It reads like an April Fool’s joke. “British Airways plane banned from flying because seats were ‘too comfortable’,” the headline said. “British Airways flight from Milan to London was banned from departure by the Italian government on Monday due to an unexpected culprit. The newspaper claimed that the seats were extremely comfortable. To get to the bottom of it, I called British Airways (ahem). “Well, that’s true,” a senior executive told me, unsure whether to be happy or embarrassed.
Last month, BA Flight 575 from Milan Linate Airport to Heathrow was grounded after inspectors from the Italian aviation authority carried out a surprise inspection of the Airbus A320. They found that exit row seats near the wings had cushions that exceeded the required thickness. Seat cushions in exit rows are thinner than in other rows to allow passengers to get off as easily and quickly as possible in case of emergency. Before the plane took off, BA had to find smaller seat cushions for the exit row.
Aviation is the most strictly regulated form of transportation, for good reason. What other rules and regulations are you unaware of? Here are my favourites:
quick exit
The number of passengers on a plane is determined by the number of seats, not by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s determination to squeeze every pound into every square inch of the cabin; This is determined by the number of doors the aircraft has. . As the number of doors increases and grows, the number of seats also increases. From where? Because airlines and manufacturers need to show that a full plane can be evacuated within 90 seconds, leaving half the doors unusable.
The importance of this was revealed in January, when the 379 passengers and crew of the Japan Airlines Airbus A350, which caught fire while landing at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in about two minutes, exited through three doors. After a while it burst into flames.
Crew cut
The number of cabin crew is determined not by what level of service an airline wants to offer (more for more attentive service, less for less service) but by having at least one flight attendant for every 50 seats, regardless of whether the seats are occupied or not. .
don’t be dark
You may think that in the event of an accident, the cabin lights are dimmed and you are told to keep the blinds open during takeoff and landing at night so that the cabin crew can see out and see the emergency more easily. Lights inside the cabin showing the way to the emergency exit. But that’s only part of the story. Dimming the lights also helps passengers’ eyes adjust more quickly to a dark or smoke-filled cabin.
Blind
In case of fire, the shutters are kept open so that firefighters can see inside the cabin and detect the flames and their location on the ship.
Caught short
There are no rules regarding the number of bathrooms a plane must have. BA recently reduced the number of bathrooms on its short-haul jets, so go before you go.
Batteries not included
Airlines must comply with the minimum equipment list. If a key item is missing or defective, the aircraft cannot fly and a strict deadline for repair or replacement applies. Something as seemingly small as the battery-powered exit light above the overwing door needs to be checked before every flight. “Even if there is a power outage, passengers still need to be able to see where the nearest exit is,” an engineer told Telegraph Travel.
singles club
All jets must be able to fly with a single engine. Yes, a 550-ton Airbus A380 superjumbo can fly on a single engine once it takes off. Single-engine operation helps determine a flight’s route and the airports it will use if it needs to change direction.
feeling the heat
There is no set temperature for an airplane cabin. It can be anywhere between 18C and 30C. Airlines raise the temperature to encourage passengers to sleep, then lower it when it’s time to wake up. The aircraft can be heated using hot air “bleeded” from the engines and even by harvesting the heat generated by the batteries powering the computer systems.
A breath of fresh air
Airlines do not need to provide separate air vents on each seat. Many Asian airlines do not offer these on wide-body jets. Air needs to be filtered every three minutes using HEPA filters, which are also used in hospital operating rooms. This means you’re less likely to catch airborne viruses on board; However, while traveling, you may catch a cold due to constant changes in temperature.
window decoration
You may have noticed a small triangular sticker on the window next to your seat. This makes it the best window through which to view the wing’s moving parts and controls. The sticker is there to help the cabin crew observe the condition of the wing or engine as quickly as possible in the event of an emergency.
tipping the scales
Cabin crew tell passengers to “sit in their assigned seat” before takeoff, not because they want to split up families, but because they use data on passengers’ average weight to distribute weight evenly throughout the aircraft during takeoff and landing. Every five years, some airlines, including Air New Zealand and Korean, conduct random, voluntary weight checks of passengers in the countries they fly to and use this to create an average weight. Passengers are invited to step on the scale at check-in.
fake rules
Although we are all told to turn off our cell phones, some private flights allow cell phone calls, and there is little evidence that interference from cell phones affects aircraft performance or navigation.
Screen TIME
There are no regulations regarding the size of an airplane window, but some manufacturers like to use larger windows as a marketing tactic. This is because some airlines hate windows because the core is made of glass, which is very heavy. Emirates boss Tim Clark has predicted airlines will remove windows and use cameras on the fuselage to project images onto a screen instead of a window. This means you can choose which view you want to see; from the left side or the right side?