Some people’s biggest fear, some people’s biggest passion; planes… Dozens of confusing questions come to our mind every time we board. For example, in airplanes whose flight route we can watch on the screen, we see that it follows curved routes rather than straight ones, and we think about why.
Or why do airplanes always board from the left, while other vehicles such as minibuses, minibuses and buses always have doors on the right? That’s why all these questions are like “Oh, is that why?” We told you the answers that will make you say!
Planes do not fly over the Pacific Ocean. But why?
Of course, there are exceptions, but many airlines do not fly over the Pacific Ocean. The first reason is that planes choose curved routes over land rather than flying over oceans because these routes are often shorter than straight routes over the ocean.
When you look at the map, the Earth appears flat and the path to the destination appears to be a straight line, but since the Earth is spherical, curved paths are the shortest distance between two locations.
Another reason is that curvy routes reduce the cost of flying. Thus, ticket prices for consumers decrease and airlines save both fuel and time.
Many flights also wish to minimize the time spent over bodies of water because storms are more likely to occur over water rather than land. Moreover, there is no safe place for an emergency landing.
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Why do pilots go in curves instead of reaching the route by going straight?
World; It has a geoid shape because it is flattened at the poles and swollen at the Equator (Flat Earthers are furious). For this reason, pilots not only follow a shorter path by flying towards the poles, but also consume less fuel and thus choose a curved path.
The linear distance between two points on a two-dimensional map can be misleading, but to find the shortest route, we also take into account the curved surface of the Earth, which creates an image of us flying by drawing a curve from the outside.
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Planes don’t fly over Tibet either. So why?
The main reason why airlines stay away from the Tibet region is that the average altitude of the terrain is very high and it consists of hills. Although planes can fly at very high altitudes, in emergency situations when cabin pressure drops, the plane must descend to an altitude of 3,000 meters before being directed to an airport, and we can say that there is almost no suitable area for emergency landing in the region.
Another reason is that the intensity of turbulence will increase much more since the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings consist of high mountainous regions. In addition, there is no system in the region to support the radar system of aircraft. Additionally, the nearby military base also prohibits commercial flights from passing through.
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Why do airplanes board from the left while other vehicles board from the right?
When aviation emerged, shipping already existed, and nautical terms or designs inspired aviation terms. In ancient times, an oar was used on the starboard side to move the bow of the boat or ship onto the desired course. Entrances were made from the left so that the oar on the right would not get stuck between the boat and the pier.
Later, the boat oar was moved to the back, but this ritual continued and aircraft engineers continued to use the same design. When the passenger boarding bridges became operational, they were designed according to the doors on the left and all flight instructions were implemented accordingly. Thus, boarding from the left side became permanent.
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Why do we hear barking sounds on planes even though there are no dogs?
If you’ve ever noticed it while traveling by plane, you’ll hear a sound similar to a dog barking. In fact, this sound means that the plane is balanced. The barking sound we hear when the aircraft is pushed backwards from the parking position with the push back vehicle or after the engines are turned off occurs as hydraulic balance is tried to be achieved.
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Planes fly faster from west to east. How?
There are very strong winds called jet streams on Earth. This current is at the altitude at which planes fly and can make them go faster or slower depending on the direction they are going. As the Earth rotates, air currents shift eastward in the northern hemisphere and westward in the southern hemisphere. The shape of the Earth allows each region to rotate at different speeds, and these different speeds cause the jet streams to curve.
Let’s say you bought a round-trip ticket for the Izmir-Ankara expedition. When you started flying towards Ankara, you encountered a jet stream blowing at 200 km/h. This current increases your land speed to 1000 km/h. While returning to Izmir, the same current reduces the land speed of your plane to 600 km/h. In short, when the plane goes from west to east, it goes faster because of the wind, but when it goes from east to west, it slows down because it goes against the wind.
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How come planes that can travel at 1000 km/h almost never collide with each other?
There are many methods to prevent planes from colliding with each other. The first of these is the “semi-circle rule”, which is old but still used. In this method, it is determined at what altitude the planes should fly depending on their direction, and there is a vertical distance of at least 305 meters between the planes flying towards each other.
However, the real measure that ensures that planes do not collide is the “TCAS/ACAS system”. Thanks to the automatic system, the aircraft’s identification code is published, allowing it to be detected by other aircraft, and transmitted to traffic controllers by tracking the position of the aircraft. In addition, thanks to TCAS, pilots can easily learn the locations and altitudes of other aircraft. If there is a potential danger, the system generates automatic commands and warnings.
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Why do planes appear to be moving very slowly in the sky?
We perceive objects near us as if they were moving faster. For example, while driving in a car, we see roadside lamps (close objects) as if they were moving fast and clouds as if they were moving slowly. This situation is referred to as “motion parallax” in the literature. The motion parallax effect has to do with the distance the object moves compared to the percentage of our field of view that it moves.
For example, in the image above, if an object 100 meters away moves 20 meters in a certain direction, it will have moved through only 25% of the field of view. But if an object 40 meters away moves 20 meters, it completely disappears from the field of view. So we rely on visual cues to determine distance and motion parallax occurs. Thus, we perceive planes as moving slower.
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