2003 - Boeing 747. Flight data and voice recorders onboard the PH-BUI
I shot this picture onboard the PH-BUI shortly before she was sold to Southern Air as N-746SA in 2003. I don,t think she flies anymore. (Being built in 1975)
By the way, flight data and voice recorders are always situated in the tail of the airplane, you will appreciate why.
If you see a rectangular flag painted on the fuselage near the tail section, that is the exact spot (for a reason) where the recorders are situated inside the hull.
Talking about safety, in NATO planes with a closed hull
(windows always weaken the integrity of the structure they are in) all the seats are turned around 180 degrees to face the tail.
That way the High Brass onboard has a better chance to survive a moderate crash, because scientists found out that seats opposite to the flight direction, give a 40% better chance to the people sitting on them, to walk away and live another day.
Physiology.
All your organs, heart, liver, lungs etc. are loose in your body, embedded in flesh, muscle and fat, only connected by tubing and therefore are subject to Newtons law on impact.
Your head and neck are better protected sitting opposite to the flight direction as well, your neck being the weakest link here, because your head is relatively heavy. (appprox. 8% of your total body weight, so including your head)
Your skeleton alone makes out for about 15% of your total weight, but in this case your head is not just the skull.
By the way, ever thought about the fact that a grown human male has 100.000km (60.000 miles) of tubing (veins/arteries/bloodvessels) in his body ?
That is 2.5 times the circumference of the earth !
Mind you, we are mainly talking capillaries here, being 5 to 10 microns in width.
His heart will pump the blood through his veins with a speed of 11 km/h, and per 24 hours the total amount of blood that is pumped around will be the equivalent of 7000 ltrs, given an average amount of blood volume and heart muscle.
You do the math for a whole year !
Logic. (not)
It's a funny thing though.
We have customers who demand that their expensive cargo is flown by airplanes, not older then 5 years.
Mind you, we are talking cargo here, not people.
But you, going on vacation with your beloved spouse and children, have no problem to climb onboard a 25 year old airplane at all.
Human logic is hard to understand sometimes.
Another example ; It is called : " triscaideca phobia "
In practically no airplane in the western world, you will find a seat row with number 13.
Only British Airways and EasyJet have both feet on the ground whilst flying.
They do have row 13 in their airplanes (lol)
Why ?
Simply, because it's there . .
2003 - Boeing 747. Flight data and voice recorders onboard the PH-BUI
I shot this picture onboard the PH-BUI shortly before she was sold to Southern Air as N-746SA in 2003. I don,t think she flies anymore. (Being built in 1975)
By the way, flight data and voice recorders are always situated in the tail of the airplane, you will appreciate why.
If you see a rectangular flag painted on the fuselage near the tail section, that is the exact spot (for a reason) where the recorders are situated inside the hull.
Talking about safety, in NATO planes with a closed hull
(windows always weaken the integrity of the structure they are in) all the seats are turned around 180 degrees to face the tail.
That way the High Brass onboard has a better chance to survive a moderate crash, because scientists found out that seats opposite to the flight direction, give a 40% better chance to the people sitting on them, to walk away and live another day.
Physiology.
All your organs, heart, liver, lungs etc. are loose in your body, embedded in flesh, muscle and fat, only connected by tubing and therefore are subject to Newtons law on impact.
Your head and neck are better protected sitting opposite to the flight direction as well, your neck being the weakest link here, because your head is relatively heavy. (appprox. 8% of your total body weight, so including your head)
Your skeleton alone makes out for about 15% of your total weight, but in this case your head is not just the skull.
By the way, ever thought about the fact that a grown human male has 100.000km (60.000 miles) of tubing (veins/arteries/bloodvessels) in his body ?
That is 2.5 times the circumference of the earth !
Mind you, we are mainly talking capillaries here, being 5 to 10 microns in width.
His heart will pump the blood through his veins with a speed of 11 km/h, and per 24 hours the total amount of blood that is pumped around will be the equivalent of 7000 ltrs, given an average amount of blood volume and heart muscle.
You do the math for a whole year !
Logic. (not)
It's a funny thing though.
We have customers who demand that their expensive cargo is flown by airplanes, not older then 5 years.
Mind you, we are talking cargo here, not people.
But you, going on vacation with your beloved spouse and children, have no problem to climb onboard a 25 year old airplane at all.
Human logic is hard to understand sometimes.
Another example ; It is called : " triscaideca phobia "
In practically no airplane in the western world, you will find a seat row with number 13.
Only British Airways and EasyJet have both feet on the ground whilst flying.
They do have row 13 in their airplanes (lol)
Why ?
Simply, because it's there . .