Airplanes

With so many commercial jets flying routes all over the world, there probably isn’t a person on Earth who hasn’t noticed the white smoke coming from airliners. But why do these streaks only occur behind some planes? Are they dumping fuel? Is it hazardous? What exactly are these vapor trails? Why Planes Leave Trails When

After having fought multiple wars European nations were finally able to unite as a union. A logical next step was to collaborate on military research and development. A number of military projects have since come out of the EU. These are the 6 best European fighter jets. Fighter aircraft are a critical part of any

We are so used to many of the conventions of modern airplanes that we often don’t give them a second thought. That said, the moment someone stops to ask you “why do airplanes have round windows instead of square ones?” you start to wonder why you didn’t wonder that yourself. In retrospect, it seems like

Hey, who are you calling heavy? While all pilots like to treat their aircraft like the ladies they are, thankfully planes are much more accepting of bluntly descriptive language. What Does “Heavy” Mean? Aircraft are classified based on their maximum takeoff weights (MTOW). A “heavy” aircraft is one whose takeoff weight is more than 300,000

No one really likes going to the bathroom on an airplane, and no one really wants to think about what happens when you unleash that tremendous suctioned flush. Where Does Airplane Waste Go? They store it onboard for the duration of the flight. Once landed, a special truck comes and sucks out the contents of

We don’t tend to think much about airplane windows, and when we do, it’s often for the wrong reason. If you aren’t a pilot or airline industry insider, you can hear all sorts of horror stories about windows cracking, but surely they’re stronger than that, right? Well, thankfully, yes – airplane windows aren’t made from

Many aircraft have been considered to be the worst aircraft ever. Most of these have stopped flying for good reason, but some are still flying high. So which are the worst aircraft still in service? Read on… People tend to believe that it’s the airline that operates the aircraft as much as the aircraft itself.

Aviation is full of jargon and technical terms. In some cases, acronyms and “alphabet soup” make even the most straightforward concepts cloudy with confusion. Other times, everyday words are used in new and unexpected ways. Defining our Actions When first heard from the jump seat or in a simulator, the Airbus call out of “50…40…30…20…RETARD,

It has been a little over 130 years since the Wright Brothers first flew, and a little over 50 years since Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Both the Wild Blue Yonder and the Final Frontier have long excited the imagination, but why aren’t they one and the same? Why can’t planes fly into

It’s all too easy to take the pace of air travel today for granted. Trips that took days or weeks to complete in the era of steamships and steam engines can be completed in mere hours in the age of commercial jetliners. Yet planes aren’t seem to be getting any faster. Why don’t planes fly