These 30 Pilots And Flight Attendants Confess The Best Kept Secrets About Flying

[Triana]

. . .

2. The water in the lavatories is very dirty too.

“Whatever you do, do not drink the water in the lav. It is bad enough to “wash” your hands in it. We sanitize the water tank at selected maintenance intervals, however parasites build tolerances to these cleaners.”

“Check the outside of the aircraft when walking in. If the paint is crappy shape, the plane is in crappy shape. Skydrol (hydraulic fluid) is a nasty fluid and will dissolve everything. So if the paint is missing, it’s probably from a skydrol leak. No one wants a hydraulic leak at 35,000 ft in the air. As you can’t just pull over and top the reservoir off.”

. . .

7. Regarding food on the plane.

“My dad works for a large airline, he told me a few little things

Two pilots are served different meals and cannot share, this is done in case of food poisoning.
Stealing food, even if they are going to throw it out can get you fired instantly. You can ask your supervisor, but you cannot take food. They don’t want people messing with it.”

. . .

11. Don’t drink water on a plane that didn’t come from a bottle.

“Former Lufthansa cargo agent here.

Do not EVER drink water on an aircraft that did not come from a bottle. Don’t even TOUCH IT. The reason being the ports to purge lavatory shit and refill the aircraft with potable water are within feet from each other and sometimes serviced all at once by the same guy. Not always, but if you’re not on the ramp watching, you’ll never know.”

. . .

THE REST:

http://theviralera.com/these-30-pilots-and-flight-attendnts-confess-the-best-kept-secrets-about-flying/

[Scuba]

1. Why would anyone take toys in their bags unless they had kids?

27. Why it’s always easier to just take the batteries out.

“Women: if you pack a toy in your bag, take the batteries out. Because if I’m loading your bag, and I hear it vibrating I have to tell my lead. Then my lead has to come pull you off the aircraft and you have to open your bag and turn off your toy in front of a bunch of giggling grown ass men.”

[Triana]

2. Umm...

(sex toys) you know, like from blowfish.com

[Scuba]

3. Is that a referral?

[Triana]

4. NO.

Just an example what was meant in the article by "toys"

[MosheFeingold]

11. That's hillarious

My mind is clearly not dirty enough to even have thought of that.

[liberal N proud]

5. I want to fly this airline

Bars have been out of airplanes since PanAm days.

[Blue_Tires]

6. #4 is wrong, to my understanding...

Captains have NO arrest powers or legal authority...They do however have the power to have anyone removed from a flight for any reason...

#12: Bag locks are useless...If some baggage guy wants to go through your stuff, he's going to go through your stuff...The important thing is to never put anything of value in checked baggage (or if you absolutely must, make sure you have enough insurance to cover the loss)

#17: The pilot says turning off electronics is totally useless, but in the next sentence complains about communications signal interference with ATC?? Which one is it? (FWIW, the FAA is revising that policy and will probably drop it altogether in the near future)

#19: Isn't this common knowledge? All anyone has to do is look out the window from the terminal and watch how they work...

#24: Given the modern tech and redundancy in modern jets, a *double* engine failure at cruise is a very, very remote possibility...

#25: NOBODY flies 60-year-old airframes anymore...I mean come on now...

#27: Hot locations don't make that much of a difference...Hot locations plus high elevation are another story, though

#29: This makes no sense...An airport knows well in advance that a flight has been hijacked; no 'secret signal' with the flaps is needed...

[Triana]

7. Tx. Are these alleged airline employees just that ignorant or...

...is someone having a go at the airline industry by putting out misleading propaganda?

What grossed me out was the bit about the water. I often order coffee on flights. Guess I'll stop that until I have more/better info.

[MicaelS]

8. How Safe Is Airline Water? Bring Your Own Bottle!

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1036110025940498271

But we do -- because we tested it. We packed sample vials and took to the skies, hopping on 14 different flights everywhere from Atlanta to Sydney, Australia. On each, we collected water from the galley and lavatory taps, sealed them up and sent them to a lab for analysis. The results of our water-quality snapshot: a long list of microscopic life you don't want to drink, from Salmonella and Staphylococcus to tiny insect eggs. Worse, contamination was the rule, not the exception: Almost all of the bacteria levels were tens, sometimes hundreds, of times above U.S. government limits. "This water is not potable by any means," says Donald Hendrickson, the director of Hoosier Microbiology Laboratories in Muncie, Ind., which tested our samples.

The good news, of course, is that this water isn't the main drinking supply for passengers, who usually get bottled H2O from the beverage carts. But plenty of people depend on the plane's taps to wash their hands and brush their teeth. And while the airlines say they rarely serve tap water, many flight attendants say it isn't that uncommon: When the bottled water runs out, they turn to the tanks -- which, under federal regulations, are supposed to provide drinkable water. "It's the way our service works," says Sara Dela Cruz, a spokeswoman for the union of United Airlines attendants.

For their part, the airlines say they closely follow federal guidelines for drinking water, and say no passengers have ever complained about getting sick from it. "It's absolutely drinkable," says a United spokesman. They called our water tests unscientific, and said our own samplers could have contaminated the results. "Someone with dirty hands must have used that sink," said a spokesman from National Airlines, where the lavatory sample came back positive for coliform.

But our experts said human contamination wouldn't explain all our results. Some of the water we collected on a short flight to St. Louis, for example, contained Pasteurella pneumotropica, a bacterium primarily carried by rodents. Similarly, our Chicago-to-Los Angeles trip turned up Pseudomonas, a highly resistant bacterium associated with a range of infections. And while the U.S. government sets a maximum bacterial level of 500 "colony-forming units" per milliliter for municipal drinking water, our lab counted more than four million per milliliter in a single sample alone. That's roughly the same bacterial concentration you find in a tainted raw hamburger, Dr. Hendrickson says.

[Triana]

10. GROSS!

Okay. Never again will I order coffee on a flight. What water do they use to make it?

I've never drank the water from any tap on a plane (got the bottled if I wanted water) - but if they make coffee & tea from the galley water - NEVER. AGAIN. will I order that on a plane.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

13. #13 is beyond stupid

So is the one about leaving the spoilers up in a hijack.

My dad worked for American though and he said he would never check a pet.

[AZCat]

14. Hot locations don't make a difference? That's not my experience.

They have to shut down the Phoenix airport during some summer afternoons due to heat and humidity. Combined they affect the lift generated and engine power significantly enough that runway lengths required for takeoff exceed those available. It can get kind of bouncy, too.

[jakeXT]

9. Ok, let your kids pass out and tip your FA for free drinks

Passing out for a few seconds won’t harm the kids.

If you give your FA a fiver with your first drink you’ll probably drink for free the rest of the flight.”

[Thor_MN]

12. Considering the alternative...

Would your kids know to put your oxygen mask on? Decompression at altitude is not the same as not breathing on the ground. The lowered pressure will result in more dissolved gases coming out of your blood, including the oxygen your body hasn't used yet that keeps you conscious while holding your breath on the ground. Also, young children are more tolerant of hypoxia than adults.