Flying 101: Experts Reveal All About Air Travel

No matter how often or little we fly, there is always a wonder of air travel never ceases to astound us. Here we ask the experts – cabin crew, pilots and airline execs – to explain everything we’ve always wanted to know about planes and to give us the inside scoop on what happens behind the scenes…scroll through the slides.

Founder of Stratajet and former commercial pilot Jonny Nicol says planes stay up by creating lift with their wings.

“What causes lift is introducing a shape [the plane] into the airflow, this curves the streamlines and introduces pressure changes. The lower pressure on the upper surface [of the wings] and higher pressure on the lower surface creates lift.”

These are “the most critical phases of a flight”, according to flight attendant and Whistlestops.co.uk founder Leandi.

“Passengers can often see more of what’s happening outside the aircraft than the crew can, and they can and have alerted us to potential external dangers such as ice on the wing or smoke from the engine. After an emergency landing, it’s also essential that people outside the plane can see and indicate to people inside and vice versa.”

“Again, from a safety perspective, this is for a ‘just in case’ emergency scenario,” says Leandi.

“If the seat’s reclined, it’s harder for you to get up and out of your seat, and that extra second per person can be a matter of life or death. Also bear in mind that a reclined seat, especially in economy class, impacts on the space the person behind you has. If you make it awkward for them to get out by reclining your seat, you’re potentially risking their life in an emergency landing situation.”

“The lights should always go out before take-off or landing if it’s dark outside. The cabin needs to reflect the exterior environment so your eyes don’t need to adjust in an emergency situation,” says Mandy Smith, former Virgin Atlantic air hostess and author of Cabin Fever, a behind-the-scenes account of being an air hostess.

“The double ding as we call it,” says Mandy, “means that the pilot has had the checks in from the cabin manager and the go ahead for take-off.” Pete Evans, COO of Surf Air and former head of operations at Virgin Atlantic, says there are many different sounds and various airlines use them differently.

“They’re like a set of codes for passing instructions between crew.

The most noticeable ones happen during the climb after take-off, telling the crew that it’s safe for them to leave their seats.”

“Airlines and airports like to be ‘friendly neighbors’,” says Pete of Surf Air.

“Power is reduced as soon as it can be to reduce noise. An aircraft needs a lot of power from the engines to get off the ground but once airborne the amount of power needed can be reduced – the climb to cruising altitude will normally be much less steep than take-off.”

Dan Air, flight attendant and Confessions of a Trolley Dolly blogger, says the official line is that it can interfere with aircraft equipment. “But if I’m honest,” he says, “nothing would really happen.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I often forget to switch my phone off and, except for draining my battery, little else happens. However, if 400 people all have their phones on, problems could occur. Plus, if you can’t survive without it for a few hours then you really need to get out more!”

“Most aircraft doors are what we call ‘plug’ doors,” explains Mandy of Cabin Fever, “which means that the door is larger than the hole we walk through, making it impossible to open mid-flight because of pressures within the cabin.”

Pete from Surf Air added: “It would take super-human strength to open a door on a fast-moving aircraft at altitude. The doors usually open out and forward so if anyone attempts to open them the fast-moving air outside would push it back into its closed position.”

“Engine failures are very rare,” says Jonny Nicol of Stratajet. Reassuring us that if it does happen it’s not a major cause for concern: “Part of the assessment of aircraft includes its performance with one engine, and even if you lose all engines an experienced pilot will still be able to get you down safely. I once landed an aircraft in Santorini after both engines cut out by gliding it down onto the tarmac through a thunderstorm.”

“Typically, a bolt will hit an extremity, such as a wing tip or the nose, and the current will travel through the aeroplane’s metal shell before leaving from another point, the tail, for example,” explains Jonny.

“Once in a while there’s superficial exterior damage or minor injury to the plane’s electrical systems, but a strike typically leaves little or no evidence. In fact, you might not even notice it.”

“Turbulence can come from jet streams [strong wind], wake turbulence [another plane passing by], cloud cover and stormy skies,” explains Leandi. Mandy, Cabin Fever author, describes it as an “unpredictable creature” with air pockets often being completely undetectable.

“I’ve had many incidents where the aircraft drops suddenly,” she says.

“I’ve been injured in turbulence several times during my career and even now I never feel comfortable as a passenger without my seatbelt on.”

It’s highly unlikely to but “never say never”, says Pete.

“The reality is an aircraft is designed and tested to go way beyond what we normally expect from turbulence, even severe turbulence.” He points out that turbulence often feels far worse than it is. “A modest movement of, say, 10 feet can feel like a huge jolt. It would have to be really exceptional to cause the aircraft structure to fail,” he says.

“The seatbelt sign is your captain’s way of communicating with you,” says Leandi of Whistlestops.co.uk.

“Their primary concern is passenger safety so if the captain sees turbulence coming the seatbelt sign will be switched on as a warning to you and the crew to prepare themselves. Of course, we do our best to avoid the bumpy air so if the sign is on but you don’t have any turbulence, then your captain did a great job of deviating around the weather. Or he or she forgot to switch it off.”

According to psychotherapist and coach Rob Stewart nervous flyers shouldn’t try to rationalize their fears. “You’ll end up playing cognitive tennis and going back and forth between anxious thoughts and rational thoughts, but all the while becoming more introspective and more anxious,” he says.

Rob recommends a strategy called “attentional focus”. “Attentional focus acknowledges uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, but then redirects our attention to something more helpful: a conversation with someone, a book, magazine or film.” We’ve got more tips for getting over your fear of flying here.

“We’d be lying if we said we didn’t,” says Dan Air. “However, in my 12 years of flying I could count on one hand the amount of times I’ve been scared, and I use that word loosely. We have a job to do on board and are professionals, so it’s not very often you’ll see us crack.”

Leandi agrees: “We’re scared of a lot of things but flying isn’t one of them… The thing that scares me most on board is aggressive or violent passenger behaviour.”

“They can be as close as 500 feet,” according to Pete at Surf Air.

Jonny of Stratajet says there are a lot of regulations that ensure planes are never dangerously close.

He adds: “Private jets generally fly at a higher altitude than commercial aircraft [usually around 41,000 feet compared to 36,000 feet]. This allows for a more direct route as it’s out of the more congested area of the sky and the flight is less likely to be affected by adverse weather conditions.”

“We have our secret little area called the crew rest,” reveals Dan Air.

“Depending on the aircraft this can be found in the tail, in the belly or sometimes in the ceiling of aircraft. They’re pretty confined so not the best if you’re claustrophobic. But they do offer a welcome break from passengers. Now what goes on in the crew rest area is a whole other story, but let’s just say if those bunks could talk, it would be a best seller!”

“With the exception of a few five-star international airlines, we don’t actually cook on board,” says Leandi.

“The meals are prepared a couple of days in advance and packaged. That’s why if you have a special dietary requirement, we ask that you tell us about it 48 hours in advance. Then when we get on board, we just pop the meals in the oven and heat them for 30 minutes before serving them to you on the meal trays.”

“Well that’s probably because plane food is pretty tasteless anyway, even the good stuff up in first,” admits Dan Air.

“Scientifically speaking however, it’s all down to aircraft pressure. Combine this with the dry cabin air and your taste buds basically go numb.”

“Yes, we do eat the same food most of the time,” says Leandi.

“Crew all have their own tricks: some carry miniatures of Tabasco sauce and other condiments. I personally carry a tin of tuna or an avocado with me to make an otherwise plain salad more substantial and appetizing. Remember that bread and fizzy drinks can make you feel bloated, especially on board, so do as we do and avoid!”

“During a flight your body gets incredibly dehydrated,” says Dan Air.

“On average during a 10-hour flight it will lose at least two liters of water. Add to that the dehydrating effect of alcohol and if you keep drinking during a flight, you can expect one mother of a hangover the next day!”

“If you find you’re an anxious flyer, your threat response part of your brain, the amygdala, will be in a state of activation,” says psychotherapist Rob Stewart.

“This controls not only your fight and flight response, no pun intended, but the same region of the brain for other emotions. So you become more prone to other emotional states when you’re feeling uncomfortable. Having said that, maybe The Notebook is just that much more real at 30,000 feet!”

“Be polite! You will get the moon on a stick from many crew members if you’re nice to us,” says Dan Air. “Ask us how our day is going or bring us sweets or goodies (bribery is never frowned upon), and we will bend over backwards to help you.

Sadly though the days of free upgrades are becoming rarer as airline bosses clamp down on such behavior.

Unless you’re paying the big bucks to be there in the first place then airlines don’t want to know.”

“We just get on with our job,” says Dan Air. “Believe it or not we don’t actually need a doctor. Our aviation first aid training is so good that on occasions doctors can be more of a hindrance as our equipment is often very different to what you’d find in hospitals.

We, on the other hand, are fully trained in it.

That’s not to say we don’t all breathe a huge sigh of relief if there is a medical emergency and a doctor, nurse or paramedic steps forward.”

“When Qantas launches Perth-London that will be 17.5-18 hours and it won’t be long before we could see 24-hour flights as aircraft engines become even more fuel efficient,” says Pete Evans of Surf Air.

United Airlines also recently announced the launch of the longest commercial flight between Los Angeles and Singapore, which will take 18 hours.

It’s a basic protocol after landing, Mandy explains, where the crew move doors into the manual position. “We then swap from the left-hand side to check our colleagues’s doors on the right-hand side are also in manual then give a thumbs-up to the manager. If the doors are in automatic when opened by the ground staff the slide would inflate, causing injury as they open the doors.”

Many short-haul and domestic flights only have around 30 minutes of ground time, according to Leandi.

“That’s crazy when you think that means passenger disembarkation, cleaning, re-catering, security checks and passenger boarding for the next departure. Larger aircraft, especially on long-haul flights, will have closer to 90 minutes, which is still impressive given what needs to be done in that time. There’s very little margin for error and delays can have a big impact,” she says.

“Absolutely,” says Pete. “An entire flight could be operated by auto-pilot, but pilots usually perform manual take-offs and landings.

An aircraft can be landed automatically all the way to a complete stop on the runway. In the UK, the first autonomous airliner is being tested so in the future we could see pilot-less airliners.”

But Jonny notes: “Autopilot won’t replace a pilot in commercial aviation because it can’t problem solve in an emergency. For that you need a well-trained pilot.”

Aircraft windows are made in layers, Pete explains, “a glass window on the outside, an air gap, another glass window in the middle with a little hole and another layer usually made of plastic, which stops passengers scratching windows.

The hole is an important safety feature which allows the cabin pressure to be consistent all the way to the outer window.

If the outside window failed the middle window would still be sufficient enough to maintain the cabin pressure, even with the tiny hole.”

It’s acceptable to take a spare seat in your respective cabin, says Mandy, but warns: “If you paid for economy then don’t move yourself into an Upper Class or Premium cabin.

If there’s a family traveling with children on their knee, I’d expect people to allow them to take a seat before they laid down and bagged themselves four seats each.”

Oh, and it’s polite to ask before you move.

“No, but your best bet is to arrive at the airport early,” says Leandi. “Bulkhead and emergency exit seats are best for legroom, but aren’t usually available for online check-in. Requesting them at the airport is the best way to secure them.

If you have to wait until you’re on board, then ask us for help. We genuinely want you to be comfortable, and we’ll do whatever we can to help you.”