Articles

Every pilot’s worst nightmare is crashing a plane. Not only is it incredibly dangerous – sometimes even deadly – it’s highly traumatic, costly, and can have terrible far-reaching consequences. You could cause physical damage to yourself, your passengers, and those around you or develop PTSD. These are just the surface of the potential consequences of crashing your plane. It is not illegal to crash a plane by accident, though you could face charges if you do it on purpose or damage other people’s properties. Let’s explore some of the legal consequences of crashing your plane, even if it’s [...]

Planes are fantastic pieces of technology that have made traveling worldwide easier for more than 100 years. We’ve come a long way from these early designs. The Wright Brothers 1903 plane weighed just 605 pounds. Now, commercial planes carry more than that in luggage alone! Typically, the average commercial aircraft will weigh between 152.9 and 220.1 tons – or 337,100 to 485,300 pounds. That is just the weight of the plane alone. It gets even heavier when you add the people, luggage, and other materials transported on planes. But there are maximums that planes need to stay under [...]

Commercial planes can get you from point A to point B, but they focus more on function than style. They’re faster than traveling by train, boat, or car in most cases, but other planes are much quicker on the market today.  Scientists, engineers, and militaries have been working to develop fast planes ever since the first plane successfully flew in 1903. Here are 7 of the fastest planes in the world today. Key Takeaways The North American X-15 is the fastest plane in the world, reaching speeds over 7,274 km/h, and also holds records for altitude and being [...]

When you see a plane in the sky, it doesn’t look like they’re moving too fast, nor does it feel like it when you’re on the airplane. You really only feel the movement if you’re taking off, landing, or encountering turbulence during your flight. Your ears might pop, or your stomach feels like it jumps into your chest. All other times, it feels like smooth sailing. You can track the distance flown on the tablet on the back of most seats, but have you ever wondered exactly how fast do planes fly? Typically a commercial jet can fly [...]

We are so connected to our technology that the idea of unplugging for a few hours while on a flight may be enough to induce a slight panic attack. Never fear. WiFi is available on most flights, though it may cost you depending on the airline you’re flying with. Whether for free or for a fee, you can be back up and running in no time, re-connected to the digital world around you. However, keep in mind it won’t be as fast as you’re used to on the ground – in-flight WiFi has room for improvement. Key Takeaways [...]

Perspective is a funny thing. When you see a plane flying high above you, it seems so tiny – close enough that you can hear it sometimes, but far enough away that it looks almost like a toy. Yet, when you’re on the plane looking down at the world below, the world appears like a dollhouse with neat rows of houses, perfectly laid out parks, and bodies of water. If you squint hard enough, you may be able to see people playing, or crowds gathered, depending on how high your plane is flying. But how high does a [...]

While it may seem like modern technology, airplanes were invented more than 100 years ago. Orville and Wilbur Wright had their first successful flight on December 17, 1903, but a lot of work went into that beforehand – though the title of who invented the first plane is still up for debate to this day. Key Takeaways The Wright Brothers are credited with inventing the first airplane after their successful flight in 1903. Their determination and innovation paved the way for future advancements in aviation technology. However, there were other inventors and aviators, such as Alberto Santos-Dumont and [...]

Most history books will claim that the first airplane was invented on December 17, 1903, after the Wright Brothers first successful flight. However, there is some debate on who should hold that title after historical evidence has surfaced over the years. But let’s take a step back to look back at the evolution of planes to get a sense of where we started and how far we’ve come since that first powered flight. Just because the Wright Brothers flew in 1903, doesn’t mean that’s when flying technologies started. Key Takeaways The history of aviation goes back thousands of [...]

The Wright Brothers changed the world in December 1903 with what was arguably the world’s first flight, though there is some debate if others came before them. Regardless, that 12-second flight revolutionized travel, opening the skies in ways that had only been dreamed about before. The Wright Brothers couldn’t have imagined what their discovery would make possible over 100 years later. Now, we use the same basic principles to fly planes, though our airborne time has increased significantly. The longest direct flight takes about 17 and a half hours, which can get you from Singapore and New York [...]