Tuesday, April 08, 2014

10 surprising secrets of modern airliners...

The airliner is one of the pinnacles of the modern era: beautifully engineered, high-tech, bewilderingly complex, but accessible by all. Billions of people have traveled at blistering speeds at unimaginable altitudes to every corner of the world, often without a second thought for the enormous amount of technology and engineering all around them. Air travel arguably has done more to unite the globe than any other invention known to man. We live in the jet age.

But there are some things even frequent flyers have never realized about the aircraft they travel in, small peculiarities about the modern airliner that live outside the realm of most people’s common knowledge. Until now, that is.

10 There Are Explosive Charges Inside The Engines

Let’s ignore the fact that the entire wing is filled with dangerous and highly flammable fuel for a second (yes, that’s where the fuel goes). Each engine also comes fully equipped with one (sometimes two) explosive charges, which are known as “squibs.” Surprisingly, these are used to combat engine fires. Upon firing, the explosive charge punctures the airtight seal of a highly pressurized bottle, and a fire-retardant chemical is violently expelled all over the engine’s interior to—hopefully—smother any flames that remain in the engine casing.

Most aircraft come equipped with two charges—the idea is that firing one should do the trick, but if that fails the second should buy the aircraft a few more precious seconds while it finds somewhere nearby to land. The fire suppression systems in aircraft cargo bays work under similar principles. It’s comforting, in a rather bizarre way. Full story...

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