Can’t we all just get along?
Now that brings back some memories. Not nice ones. So glad I’m done.
I get it, the laptop contains a lithium-ion battery, and that’s not allowed in the cargo hold. But I am surprised that there’s a large enough gap between the floor and wall that a laptop can fit through it. Maybe put some carpet over that opening or something.
I thought there were holes to allow air to pass through in case of decompression of the cargo hold. IIRC way back those were not there and a door blew off the cargo hold and the rapid decompression forced the passenger cabin down into the cargo hold causing a lot of injuries. So, now, they have air vents which allow the cabin air to safely exhaust out of the passenger cabin.
Not sure if this is that though.
Totally makes sense!
I wondered if there might some reason those holes might be necessary, but still you’d think they’d put a grate or screen over them so passengers can’t just drop stuff down there.
Not just injuries from the fall, bit I think the control cables to the tail ran through the cabin floor. This was part of the reason for a couple DC-10 crashes. When the pressure imbalance caused the floor to collapse, control cables for the rudder, elevator, trim, and #2 engine were fouled or broken.
It’s been years since I read a book on those accidents. Someone please jump in and correct me if I’m wrong.
You’re correct. A/C cargo areas use to be pressurized separately which means now they would have to pressurize the whole plane all the time. It also means anything that catches fire in the belly will fill the whole plane with smoke. I’m not sure what is allowable in luggage but I imagine people put lithium powered items in them.
A tube is much stronger shape than two D’s (or a tube cut in half by a floor)
I’d think that is super common these days. E.G. Electric shavers have a battery and are super common. Hell, they are more likely to get mad at razor blades for shaving than a battery in an electric shaver.
My dad (a pilot of many years) told me that pressurization wasn’t controlled by how much air was pumped into the plane, but how much was let out. Control that, and you keep the plane at the desired internal pressure.
Which suggests to me that the locations where the air enters and leaves the fuselage are a known part of the design. Pump air into the passenger section, let it flow from there to the cargo hold, and from there through the outflow valves. I know that wouldn’t totally contain smoke to the cargo area, but probably wouldn’t hurt.
(And yeah, aircraft designers probably learn that on the second day on the job.)
That’s a good way of putting it. I like to say a pressurized airplane is like a leaky balloon - there’s a small pinhole in the back and you keep blowing air into the front. The aircraft outflow valves are the pinhole, and the rate at which they allow air to escape controls pressurization.
But when smoke enters the aircraft that air isn’t moving fast enough to clear it out in a timely manner. In many planes pilots can command a “dump” action which drives open the outflow valves to their full aperture to clear smoke. But this also means the plane de-pressurizes. My current bizjet commands the outflow valves to re-stabilize the pressure at 14,500’ (that’s actually built into the valve itself, mechanically).
But as said earlier, cargo areas might not be pressurized. So in the end, that crew did the right thing returning with a powered laptop being dropped into that area. They explained to AtC their decision was out of “an abundance of caution”, which is exactly what we’re paid for.
I always sit in the last 3 rows (as long as there are exits in back), largely for emergency egression. You got yer “two doors aft” and generally not as many folks fighting for the doors (after they grab their carry-ons, of course).
I don’t really have to count rows–it’s just keep going back until you hit the galley, grab a couple baby booze bottles, open the door, then skedaddle.
(I wouldn’t actually swipe the booze–unless things were bad enough. Though if it’s really bad I would prefer that passenger jets came equipped with one of my favorite ideas: oxygen masks that deliver a high dose of nitrous oxide along with the O2 
).
Interesting:
One of the most iconic aviation terms that has also become a household word is “Roger.” The word comes from early radio transmissions and the US Army Signal Corps just before the outbreak of WWI. The word persisted through the interwar period and was also adopted by the US Navy. The word rose to fame in WWII and the many subsequent movies about air battles of the conflict. As the British and US deepened their cooperation with each other during WWII, the word was soon adopted by the RAF.
Here’s a 23-minute deep dive into how the “NATO Phonetic Alphabet” (which is not a phonetic alphabet and was not created by NATO) came to be.
Roger doesn’t mean “yes”. It means “I have heard and understand what you said”. It specifically does not mean “I agree” or “I will comply”.
Hence “Roger. Wilco.” meaning a) I have heard and understand you with no questions; and b) I will comply with your instructions.
“Rodger” can also be confusing when your co-pilot was formerly named Lew Alcindor.
Next thing you know, they’ll be Kareeming around the sky.
The hell I don’t! LISTEN, KID! I’ve been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!
From the link:
In the days of Morse Code, as well as the early days of radio communication, the letter “R” was the shorthand for “Received.”
Or in the immortal words of Fred, ‘Roger, Wilcox!’