Pilots Reveal 16 Nuances That Make Your Flight Safe

How to Travel when Flying on a Plane? You’ll get some pretty unexpected and useful insider-knowledge directly from different airline crew members. We'd like to share them with you before you set forth on your next trip!

Each profession has its own tricks of the trade that aren’t usually shared with anyone outside the professional circle. Aviation has always been a fascinating and mysterious line of work, and this makes it even more interesting to learn about all the secrets that we aviation outsiders have no idea about. If you’ve never heard of at least one of these facts, hit that “like” button!

TIMESTAMPS
Pilots are prohibited from having a beard 0:44
It's cold on planes for the sake of your health 1:14
Planes never fly in straight lines 1:46
It's better to wear sturdy shoes on a flight 2:33
Pilots and dispatchers aren’t always formal with each other 3:15
The average person will never manage to land a plane 3:42
Flights delays affect not only passengers but flight attendants as well 4:26
Pilots have to take turns going to the bathroom 4:50
Airplane food is bad, and nobody’s to blame for it 5:27
Comfortable clothes help you stay healthy 6:14
Pilots communicate with flight attendants through a bulletproof door 6:38
The smoothest place to sit is over or near the wing 7:28
There’s a secret signal if the plane has been hijacked 7:56
A hard landing is sometimes done on purpose 8:14
Cabin lights are dimmed during a nighttime landing for a reason 8:50
There’s only 15 minutes worth of oxygen in the masks 9:15

SUMMARY
- Some airlines forbid their pilots from having beards. The reasoning behind this is that a beard can prevent an oxygen mask from securing to the face tightly in the event of an emergency situation.
- If the air in the cabin is too warm, it can trigger this problem, so that's why the air temperature is kept cool.
- Why curved lines? That’s because the Earth is round, but the map on the screen is flat. But what’s the zigzagging all about? That’s due to special flight regulations requiring pilots to stick to certain routes in order to have enough time to reach an airport in case of an emergency landing.
- Take it from experienced flight crews from around the world: they beg you to leave your backless sandals and high heels at home and go for sturdier shoes.
- There’s a tradition that dispatchers congratulate pilots on all holidays. Just imagine: around Christmas time, a pilot can have up to 4 flights a day, which means about 2,000 people wishing them a Merry Christmas.
- Even if someone is a genius, hooked on realistic flight simulators, or ready and willing to follow all the instructions from ground control, he’s still likely to fail due to one simple thing: stress!
- Flight attendants are paid only for in-flight hours. Time spent on the ground doesn’t count. The only thing that airlines offer is a small allowance for every hour spent at the airport.
- When one pilot needs to use the restroom, a flight attendant must join the other pilot in the cockpit and wait until the first one returns from his bathroom break.
- Tasteless airplane food is nobody’s fault but science. At high altitudes, our taste buds and sense of smell can play tricks on us.
- When on a plane, go for comfortable clothes with breathable fabrics. It’ll help you tremendously when you’re trying to fall asleep.
- Did you know that the door to the cockpit is bulletproof? It’s true! It’s designed to stop bullets and even small grenades.
- The freshest air is near the front of the plane, and the warmest temperature in the back.
- Pilots give a special signal to the airport when they’re landing: they leave the plane’s wing flaps up. It’s one of the ways to show that there’s something bad happening on the plane.
- When you experience a hard landing in bad weather, it doesn’t mean that the pilot is a newbie or lacks the know-how. In fact, sometimes they do it intentionally.
- Dimming the cabin lights helps passengers’ eyes adjust from the bright light of the cabin to the dim nighttime light on the ground.
- There’s only enough oxygen in the masks for just a quarter of an hour, but you shouldn't panic. This is plenty of time for the pilot to take the plane to a lower altitude where you can breathe normally.

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[BRIGHTSIDEOFFICIAL]

Hey guys! Do you like to travel by plane? I wish I knew all these tips before I started traveling.

[Algae]

“The door is bulletproof to stop bullets from getting through”

I had no clue

[SuperSpeedyToo]

I don't like how the pictures in the thumbnail don't match the content of the video! I watch this video because I was interested in how the person was sitting differently and I didn't notice that discussed in the a video. That's like clickbait.

[mollie]

The earth is round.
Flat earthers: *TRIGGERED*

[samviperidae]

Pilot here, coming with a few corrections:
- the flaps signal is not true, we use a SQUAWK code to signal hijackings
- we can have beards as long as they look neat and are nicely trimmed.
- What passengers think are hard landings aren't really hard landings, and it's got nothing to do with hydroplaning (aircraft are bloody heavy), if we do touch down harder and lower the nose gear much faster, it's normally due to a short runway, otherwise we'll "grease" it - as for hard landings, 99.9% of passengers have never experienced a true hard landing
- normally the masks contain more than 15 min of air, actually more around 20min.
- as for the door, we can set it to deny entry even when the code is entered

[ThomasMakai]

It's great to see that there are so many smart people here in the comment section. If you take some of those comments in one bunch, they are actually smarter and more informative than this video was.
If I can leave you with one more thought, just greet your flight attendants when you board, treat them the way you would like to be treated and they will be your friends for the flight.
Happy travels!

[emsplanes]

Here’s an interesting one: all pilots must eat different meals while flying a plane, because if one gets food poisoning, the plane will still be able to fly.

[rrknl]

Overall, a good video however, #4 is not true at all. 

Speaking as an actual pilot, yes, there is a 'secret code' we use to notify ATC (Air Traffic Control) that the plane has been hijacked but it doesn't involve the flaps at all. 

If you leave the flaps up for landing, you'll almost certainly crash. They are pretty much required for landing. Further, the control surfaces that the video shows moving are not the flaps, they are the ailerons. Flaps are always close to the fuselage, ailerons are further out on the wings. 

Otherwise, the video is pretty accurate and well done.

[chix]

I thought they said pilots aren’t allowed ‘Beers’. I was like DUH! 😂

[ilayda]

i have so much respect for pilots and flight attendants, they’re doing this as their job, wow.

[tringalij]

We don’t keep the cabin cool for health, it’s just to keep people comfortable. When you’re a little cold you can put on a blanket or jacket but if you’re hot you get irritated or even sick.

We don’t wait in line for the bathroom, we (at least I) turn on the seatbelt sign and have the flight attendant block the door before we leave the cockpit.

We do fly in straight lines mostly. The map is indeed flat so those curved lines are actually straight and the zigzag lines are airways and they can be clipped if traffic allows.

Dispatchers don’t congratulate us on holidays. I just flew through Christmas. Nobody said squat. :)

[BRIGHTSIDEOFFICIAL]

TIMESTAMPS
Pilots are prohibited from having a beard 0:44
It's cold on planes for the sake of your health 1:14
Planes never fly in straight lines 1:46
It's better to wear sturdy shoes on a flight 2:33
Pilots and dispatchers aren’t always formal with each other 3:15
The average person will never manage to land a plane 3:42
Flights delays affect not only passengers but flight attendants as well 4:26
Pilots have to take turns going to the bathroom 4:50
Airplane food is bad, and nobody’s to blame for it 5:27
Comfortable clothes help you stay healthy 6:14
Pilots communicate with flight attendants through a bulletproof door 6:38
The smoothest place to sit is over or near the wing 7:28
There’s a secret signal if the plane has been hijacked 7:56
A hard landing is sometimes done on purpose 8:14
Cabin lights are dimmed during a nighttime landing for a reason 8:50
There’s only 15 minutes worth of oxygen in the masks 9:15

[melissasmailbox]

I haven't flown since November 1990! This summer my husband and I are finally taking a flight to our vacation destination instead of our usual "road trips". I appreciate learning so much from your video.

[jbar_]

I've always liked sitting near the wings! I've noticed it's smoother lol!

[GlobalAdventurer]

Sit in the front of economy to get your food first 😂

[EveryTipeOfVideo]

Ahahahaha, Whos flying the plane when a pilot needs a toilet break, Do people actually think that the Other pilot is there just to watch?

[helenhighwater]

Keep your seatbelt fastened continuously throughout the flight regardless, except of course when you have to get up and use the restroom.  It will keep you from bouncing your head off the ceiling in the event of air turbulence.  Saw it happen,  keep it fastened.

[felicialovesnkotb]

If the shoes thing is true then why do female flight attendants often wear heels? Seems like the airline would require them to wear sturdy shoes with their uniforms.

[cherryviper]

Finally something knowledgeable and useful on YouTube.

[AstroGoalHorns]

Some of these are incorrect! Here let me give you the truth about these in order! (being a pilot myself)

16. The title is false but when you put into context it makes more sense.
15. True. Air pressure does differentiate depending on the temperature.
14. Sort of true, but not really. Pilot do fly the planes according to the curvature of the earth but they have several waypoints along the route that make sure they go in the correct direction to avoid a possible hijacking not emergency landing. So most of the time flights are in a tiny zig-zag pattern. You only usually get a perfectly curved route in you flight plan when flying over oceans. When he says that curved routes are common and sometimes they use zig-zags it's actually the other way around.
13. True, but you will still probably be asked to take off your shoes even if they are closed-toed because, in an emergency, flight attendants don't have the time to check everyone's shoes.
12. True. First of all, they aren't called "dispatchers" they are called ATC or air traffic controllers and second of all, They are congratulated for some things but not always. It just depends on the mood of the pilots and the controllers.
11. Very true. Although it has been attempted in commercial airliners before. For example, on 9/11 one of the flights, United
Airlines 93, has hijacked and the passengers tried to fight back and gain control of the plane but it was too late when they crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
10. True. I can totally relate to this! Flight attendants HATE it when passengers yell at them for being on the ground when the flight attendants aren't at fault!
9. True. But it is not required that a flight attendant be in the cockpit. The minimum requirement of flight crew required in the flight deck is 1 for medium or smaller sized planes and 2 for larger long haulers.
8. True. He explained this one really good and it's also why a lot of people like tomato juice on planes.
7. False. This just a myth, but the caffeine thing is true.
6. True. The crosschecking times are not required, they only are required to do it when securing the exits.
5. True.
4. I hate this completely false myth! Let me explain, THE PILOTS DO NOT USE THE FLAPS TO SIGNAL CONTROLLERS THAT THEY ARE IN DISTRESS! They use something called a squawk code that is put into a transponder and the airport's controllers read the squawk code. The squawk code used for a hijack is 7500, for a transponder emergency they use 7600, and for any other emergency they use 7700. Otherwise squawk codes are completely a different combination! Like 1846.
3. True.
2. True. Including the conserving energy part.
1. True. (by the way passengers can breath normally at a maximum of 10, 000 feet MSL)

If you have any questions on this comment please ask me and I'll be glad to answer them!