CaptainHey guys,
I recently brought another book on aviation and it featured a whole lot of interesting facts on the subject, some of which are listed below. I have decided to post them in 10 posts at a time, so in a few days time I'll post another 10 and so on. Some facts have been questions here in the forums recently so it may be useful for you to read, anyway here goes:
➡ A Boeing 737 weighing 150,000 pounds (68,000 kg) must deflect about 88,000 pounds (40,000 kg) of air - over a million cubic feet (31,500 cubit metres) down by 55 feet (16.75 m) each second while in flight.
➡ A commercial aircraft door will not open in flight because it is actually bigger than the window frame itself, and the door opens inwards towards the cabin. To open, it must be opened inwards, rotated, and then slipped sideways out of the frame. Even if the door could somehow be opened, it would be like lifting a 2,200 pound weight.
➡ Most planes flying internationally have their home country's flag painted on or around their tails. Genrally, the flag is facing the proper way round on the left (port) side of the aircraft, and backward on the starboard side. Why? Because that's how it would look if a real flage were hoisted on a pole above the airplane during the flight.
➡ Airline doors and windows are often inset a few millimetres from the fuselage so that they'll expand to be flush with the fuselage during flight.
➡ If you look closely at the top of a jet airliners wings, you'll probably find a row of small metal tabs standing about one inch (2.5cm) tall, especially in front of the ailerons. These are vortex generators, which actually help the air follow the shape of the wing during flight by creating tiny whirlwinds over the wing. You can sometimes find vortex generators on the tail and in front of the rudder, too.
➡ How powerful are jet engines? In May 2000, a chartered jet carrying the New York Knicks basketball team taxied out to close to a line of cars parked on the tarmac. The blast from the taxiing jet flipped head coach Jeff Ban Gundy's car into the air and over three other cars, completely demolishing it.
➡ Each engine on a Boeing 747 weighs almost 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg), cost about $8 million USD, and burns about twelve gallons of fuel per minute when cruising. Altogether the four engines account for about 5 percent of the total weight of a full 747 upon takeoff.
➡ Even if you strapped on giant wings, you could never fly because the human heart can't pump blood quick enough to satisfy the enormous strain of flapping. When flying, a sparrow's heart pumps more than 450 times each minute!
➡ One of the strangest forms of lighning is ball lightning, which can form inside an airplane and appear to be rolling down the aisle while glowing and sparkling. Although it's startling, it has never harmed anyone.
➡ The windows in an airport control tower must be tilted out at exactly fifteen degrees from the vertical to minimise reflections from both inside and outside the control tower.
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