103
votes
Why are there no "sleeper" planes?
There certainly are; it's called "Business Class" and you'll find such areas with seats that recline into what are essentially beds on most long-haul aircraft. However, you simply can't fit as many ...
- 2,375
95
votes
Accepted
Why is the lower deck of the Airbus A380 curved like a single deck airplane?
The cabin interior is curved to accommodate, among other things, the brackets holding the upper deck floor beams.
These brackets are a structural feature that transfers the weight of the upper deck ...
71
votes
Accepted
What is this white smoke like thing, seen inside the cabin before takeoff?
Direct answer
Air conditioning causes a large drop in cabin temperature, air humidity present in the air condensates into water droplets. It is similar to mist, fog and clouds. If water droplets enter ...
- 71k
63
votes
Accepted
Why are there no "sleeper" planes?
They just don't really fly them any more.
All things considered history has a big impact on this. 13 hours is by comparison fairly short when it comes to long distance flying, historically speaking. ...
- 100k
56
votes
Can cameras and LCD screens replace cabin windows?
Note that the windows are a safety feature: You need to see outside in case of emergency, e.g. to know which side of the plane is surrounded by flames, or how deep in the water you are. This is ...
- 1,154
55
votes
Why are there no "sleeper" planes?
I have flown in sleeper class with British Airways flying overnight from Toronto to LHR.
It was an expensive luxury which started out great, but when fully reclined the bed is not exactly flat and, ...
- 4,876
47
votes
Accepted
Why does an airliner fuselage have a constant section over its length rather than a tear drop shape?
On the other hand, fuselage on an airliner is most of time bullet shaped.
No, it is not. A “bullet shape” has a flat end, which is where most of the drag is generated (at subsonic speeds). But that ...
- 56.2k
43
votes
What does this black triangle placard on board an A320 denote?
If there is a problem on-board and the crew is unsure about the condition of the aircraft, the triangle indicates what window should be used to inspect flaps, slats or engines or look out for icing.
...
- 8,982
41
votes
Accepted
What are these five indicators at the front of the 737 passenger cabin?
This is the forward Master Call Light Panel installed in the ceiling of the cabin. A second one is located aft. These panels exist on all large aircraft for the cabin crew members to be alerted ...
- 71k
39
votes
Why is the lower deck of the Airbus A380 curved like a single deck airplane?
Consider this photo of the cross-section of the A380 and the illustration below. You can see the cargo deck on the bottom, the lower deck (where you sat) in the middle, and the upper deck on the top. ...
- 8,287
38
votes
Why is the airflow in airline cabins downwards?
Temperature stratification is a vexing problem on lots of airliners. The big challenge is you need a distribution system that is effective when cooling (on the ground and at low altitude when the ...
- 126k
37
votes
Accepted
Why don't airliners use noise cancelling?
First, some airliners do use it - the Bombardier Q400 uses a NVS (Noise and Vibration Suppression) system to reduce cabin noise. Basically, it uses devices called Active Tuned Vibration Absorbers (...
- 100k
37
votes
Can cameras and LCD screens replace cabin windows?
Problem #1: What gets displayed on the screen?
While I'm aware of Emirates' recent 'virtual windows,' there is a big problem with this idea in general: what should actually be displayed there depends ...
- 19.4k
34
votes
Accepted
Can cameras and LCD screens replace cabin windows?
Emirates Airlines have recently launched their new First Class with a similar concept.
It is only available in First Class and I doubt it has much to do with the structural implications as of now, ...
- 547
33
votes
Why don't pilots control window shades & seat recliners?
On the Boeing 787, the mechanical window shades have been replaced with glass panes which can be made more opaque or transparent by applying electric current to them. (source) The passengers can ...
- 1,943
30
votes
What is the viability of stacking passengers in an airplane cabin?
I see several challenges with this design, both technological and not:
Making that design safe enough will be difficult, the structure you add in the cabin would need to be strong enough to maintain ...
- 52.9k
27
votes
Why don't pilots control window shades & seat recliners?
Adding to @Airsick's answer there's an important psychological component, which is the illusion of control. Passengers in an airplane have very little they have control of, they are told when they can ...
- 52.9k
27
votes
Do airliner cabin filters trap viruses or other pathogens?
Modern airliners use HEPA filters to filter the air before re-circulation. This will remove almost all airborne pathogens like viruses:
The overall risk of contracting a disease from an ill person ...
- 54.3k
27
votes
Why is the airflow in airline cabins downwards?
Not at all. Cold air tends to go low and hot air high. If the cooled air flow were pumped in from the floor, then what we would have would be customers with cold feet and hot heads, making an already ...
- 11.1k
26
votes
Accepted
Are cabin dividers used to "hide" the flex of the airplane?
Was my fellow passenger right?
No.
That photo is taken in a B777-300 (2 aisles, 4 seats in the centre and three at the sides, lavatories only behind the central rows, rows on the left side of the ...
- 32.4k
26
votes
Do airliner cabin filters trap viruses or other pathogens?
IF the airliner has HEPA filtration yes, so pathogens floating in the air that happen to get drawn into the recric system would be trapped and not recirculated, so some of the total pathogen load in ...
- 126k
25
votes
What is the viability of stacking passengers in an airplane cabin?
The problems I can see with that design:
Increased structural weight: all things remaining the same, you will have less payload availability for luggage/cargo.
Cabin servicing you either add an ...
- 32.4k
25
votes
Why are there no "sleeper" planes?
Not only is it expensive, as in less seats, the relatively high speed of current airliners mean that most flights aren't that long.
It wasn't always that way. In the 1930's, the average speed of an ...
- 8,717
18
votes
Are cabin dividers used to "hide" the flex of the airplane?
You won't be able to detect any flex in an airliner fuselage sighting down the interior without optical instrumentation of some kind, or a laser. Where partition dividers are used without any obvious ...
- 126k
17
votes
Accepted
Could the cabin crew open the lavatory door from outside when someone locked the door from the inside?
Apparently yes. It has been mentioned in a number of places. One of the methods given is pretty simple:
Step 1: Approach locked lavatory
Step 2: Lift "LAVATORY" sign
Step 3: Slide the knob ...
- 100k
16
votes
Why don't airliners use noise cancelling?
“It's a well established technique for dealing with low frequency noise”
– exactly. Noise cancellation works precisely if, and only if, the area you try to shield from the noise is significantly ...
- 783
15
votes
Why does an airliner fuselage have a constant section over its length rather than a tear drop shape?
A few things
One of the main objectives for glider flight is making it as aerodynamically efficient as possible. For airliners, it is to make it as economically efficient as possible. This means that ...
- 100k
14
votes
Could the cabin crew open the lavatory door from outside when someone locked the door from the inside?
Yes, the flight attendants can lock and unlock the lavatories from the cabin. As far as I know, the specific ways that they do this, which probably vary from one aircraft type to another, aren't ...
- 49.8k
13
votes
Accepted
Do any modern airliners have a non-flat floor in the passenger cabin?
Some Airbus aircraft have this characteristic, in the rear section of the cabin floor. You can see this in the following image. The rear passenger windows slope up following the floor slope.
A340 ...
- 100k
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