5 ms·
Why is there a tiny hole in the airplane window? (2023)
- killingtime74 9mo agoThis "article" is basically a transcript of a youtuber's explanation. At least they are quoted and not just copied.
- fragmede 9mo agoyeah, but some people don't want to, or can't watch a video, and prefer reading.
- lazide 9mo agoI think their point is why not have an actual source?
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- retsibsi 9mo agoThe guy who made the video is (was?) a pilot, so I think he's as good a primary source as we would often deem acceptable for something like this.
- GreenVulpine 9mo agoYeah, I'd rather read a 2 minute article than have someone stretch the explanation to 10 minutes for ad revenue or the algorithm or whatever the current YouTube enshitrification meta is.
- m-schuetz 9mo agoI prefer reading articles over watching videos. Videos take forever to get to the point.
- epiccoleman 9mo agoThis is such a common annoyance on the modern internet. I've recently been playing Minecraft with my kids, with a few mods, and I've been irritated to discover that - unlike when I'd mess around with mods a decade ago - lots of the "documentation" for mods now exists only in video form. Anyway, I built / slopped out this little wrapper for yt-dlp that I call tuber[1], and it has a feature for grabbing a video's subtitles and summarizing them with Claude, if you've got the CLI. I've found it really handy for those annoying cases where some video seems to promise info I want but I don't want to sit through ten minutes of bullshit. [1]: https://github.com/epiccoleman/tuber https://github.com/epiccoleman/tuber
- loremium 9mo agoyou could also use openai whisper for transcription. takes longer but beats bad subtitles
- 0x073 9mo ago> Videos take forever to get to the point. I feel the same with this article.
- left-struck 9mo agoIf you just want an answer to the question > Bleed holes, Captain Joe explains, “allow for pressure equalization between the space between the panes of the window and the cabin interior. Without these holes, the pressure difference between the cabin and the space between the panes would lead to stress on the window.”
- stouset 9mo agoAnd then to answer the follow-up, the double panes are not for safety in case one breaks. They’re for thermal insulation.
- butvacuum 9mo agodoesnt mean the inside one isnt there to protect the outside one.
- traceroute66 9mo ago> doesnt mean the inside one isnt there to protect the outside one. The inner pane is typically half the thickness of the outer pane. So whilst you could argue it cold be seen as a failsafe, I would say its primary purpose remains "double glazing" insulation. The OAT at 30–40,000ft is very low and there is a lot of combined window area. So the importance of insulation is not to be underestimated. In particular on newer aircraft where efficiency is the name of the game in their design.
- iso1631 9mo agoThe inner pane (isn't it plastic?) is far easier to replace when some annoying kid devices to scratch their tag into it with a nail file.
- traceroute66 9mo ago> The inner pane (isn't it plastic?) is far easier to replace That's the scratch pane you are referring to. Yes, it is made of cheap plastic and serves no structural or other purpose other than to protect the real stuff from annoying kids. ;)
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- RugnirViking 9mo agoI fly quite a lot and have never seen this? mostly norwegian, SAS easyjet and ryanair. Is it a US thing? I'll definitely be on the lookout next time I fly though but yeah. Maybe its not every window?
- willvarfar 9mo agoI've always noticed and wondered, so I guess it's easy to overlook but it's there.
- peterpost2 9mo agoRyanair and sas definitely have them
- iSnow 9mo agoThen you overlooked it, every passenger jet of a certain size (say A320 and up) has them
- abcd_f 9mo agoThe article on the trio of de Havilland passenger jet crashes from 1950s (linked from the post) is very interesting - https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accidents/G-ALYV https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accid...
- froidpink 9mo agoso if I block it with my finger from takeoff to cruise I can create a little explosion? Or is the issue the repeated cycles of pressure weakening the material over time?
- iSnow 9mo agoYou can't reach it with your finger, it's in the middle pane.
- rkachowski 9mo agonot with that attitude
- the-mitr 9mo agoOf possible interest, Science for the Airplane Passenger by Elizabeth Wood https://archive.org/details/sciencefromyoura00wood https://archive.org/details/sciencefromyoura00wood
- binbag 9mo agoThis is extremely obvious and it’s what you think it is.
- nehal3m 9mo agoI guess it is to most people, but others have never given it an iota of thought and some are part of today's lucky 10,000! https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
- brocha 9mo agoMost people don’t think along this axis. It’s the same reason why if you asked somebody how a toilet works or the functionality of P-trap (both things a majority have interacted with/seen more frequently than a plane window), they’d probably give you a blank stare.
- yrro 9mo agoHow much easier would it be to design build & maintain aircraft if we did away with (passenger) windows?
- 0x073 9mo agoEverything gets much easier without windows, but many people feel a sense of security with windows. I also prefer a flight without get a feeling of a flying can.
- asah 9mo agoanother solution: https://www.theliquidview.com/ https://www.theliquidview.com/
- bamboozled 9mo agoIf this meant more space and bigger seats due to reduced costs of the plane, sign me up.
- cyco130 9mo agoIf history is any indication, it would only mean more passengers in the plane.
- Sohcahtoa82 9mo agoIs that just a TV with a fancy bezel that plays a 24-hour video? $10K seems a lot to drop on something so mundane.
- mghackerlady 9mo agoIt also helps passengers on long flights experience the passage of time as something other than number go up
- niwtsol 9mo agoThe article claims it helps stop condensation, but I have several memories of little ice crystals and/or condensation that originate right at the little hole…
- alnsn 9mo agoRelated: Why there are holes in bicycle rims: https://youtu.be/yppBwvPciBo?t=8m7s https://youtu.be/yppBwvPciBo?t=8m7s
- blumenkraft 9mo agoCould have been answered with a single sentence instead of a trip down memory lane that nobody wants or needs.