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  • Riddle me this: can airplanes fly with only one wing?

  • Or can they reach supersonic speedsstill with a single wing?

  • If you answered no to both, youre in for a surprise!

  • There’s still so much you probably didn’t know about airplanes, and neither did I — until

  • today!

  • Let’s review my list, shall we?

  • 1.

  • Can airplanes avoid hitting birds mid-flight?

  • Technically, they can’t.

  • Poor birdies.

  • Accidents happen, and sometimes planes must make an emergency landing because a bird smacked

  • into the windshield or got itself into one of the engines.

  • But this is usually the case during takeoff or landing, since birds don’t fly at the

  • airplane cruising altitudes.

  • Unless theyre wearing oxygen masks or something.

  • Measures taken at the airports to prevent this include loud sounds, like shooting blanks

  • into the air to scare off the birds from the runway, or even specially trained birds of

  • prey, who bully the other birds so that airplanes could take off safely.

  • 2.

  • How can a plane get struck by lightning and still continue its flight?

  • Normally, after it’s hit by lightning, an airplane is sent for inspection, but it can

  • still safely complete its current flight.

  • The fuselage conducts electricity well enough, and like with a lightning rod, the zap will

  • most probably strike one of the tips of the airplaneeither one of the wings, or the

  • nose.

  • Then it seeks the ground but doesn’t find it, exiting from the tail.

  • It’s easier for electricity to roll through the surface of the plane than go inside, so

  • people on board are safe from its effects.

  • Still, lightning is powerful, and there can be some damage done to the airplane on the

  • outside.

  • 3.

  • Can the airplane’s equipment be disrupted by mobile phones?

  • The short answer is no, the longer answer is nooooooo -- your device can’t make any

  • of the plane’s electronics malfunction.

  • But there’s a catch.

  • If you owned a smartphone about 5 years ago, you might remember that weird noise coming

  • out of any speakers around you when someone called you.

  • This normally doesn’t happen with modern devices, but the danger is still there.

  • Imagine a pilot trying to make out what the control is saying and all they hear is static

  • because someone hasn’t turned on the airplane mode?

  • I wouldn’t like to be on the same plane.

  • Speaking of which

  • 4.

  • What does airplane mode do, exactly?

  • It might seem some sort of a magical button that allows you to keep your phone turned

  • on during the flight, but all it does is just cut any radio transmission, cellular or Bluetooth.

  • You aren’t likely to get reception at 30,000 feet anyway, but it can be important during

  • takeoff and landing, when youve still got signal.

  • And today the airplane mode is more flexible too, allowing Wi-Fi to work on board.

  • That’s why you can connect to the on-board entertainment system even with everything

  • else turned off.

  • 5.

  • Is it really a must to keep the window covers open during takeoff and landing?

  • Absolutely.

  • And yes.

  • Most incidents happen exactly at these times, so flight attendants need to have the clearest

  • view possible.

  • With window screens open, they have better lighting inside, can see if anything goes

  • wrong outside, and the ground crew can also notice if something happens on board.

  • In case of emergency, rescuers should also be able to see inside for people trapped in

  • the cabin.

  • So only close that cover when you have safely climbed to unfathomable heights you can’t

  • escape anyway.

  • Mwahaha.

  • 6.

  • Why are some contrails so short-lived, while others stay in the sky for a long time?

  • Contrails are a lot like clouds: they appear from water condensing high up.

  • Jet engines burn fuel, emitting CO2 and water vapor, as well as other gases.

  • Some of them allow water particles to collect around themselves, creating water droplets

  • and becoming visible from the ground.

  • If it’s already humid up there, then there’s more water, and the contrail is more prominent.

  • And if it’s cold, the droplets might turn into ice, staying behind for a much longer

  • time.

  • 7.

  • Why aren’t there supersonic passenger airplanes?

  • There used to be two of them in the past, but both turned out to be unprofitable and

  • dangerous.

  • The British & French Concorde and the Russian Tu-144 Charger were the only commercial airplanes

  • to have broken the sound barrier in the 20th century.

  • They were thought to be the future of civil aviation, but the costs turned out to be just

  • too high, and a series of crashes sealed the fate of both supersonic jets.

  • 8.

  • Why are pilotsand flight attendantsseat belts so different from passengers

  • ones?

  • Unlike passengers, flight attendants don’t have armrests or even comfortable enough cushions

  • to sit on.

  • All they have are small foldable seats near the galley.

  • That’s why they need not only a seat belt, like yours, but a shoulder strap as well.

  • Also, in an emergency, flight attendants have to be able to coordinate evacuation, so they

  • have this extra protection.

  • As for the pilots, they have a five-point harness that keeps them firmly in their seats.

  • This allows them to control the airplane even when it’s rocking and swaying like crazy.

  • Not that it’s going to rock and sway like crazy on your flight.

  • Hmm. 9.

  • Why does traveling by car feel faster than by airplane?

  • Going 70 mph on an interstate makes you feel the drive and excitement of speed.

  • Flying at nearly 600 mph makes you drowsy at best.

  • This is because you don’t feel the actual speed of anything: you can only see how fast

  • youre moving relative to other objects.

  • The closer, the fasterin a car, everything’s close to you, so you see trees, people, houses,

  • and other cars zapping past you.

  • On board an airplane, everything’s so far away that it seems to go at a snail’s pace.

  • 10.

  • How many wings does an airplane have?

  • Every commercial airplane youve been on has only one wing.

  • The first airplanes were called biplanes because they had two wings: one on the top and the

  • other going through the bottom of the fuselage.

  • They were connected by struts and wires, which made a kind of a box that basically kept the

  • craft from falling apart in the air.

  • It was necessary at lower speeds that early planes could only muster, but as the engines

  • increased in power, the second wing became redundant.

  • The one remaining wing still serves as a support for the whole structure, though.

  • 11.

  • How can you drink your coffee on board a plane and not have it spilled when it banks?

  • There are forces at work on an airplane that don’t allow passengers to feel all the moves

  • the aircraft performs.

  • When it banks, it applies a certain force to itself so that it feels like youre being

  • pressed down, not to the side.

  • A simple example: if you take a half-filled glass of water, hold it in your outstretched

  • hand, and spin around fast enough, youll see the water crawling the side of the glass.

  • At some point, you can technically achieve enough spin to turn the glass to the side

  • without spilling a single drop.

  • You’d better not try it, though, the vertigo is terrible.

  • By the way, if you know the exact name of this force, leave your guess in the comments

  • below.

  • 12.

  • Why can’t airplanes go to space?

  • Seems pretty logical for something that can fly at enormous altitudes to be able to fly

  • even higher, right?

  • Not really: planes depend on air to fly because their wings generate lift thanks to it.

  • The higher you climb, the thinner the air becomes, until you simply run out of it altogether.

  • And the thinner the air, the more speed an aircraft needs to keep the altitude.

  • So when there’s no air, wings generate no more lift, and the airplane simply stalls.

  • 13.

  • Why is there turbulence sometimes even when the sky is clear?

  • Clouds, especially thunderheads, can indicate that an area of turbulence is ahead.

  • But sometimes a clear-air turbulence occurs, when a plane can drop a whole bunch and start

  • shaking without any warning.

  • It happens when two bodies of air clash at very high speeds, and it’s invisible, so

  • the pilots can’t tell when it would happen.

  • The chances of getting into an area of clear-air turbulence are higher at low altitudes over

  • mountain ranges and near the jet stream.

  • By the way

  • 14.

  • What is a jet stream?

  • There are several extremely fast rivers of air high up in the atmosphere of our planet.

  • Weather systems are also controlled by jet streams.

  • They move in strange ways but have a constant flow, allowing passenger aircraft to sometimes

  • use them.

  • When an airplane comes close to a jet stream, it may adjust to the direction of its current

  • and fly a lot faster, propelled by the flow.

  • Many airlines use this to their advantage to cut the costs of fuel and make air traveling

  • even faster.

  • 15.

  • How can airplanes fly if one engine fails?

  • First things first: an airplane can only fly with one failed engine if it’s already in

  • the air.

  • It can’t take off in this conditionand it won’t.

  • While mid-flight, though, the single remaining engine will give the aircraft enough thrust

  • to continue moving forward.

  • It will tend to turn to the failed side, but the pilot can straighten it up by pushing

  • to the other.

  • Besides, the airplane’s nose doesn’t even need to face straight forward to fly in that

  • direction, and can be a little crooked while still continuing on its route.

  • 16.

  • What is the yellow fixture on the airplane’s wings?

  • Looking out the window on the plane’s wing, you can see a small yellow double hook on

  • it.

  • It seems strange, since it might mess with aerodynamics, but it’s there for your safety.

  • In case of an emergency landing, these hooks are used to secure ropes that help passengers

  • exit the plane via the wing.

  • If theyre slippery, the rope will help you keep your footing and not fall over while

  • climbing around.

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Riddle me this: can airplanes fly with only one wing?

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B1 中級

所有的飛機其實都只有一個機翼 (All Airplanes Actually Have Only One Wing)

  • 6 1
    林宜悉 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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