I telephoned British Airways to get to (ahem) the bottom of it. “Er,it’s true,” a senior executive told me,not sure whether to be pleased or embarrassed.
Too comfortable? British Airways’ economy seats.Supplied
BA flight 575 from Milan’s Linate Airport to Heathrow in February was grounded after inspectors from the Italian aviation authority conducted a surprise inspection of the Airbus A320. They found that the seats in the exit row next to the wings had cushions that exceeded mandated thickness. Seat cushions in exit rows are thinner than in other rows to make it as easy and as quick as possible for passengers to get off in an emergency. Before the plane could take off,BA had to find smaller seat cushions for the exit row.
Aviation is the most strictly regulated form of transport,for good reason. What are the other rules and regulations that you might not be aware of? Here are my favourites:
Rapid exit
The number of passengers on a plane is determined not by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary’s determination to squeeze every cent from every square inch of the cabin,but by the number of seats,which in turn is dictated by the number of doors an aircraft has. The more doors,and the larger they are,the more seats. Why? Because airlines and manufacturers have to show that a full aircraft can be evacuated with half the doors unusable within 90 seconds.
The Japan Airlines Airbus A350 ablaze on the tarmac in Tokyo in January.AP
The importance of this was illustrated in January when all 379 passengers and crew got off through three doors of a Japan Airlines Airbus A350 that in about two minutes. Moments later it was engulfed in flames.
Crew cut
The minimum number of cabin crew is determined by safety regulations.iStock
The number of cabin crew is determined not by what level of service an airline wants to provide – more for more attentive service,fewer for less – but rather by a minimum of one flight attendant for every 50 seats,regardless of whether those seats are occupied.
Don’t be dim
You might think that the cabin lights are dimmed and you are told to keep window blinds open when taking off and landing at night to make sure the cabin crew can see out in the event of an accident – and to make it easier to see the emergency lights inside the cabin that show the way to an emergency exit. But that’s only part of the story. Dimming the lights also helps passengers’ eyes to adjust faster to a dark or smoke-filled cabin.
Blindsided
There are good reasons your blind has to go up for takeoff and landing.iStock
Blinds are kept open to make sure that if there is a fire,firefighters can see inside the cabin and identify any flames on board and their location (as well as crew and passengers being able to see any fire outside,like on the wings).
Caught short
There are no rules on the number of bathrooms an airliner has to have. Some airlines have been reducing the number of bathrooms on short-haul jets,so go before you go.
Batteries not included
Airlines have to observe a minimum equipment list. If an important item is missing or defective,the aircraft cannot fly and a strict deadline for repair or replacement is enforced. Something as seemingly small as a battery powered exit light above an overwing door has to be checked before every flight. “If there is a power cut,passengers still need to be able to see where the nearest exit is,” an aircraft engineer says.
Singles club
All jets have to be able to fly on one engine. Yes,once airborne,a 550-tonne Airbus A380 superjumbo can fly on a single engine. Single-engine operation helps determine a flight’s routing and airports it would use if it needs to divert.
Feeling the heat
There is no set temperature for an aircraft cabin. It can be anywhere between 18°C and 30°C. Airlines raise the temperature to encourage passengers to go to sleep and lower it when it is time to wake up. Aircraft can be heated by using hot air which is “bled” off the engines and even by harvesting the heat generated by the batteries that run its computer systems.
A breath of fresh air
There is no requirement that airlines provide individual air vents over every seat. Many Asian airlines do not offer these on widebody jets. Air has to be filtered every three minutes using HEPA filters,which are also used in a hospital operating theatre. This means you are unlikely to pick up airborne viruses on board – but you may well be affected by the constant variations in temperature when you travel.
Window dressing
You might have noticed a small triangle sticker above the window next to your seat. This indicates that it is the best window through which to see the moving parts and controls of the wing. The sticker is there to help the cabin crew to be as fast as possible to observe the condition of the wing or an engine in an emergency.
Tipping the scales
Cabin crew tell passengers to “take your assigned seat” before takeoff not because they want to split up families but because they’ve used data on the average weight of passengers to distribute the weight evenly around the aircraft for takeoff and landing. Every five years,some airlines, and Korean,do random,voluntary weight checks of passengers in the countries to which they fly which they use to develop an average weight. Passengers are invited to step on to the scales at check-in.
Phoney rules
Even though we are all told to switch off our mobile phones,some private flights allow mobile calls and there is little evidence that interference from mobile phones has affected an aircraft’s performance or navigation.
Screen time
There’s no regulation size for an aircraft window but some manufacturers like to use bigger windows as a marketing ploy. This is despite the fact that some airlines hate windows because the core is made of glass,which is very heavy. Tim Clark,Emirates’ boss,has speculated that airlines will do away with windows and use cameras on the fuselage to in place of the window. That means you could choose which view you wanted to see – the one from the left-hand side or the one from the right-hand side.
The Telegraph,London