So, don’t ask how or why, but we’ve just found out what happens if you die on a plane…
It’s obviously not the most ideal situation for airline staff – think about upset passengers and limited space – but what would they do with your body?
We hadn’t thought about it too much before…but the obvious thing to do is to put you in a vacant toilet, surely? Apparently not…
If you’re on a long haul flight, there are often body bags available. Some passenger jets even have ‘corpse cupboards’ made just to store dead bodies.
If all of these options aren’t available, you’d be moved to the most private seat possible, and covered with a blanket. Now you know!
It got us thinking, there must be some less serious secrets about flying. Although we wish we didn’t know some of these…
Pilots and flight attendants are too truthful sometimes.
If you read on, you might not touch those plane blankets or drink any water on a flight in future. Yuk!
Here are the top 14 things you probably never knew about flying.
1. Those toilets unlock from the outside.
Don’t do anything weird in there (or even think about joining the mile high club!) airplane toilets can be opened from the outside. A lock mechanism is hidden behind the no smoking badge on the door.
2. The real story behind those oxygen masks.
There’s only about 15 minutes of oxygen from the point of pulling them down. But that’s enough time for the pilot to get to a lower altitude where you can breathe normally.
3. The reason the lights on the airplane dim when landing.
This is done incase you need to evacuate after landing – it makes sure your eyes are adjusted to the dark.
4. The truth about plane food.
Pilots are served different meals and cannot share, this is done in case of food poisoning…so we’re stuffed then?!
5. What flight attendants really do after telling the plane to turn off their electronics.
According to people in the business, they pull out their phone and text. Mobile phones won’t really bring a plane down, they’re just really annoying for pilots.
6. Don’t drink water on a plane that didn’t come from a bottle.
Apparently the ports to purge lavatory s**t and refill the aircraft with potable water are pretty close, and sometimes serviced all at once. Not always, but we think we won’t risk that one!
7. How a pilot approaches landing.
According to an experienced pilot, “Landings are nothing more than controlled crashes.”
8. Pilots are sleeping most of the time.
We knew they had a little nap…but apparently 1/2 of pilots sleep while flying and 1/3 of the time they wake up to find their partner asleep. Eek! We are hoping they wake up in an emergency, right?!
9. Pilots aren’t always experienced…even on big airlines.
Regional airlines are often flown by pilots with a fraction of the experience, training, and pay of the big guys. Also, most of the time they fly slower to conserve fuel. How annoying!
10. You won’t believe just how dirty everything is.
Those blankets and pillows? Yeah, those just get refolded and stuffed back in the bins between flights. Also, if you have ever eaten off, or really just touched your tray at all, you have more than likely ingested baby poo. More dirty nappies get laid out on those trays than food. And those trays, yeah, apparently they are rarely cleaned. Think we’ll be taking sanitising spray next time we fly!
11. Most flights are also carrying human organs.
The majority of domestic flights have human remains or organs on them. Well, that’s a totally random and unexpected fact, right?
12. Planes without engines can still glide for a really long time.
A pilot told me if both engines fail, a plane can glide 6 nautical miles for every 5000 feet. Slightly reassuring…but we’re guessing that’s why most accidents happen landing or taking off.
13. Planes have a hard time flying on hot days.
Not great news for us Aussie’s! Apparently on hot days planes struggle to take off in the thin air.
14. Even the headphones that come wrapped up aren’t new.
The headsets that are given to you are not new, despite being wrapped up. They are taken off the flight, “cleaned”, and then packaged again. Ok, at this point, we don’t trust anything!!
Agghhh, anyone else just have a new fear to add to their list?
Ok, but on the positive, nothing bad has happened to us so far. So, this stuff must be ok really?!
SEE ALSO: 5 countries your Aussie passport can’t get you into
SEE ALSO: No one will take this 125k job
SEE ALSO: These 13 baby names are actually illegal
SEE ALSO: Why you shouldn’t put chocolate in the fridge
Images by Getty
Written by Andy Zito
