The secrets of air travel

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Cabin air may be making you sick

The issue of cabin air being contaminated by engine fumes is nothing new. Dozens of pilots have spoken out about the effects of inhaling toxic fumes from engines - which some medical specialists refer to as "aerotoxic syndrome" - and accused the airline industry of doing little to tackle it. Some claim they have been left incapacitated at the controls of an aircraft because of it.

As recently as January 2016, campaigners called for devices to be installed on planes that can detect toxic fumes. That followed a coroner's report last year into the death of British Airways pilot Richard Westgate, which ruled that fumes circulating in planes posed “consequential damage” to the health of frequent fliers and crew. 

The decision to abandon the "bleed air" system on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, eliminating the risk of contamination, was a welcome change. But the system remains in place on other new models.

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You've probably never experienced "severe" turbulence

You may still have nightmares about that hellishly bumpy flight to Bucharest, but - unless you're been very unlucky - you're almost certainly not experienced what airlines refer to as "severe" turbulence. "Severe turbulence is extremely rare," said Steve Allright, a BA pilot. "In a flying career of over 10,000 hours, I have experienced severe turbulence for about five minutes in total." And how far do planes fall during "severe" turbulence? "The aircraft may be deviating in altitude by up to 100 feet (30 metres) or so, up as well as down, but nothing like the thousands of feet you hear some people talking about when it comes to turbulence," adds Allright.

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Pilots nod off

After the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) proposed changes to pilots' working hours, passengers were treated to the revelation that nearly half of pilots have fallen asleep in the cockpit, according to research by the British Airline Pilots' Association. 

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You can buy lost luggage

Unclaimed items left at airport or on aeroplanes are, by law, stored for 90 days, before being donated to or auctioned for charity. If you're interested in getting hold of some cut-price kit, head to one of the following auction houses: Greasbys, a Tooting auction house, sells on luggage from various London airports every other Tuesday, but don't expect to unearth any hidden gems. "It's dirty clothing and bags, mainly," said one employee. Wellers, which has branches in Chertsey and Guildford, sells on "bags, clothes, and small electronics" from London airports every Tuesday. The snappily-named Bristol Commercial Valuers & Auctioneers looks after lost property left at airports in the South West, while Hertfordshire Auctions flogs Luton's unclaimed bits and bobs.

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Your lifejacket might not be there

George Hobica, airline expert and the founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, once told the Huffington Post: "People take those life jackets, located under or between your seat, as souvenirs. It's a vile and punishable offense, and while airlines do check each seat at the start of every day, a plane could make several trips in a day, during any one of which a passenger could steal a life vest. So, I learned, it's a good idea to check if the life jacket is indeed there."

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Planes are often struck by lightning (but don't worry about it)

According to Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and author of Cockpit Confidential: "Planes are hit by lightning more frequently than you might expect - an individual jetliner is struck about once every two or three years on average - and are designed accordingly. The energy does not travel through the cabin electrocuting the passengers; it is discharged overboard through the plane's aluminium skin, which is an excellent electrical conductor. Once in a while there's exterior damage - a superficial entry or exit wound - or minor injury to the plane's electrical systems, but a strike typically leaves little or no evidence." God bless the Faraday cage. 

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If all four engines failed, you might still survive

Airline pilot Patrick Smith explains: "There's no greater prospect of instant calamity than switching off the engine in your car when coasting downhill. The ratio of distance covered to altitude lost is close to 20:1, so from 30,000 feet you could plan on a hundred miles worth of glide. Total engine loss is rare, but has happened. Culprits included fuel exhaustion, volcanic ash, and impacts with birds. In several of these incidents, crews glided to a landing without a single fatality or injury."

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Airlines manipulate flight times to improve punctuality

While denied by airlines, that's what a AirTran Airways pilot told Reader's Digest magazine in 2013. "No, it's not your imagination: Airlines really have adjusted their flight arrival times so they can have a better record of on-time arrivals," he said. "So they might say a flight takes two hours when it really takes an hour and 45 minutes."

Recent research supports the claim. It revealed that flight times have increased across the board in recent years. Take, for example, the short hop from London Heathrow to Edinburgh. In 1996 every flight heading north was allotted a block time of 75 minutes or less. However, by 2015, the majority of airlines now expect to take 85 minutes. It's called "schedule padding". 

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It's impossible to open a plane door during a flight

"Cabin pressure won't allow it," explains Patrick Smith. "Think of an aircraft door as a drain plug, fixed in place by the interior pressure. Almost all aircraft exits open inward. Some retract upward into the ceiling; others swing outward; but they open inward first. "At a typical cruising altitude, up to eight pounds of pressure are pushing against every square inch of interior fuselage. That's over 1,100 pounds against each square foot of door." So even Chuck Norris couldn't open it.

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You probably won't be told the plane is doomed

"We tell passengers what they need to know," Jim Tilmon, a retired American Airlines pilot, told Reader's Digest in 2013. "We don't tell them things that are going to scare the pants off them. So you'll never hear me say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we just had an engine failure,' even if that's true." 

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Plane food tastes bad for a reason

At high altitudes our taste buds simply don’t work properly. The low humidity dries out our nasal passages, and the air pressure desensitises our taste buds, which is why airline often opt for salty stews or spicy curries. Airlines planning a new menu will often taste food and wine on board a flight before clearing it for public consumption, because of the variation in taste. Some airlines install sealed rooms in their kitchens room to replicate the experience of eating in the sky. 

Planes must have ashtrays on board

According to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) list of “minimum equipment” for aircraft, an ashtray in the plane toilet is a legal requirement.

Yep, despite smoking on a plane being long-gone, bar a few belligerent celebrities, the FAA rules that lavatory doors must still be fitted with ashtrays because if someone were to have, illegally, a cheeky fag, they still need to stub it out, and it's best they have somewhere to do that rather than cause a fire by dropping it in the bin.  

That sleeping passenger in first class might actually be dead

A senior BA flight attendant addressed the issue of deaths on board during a TV documentary. 

“You cannot put a dead passenger in the toilet,” she told trainees. “It’s not respectful and [the corpse] is not strapped in for landing. If they slid off the toilet, they would end up on the floor. You would have to take the aircraft apart to get that person out. Imagine putting someone in the aircraft toilet?!" Instead, cabin crew are advised to (space permitting) put them in first class, with nearby passengers informed.

In 2006, a deceased man on a BA Flight 213 to Boston was placed in first class for three hours. "Four male stewards came in carrying the poor chap," one flier on board told the Mail. "But he was a bit too big for them. Another passenger lent a hand as they propped him up. They wrapped him in a blanket and strapped him in and semi-reclined the seat. But his head was exposed and leaning to one side, as if he were asleep. I could see the top of his head throughout the flight. I felt quite uneasy, but some passengers were being very British about it and simply not acknowledging there was anything wrong."