber where aviation fuel is added and the mixture ignited. The air is blown out the back of the engine faster than it entered at the front, causing the thrust that moves the aircraft forward.
2. Steering a plane on the ground is very much like driving a car
When taxiing, the aircraft is controlled by a tiller which moves the nose wheel. The pilots can also control the nose wheel by moving the rudder pedals.
3. But planes can't reverse
That's why they need tractors to push them back.
4. Pilots and air traffic controllers all speak the same language
Around the world air traffic controllers and pilots speak a common language, English.
5. Flight crews have to check in too
At British Airways the check-in time for short-haul flights is one hour and 15 minutes and for long-haul flights it’s one hour and 30 minutes. In practice the pilots often arrive a lot earlier than that. We get to the aircraft between 40 minutes and an hour before the flight.
6. That thing the pilot mumbles just before take-off is actually a real instruction to the flight crew
'Place doors to automatic and cross check' is a standard instruction and means that the crew arm the inflatable slides so that these will automatically deploy should the door be opened. The crew members on each side of the aircraft check the opposite door to make sure it is set properly.
7. Only 2% of landings are done in autopilot mode
About 98 per cent of aircraft landings are flown manually to ensure the flight crews maintain their skill levels. The remaining two percent are auto-lands which are usually only used for landing in fog or for practicing the slightly different procedures for automatic landings.
8. That popping sensation is your inner ear adjusting to a change in air pressure
As it climbs, the amount of oxygen in the air decreases.
In order to keep the oxygen at an acceptable level to breathe normally, the aircraft is pressurised. This is done automatically during the climb using air from the engines and air conditioning machines.
As the air pressure changes in the cabin, the air in your inner ear has to adjust to the pressure around you. For most people this isn’t a problem, but if you are suffering from a cold or you inner-ear is inflamed it can cause discomfort or even some pain.
The easiest way to equalise the pressure is to close your mouth, pinch your nose and breathe out hard. If you are unable to equalise during the decent, don’t worry; your ears will naturally adjust some time after landing.
9. It takes 3 600 litres of paint to cover the exterior of an A380
That's a looooot of paint - check out this video of an Etihad aircraft receiving a coat.