119
votes
Accepted
Why do all commercial aircraft have carpets?
helps prevent slips and falls
contains spills (your spilt soda won't ruin your neighbors bag)
more easily removed and replaced
helps reduce cabin noise
- 3,711
57
votes
Why do airlines retire the flight number after a crash?
consider if you Google a flight number you can see the flight status, imagine if the number was from a past crash, you might for a moment think the one you're looking up had crashed
- 651
57
votes
Accepted
Is this really a British Airways 727?
Interesting question!
In the background, a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 can be seen. Therefore, I assume the airport is a Lufthansa destination. Since the 727 is not exactly a long range aircraft, but ...
- 74.3k
56
votes
Accepted
Are airline pilots worn out at an age of 55?
My experience, speaking as a pilot who had to retire in 1999 from a small 747 carrier when the US age 60 rule was in effect, was that NONE of us close to retirement wanted to retire. More often than ...
- 38.7k
54
votes
Why are airlines so concerned with checked baggage weight?
Airlines do care about your carry-on weight and even your weight. Many have carry-on weight limits, which low-cost carriers usually enforce, weighing the carry-on and tagging it as cabin luggage. Full-...
- 17.6k
47
votes
Accepted
Why have none of the US /UK/Japanese airlines ordered the Irkut MC-21 yet?
Ordering an aircraft is a very complex business, and implicates a number of matters that don't actually (on the surface, anyway) have anything to do with the aircraft itself. Consider this from the ...
- 12.6k
45
votes
Accepted
What if all passengers pay to check in extra baggage?
To answer the questions as asked,
We won't depart over the maximum takeoff weight. We'll do something to bring the takeoff weight down to not exceed the limit.
Generally, people fly as scheduled if ...
- 41.8k
45
votes
How much of an improvement would a 1% weight decrease on an airplane be to the industry?
There is an easy way to get an idea of what magnitude the savings are: The Breguet equation can answer this. You first calculate a reference aircraft and then start all over with one that weighs 1% ...
- 217k
42
votes
Why do airlines retire the flight number after a crash?
Retiring flight numbers after crash is mainly done to prevent the flight evoking negative emotions among future passengers. You don't want the flight number to conjure up images of crash while booking ...
- 98.4k
37
votes
What could explain the fact that during 1976-80, I used to hear commercial jets make sonic booms while flying overhead?
Note that 747's and other jumbo jets operating out of Bradley could not have produced sonic booms because they do not fly above the speed of sound (they only do 500 to 550 MPH at high altitude cruise) ...
- 15.6k
36
votes
Accepted
Are there any airliners not made by Airbus or Boeing?
Yes. Ignoring companies that used to exist but are now bankrupt/merged into Airbus or Boeing, you have companies from countries that aren't historically too friendly with the US and Western Europe. ...
- 4,173
36
votes
Are there any Boeing 747 still flying for commercial use?
Quite a few, actually.
British Airways is the largest operator of B747-400 and flies a number of routes:
Where does the Boeing 747-400 fly?
The aircraft operates on a variety of routes, ...
- 98.4k
34
votes
Accepted
What simulation software do airlines use?
X-Plane offers a "Professional Level" which is mostly about licensing. However X-Plane also has an FAA certified version that if paired with proper controls is legal for certain training/instructional ...
- 95.9k
33
votes
Why do all commercial aircraft have carpets?
The answer: High heels!
The local pressure of high heels would punch a hole in the aluminium or composite flooring, and a carpet is the lightest way to distribute the loads such that the local ...
- 217k
31
votes
Accepted
How much oxygen do commercial airliners carry?
The masks are connected to a chemical oxygen generator by a lanyard. Pulling the mask pulls the lanyard, which pulls a pin from the generator and starts the reaction. They typically last betweeen ...
- 30.8k
29
votes
Accepted
Under what conditions do airliners retire aircraft and sell them to other airlines?
Some reasons for an airline to sell some of its fleet:
they need quick cash (as ratchet freak points out). This usually means the company is in serious trouble
they're changing their route network ...
- 14.9k
29
votes
Is there a commonly recognized placeholder airline name?
I think Oceanic Airlines is well known fictive airline. It is used widely in Lost and also Alias, Castle, JAG, Category 6: Day of Destruction and in Executive Decision (the material from this movie ...
- 1,135
28
votes
Are there any airliners not made by Airbus or Boeing?
Being used but out of production:
Ilyushin Il-62 (up to 195 seats): last one built in 2010. Totally built 287, 13 remain in service
Tupolev Tu-154 (up to 176 seats): last one built in 2013. Totally ...
- 524
28
votes
Are there any Boeing 747 still flying for commercial use?
There are many airlines still operating the 747 in passenger service. Lufthansa has bought the 747-8, the last delivery was in April 2015, so I'd expect that the 747 will be in passenger service for ...
- 74.3k
28
votes
Accepted
Are there any Boeing 747 still flying for commercial use?
There are still lots of 747's in scheduled passenger service and at least a few dozen of them will almost certainly remain so for the next 20+ years.
747-400
British Airways has 36 of them with ...
- 18.9k
27
votes
Accepted
Are there any "alternative" passenger airline business models?
There's also the "Snowbird" model, like Sun Country and Allegiant Air, which primarily fly vacationers and snowbirds between sunbelt (San Diego to Florida) and the Carribean, and the Northern snowbelt ...
- 16.4k
26
votes
What fundamental differences separate low-budget airlines from traditional airlines?
Generally speaking:
They operate a limited number of airframes if not a single one (for example Ryanair operates 420 737-800's and only a single 737-700 for chartering). This allows them to buy ...
- 95.9k
24
votes
Accepted
Why does an airplane require 3 pilots on board?
Actually, for all but very long haul flights, airline aircraft only require two pilots, a Captain and a First Officer. For those long haul flights that exceed the duty time in a pilot seat, a relief ...
- 38.7k
24
votes
Accepted
How is flight planning performed with short turnaround times?
The main reason why turnaround times can be that short is that pilots brief all flights of the day in the morning before the first flight.
This briefing is typically done in the crew room at the ...
- 44k
23
votes
How much of an improvement would a 1% weight decrease on an airplane be to the industry?
One % of takeoff weight is huge. On a B747 with MTOW of 300 tons, that is a weight saving of 3,000 kg, weight that needs not be lugged around for the couple of decades that the aircraft will be flying....
- 57.7k
22
votes
What if all passengers pay to check in extra baggage?
The situation you described actually happened recently in flights to India from the Middle East. Many bags were simply left behind and carriers were making arrangements to transport them at the ...
- 409
22
votes
What simulation software do airlines use?
Computer games try to model the aircraft based on generalized aerodynamic and physical principles and at best "feel". FAA and EASA certified full flight simulators are built with a data package ...
- 5,692
20
votes
Why do airlines retire the flight number after a crash?
You answered your own question, they retire numbers because of the emotional context. Some people think that using such a number again shows a lack of sensitivity to the dead and their families, ...
- 49.1k
20
votes
Accepted
Do two airlines have IATA code N8?
IATA issues duplicate airline codes to regional airlines where the codes are not likely to overlap, from Wikipedia:
Controlled duplicates are issued to regional airlines whose destinations are not ...
- 35.1k
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