Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [aviation]

Typically pertains to the study of aircraft. Can relate to the theories, design, construction, behavior and use of such craft.

118 questions
113
votes
3 answers

Is it possible to fly 4 helicopters anywhere in a country without official knowledge?

According to reports, there were 4 helicopters used in the raid on Osama Bin Laden. Is it conceivable that even one helicopter could be flown so close to the capital of another country without raising alarm bells? Considering these were military…
going
  • 18,069
  • 18
  • 86
  • 151
106
votes
5 answers

Are personal electronics a risk to commercial aviation?

Are personal electronics (of present or recent past; e.g. cell phones, mp3 players, iPads) a risk to commercial air travel? Is the typical request to "turn off all personal electronic devices" based on any reasonable data?
DuckMaestro
  • 3,238
  • 1
  • 20
  • 24
82
votes
1 answer

Is this picture of a bent propeller genuine?

This picture has been floating around the internet recently: Is it a genuine picture or photo-shopped? Or perhaps its some sort of optical illusion similar to the wagon wheel effect?
David says Reinstate Monica
  • 3,468
  • 4
  • 22
  • 28
65
votes
4 answers

Do airlines in North America make around $10 profit per customer?

A quick google search returns several articles such as this one claiming that airlines make less than $10 in profit from each customer. I feel there are a few reasons to doubt this premise: You can connect through some destinations more cheaply than…
Kevin Laity
  • 829
  • 1
  • 7
  • 9
64
votes
4 answers

Did planes crash into the WTC on 9-11?

I was looking through the questions tagged 9-11 and noticed the no-planes theory isn't on here. So: Were there planes that crashed into the WTC? Some examples of notable claims asserting otherwise are here , here, and here. Another article…
ike
  • 4,950
  • 1
  • 20
  • 52
63
votes
3 answers

Is it possible to cause problems to an aircraft pilot with an "over-the-counter" laser?

I've been admonished not to ever shine a laser into the night sky as it might "dazzle pilots" and potentially bring down airplanes. This seems kind of illogical for a number of reasons: If a plane is flying perpendicular to the earth, a laser from…
Naftuli Kay
  • 1,317
  • 10
  • 20
59
votes
3 answers

Is Elon Musk's jet trackable using only public data?

According to Elon Musk: My plane is actually not trackable without using non-public data This is a part of an ongoing controversy surrounding the bans on accounts posting the location of his private jet. Can the location of said jet be obtained…
JonathanReez
  • 10,917
  • 11
  • 51
  • 102
57
votes
1 answer

Does the "survivorship bias" airplane diagram come from World War II research on returning war planes?

This is a famous diagram. It is used extensively to demonstrate the concept of "Survivorship Bias". Here is a typical example claim associated with this diagram: In World War 2 the allies famously statistically plotted on returning aeroplanes…
Oddthinking
  • 140,378
  • 46
  • 548
  • 638
56
votes
1 answer

Did an F-15 airplane successfully land with just one wing?

I've just been forwarded a video about a jetfighter landing with just one wing and I wonder if this could indeed be true. Here's the link to the video: One-Winged F 15 Crash Landing Video (landing starts at 2:45) My understanding of flight is that…
scrrr
  • 629
  • 1
  • 5
  • 5
45
votes
1 answer

Does oxygen get you high enough to keep you calm during a plane crash?

Does oxygen get you high? If so, is the effect strong enough to keep the average person placid during a plane crash? From the movie Fight Club: Tyler Durden: [pointing at an emergency instruction manual on a plane] You know why they put oxygen …
going
  • 18,069
  • 18
  • 86
  • 151
43
votes
2 answers

Does a return economy-class seat between London and San Francisco release 5.28 tonnes of CO2 equivalents?

I took this self-survey of CO2 emissions run by the German Environment Agency. It computes for example that an economy class seat from London to San Francisco and back – about 22 hours flight – accounts for 5.28 tonnes of CO2 equivalents (CO2eq or…
KlausN
  • 710
  • 1
  • 5
  • 13
41
votes
3 answers

Does Ryanair use cookies to raise the price of their tickets after you have visited the site before?

According to this website, this and a few others, apparently, RyanAir uses cookies to detect whether you've been to the site before and increases the price, presumably because it believes if you're checking it again, you're going to be more…
Samuelson
  • 3,781
  • 2
  • 29
  • 44
41
votes
2 answers

Why do we open the window shades during landing and take-off?

I have experienced that during take-off and landing on commercial passenger flights, there are clear instructions to the passengers to keep their window shades open. This is done both during day and night times, presumably ruling out any kind of…
Vaibhav Garg
  • 729
  • 2
  • 8
  • 13
41
votes
1 answer

Did removing one olive lead to an airline saving thousands of dollars?

Quite a common story that gets brought up around airports or business meetings when someone wants to provide a famous example of small change for massive savings is the olive story. Apparently there was an airline that managed to save tens of…
going
  • 18,069
  • 18
  • 86
  • 151
39
votes
2 answers

Are 700 more planes a day expected to fly because of the Heathrow expansion?

Some people are protesting a proposed expansion of London Heathrow. I saw some protestors of the Heathrow expansion with signs that read "Stop 700 more planes a day". Greenpeace tells me "A third runway would mean 700 extra planes a day using…
user49887
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8