20+ Truths About Flying That Airline Pilots Keep To Themselves
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Every day, roughly 100,000 flights take off and land across the globe. That's millions of passengers casually snoozing, watching movies, and eating in-flight snacks — but do they really know what's happening on their own planes? Just a few feet away in the cockpit, the pilots have almost too much information at their disposal. And to keep everybody on board happy, they like to keep some of these revelations to themselves.
1. Turbulence Is Getting Worse
Because humans are slowly killing the planet, we’re making it worse to fly. Climate change and global warming have increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air, causing reports of turbulence to rise. Turbulence can definitely make a bad flight feel worse, though it is rarely dangerous.
2. Where Does It Go?
Airplane toilets are really nothing like the toilets we use on the ground. They’re vacuums, which suck the contents into the plane through air pressure. Most planes have no issue with this but the older the plane is, the more reports there are of raw frozen sewage falling from the sky. Wonderful.
3. It's All Airborne
If germs make you squeamish, then you’ll second guess booking a flight after reading this. According to the Telegraph, “the ‘virtually moisture-free' conditions inside a plane cabin increase your vulnerability to airborne infection.” It’s estimated you're 100 times more likely to catch a cold on an airplane than anywhere else!
4. Meet Your Pilot
You might not like to hear it, but many pilots have a tendency to fall asleep on airplanes. With long hours, constant time-zone hopping, and the general stress of flying a huge aircraft with hundreds of passengers, pilots have a lot on their plates. It may be a bit alarming to hear that over half of pilots have fallen asleep during flight. Good thing there are co-pilots and flight attendants on board.
