Myths that too many people believe about plane catastrophes

There has been only one opinion about the plane crashes and that is that it normally leads to 100 percent mortality rate in such cases. However, according to the official survey, the statistics show that nearly 95 percent of the passengers, involved in air carrier accidents in the US in between years 1983 to 2000, survived.

What’s even more mind-boggling is that only 1 plane out of 1.2 million flights crashes and the possibility of someone dying in it is nearly 1 in 11 million. As for the chances of dying in a car accident are much higher at 1 in 5000.

Today for our readers we have decided to dispel some of the most common myths about the aircraft to reveal the true facts.

So scroll down to have a read of these myths that too many people believe about plane catastrophes.

#1 Lightning can blow up a plane

This would come off as a surprise to many of you out there that lightning hits the plane more often than you can imagine. According to statistics, a plane would be struck with lightning once in a year which makes about 50 strikes a day around the globe. This information might be dangerous for us to imagine but the truth is that the aircraft’s today are hardly affected when the lightning strikes them, much less do any major harm.

A few decades back, the story was very different but nowadays every plane in the world is designed to deal with lightning strikes. Aircraft are made in a metallic cage shape which is then covered with a special surface that conducts the electricity to the outside of the cabin, cargo compartments and fuel tanks.

#2 Auto Pilot hacking can lead to a plane crash:-

Many of you might have seen this in movies hat hen the Auto Pilot of the aircraft gets hacked, the crew is not able to control the aircraft anymore. In reality, this is all different. For some of the very obvious reasons, aircraft have been designed with many different levels of security in each of their systems. This is also true for the autopilot.

For our readers, each of the aircraft is equipped with two different Auto Pilot systems that are both able to fly the aircraft on their own. If by any chance, the autopilot fails, pilots are highly qualified and trained to fly the planes and land them safely.

#3 If there is a hole on one side of the plane, it can suck the people out:-

Many disaster movies including planes show that when there is a hole on one side of the aircraft, this creates a vacuum effect that sucks people out of the plane. However, in reality, this is very different.

While this is true that there is a major difference in air pressure of the outside of the plane as compared to the inside of a plane but this still does not creates a full vacuum to result in passengers getting sucked through that hole.

The reality is that only the little objects will fly around inside and it will only get cold inside the cabin and oxygen masks will drop down.

#4 An engine failure is fatal:-

Another popular myth from Hollywood movies is that if an aircraft faces an engine failure, it will lead to a deadly crash. The truth in real life is that even after losing one engine; the aircraft can safely cover its distance relying on the other engine and survive.

Throughout aviation history, there have been many cases of powerless landing which were all successful. Majority of aircraft have two or more engine just as a precaution for these types of accidents.

#5 Turbulence is extremely dangerous:-

Just keep it in your mind that turbulence is a natural occurrence when an aircraft is flying. The surface of the earth is not smooth completely and when an aircraft takes off, millions of small variations in airspeeds, density, and direction lead to Turbulence.

Due to this being a natural occurrence, the aircraft manufactures actually test the aircraft’s in the worst possible conditions. Each of the aircraft’s wings is designed to handle a stress up to 150 percent than normal when the turbulence occurs.

#6 Doors of a flying Airplane can be opened:-

If this was said 70- years ago, then it might have been the truth because back then even the cabin was not pressurized. However, all the modern airplanes are pressurized and their doors and windows are like plugs and this includes for Exit doors as well. These doors only opened by sliding or rotating the door inwards firstly into the cabin and then opening the doors outwards.

This means that these doors are to be pulled inside first for being opened. According to the aviation industry experts, there is not a single person in the world who is strong enough to open the doors of a flying airplane.

#7 Plane crashes have 100 percent mortality rates:-

Another myth; there is no chance of survival from an air crash. This is only true to the extent of movies because in real life there had been numerous cases which prove otherwise.

For example, back on April 28^th, 1988 an airplane headed towards Honolulu from Hilo suffered a crash landing after explosive decompression occurred. However, the plane was able to safely land back at the Kahului airport.