To Add Some Excitement To Turbulence
The plastic around the emergency exit came loose, they sent a technician on board to duct tape it back in place before we took off… yes, they let the plane take off this way..
Submitted by: dunno source via Submit a Kludge!
I’m aware that this is most likely that super airplane tape. But you can’t tell me this wouldn’t make even the most stalwart flyer wary. I almost need a Valium just looking at it. – Ms. Fix-It
Favorite Comment: Fixer dono1 says, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Kludge Airlines. For your safety, please look towards the front of the cabin where we’d like you to watch a little tape…”
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… and if the plane makes an emergency landing, no one on board has a knife to cut through the tape, since the TSA confiscated them all.
That’s when it helps to have a set of keys on you so you can pierce and saw through it.
Well, you do that. Me? I’m outta there through that other door.
Airplane evacuation rules are 90 seconds I believe, good luck with your keys.
Yeah, damn keys don’t even open a CD wrapper, let alone super-glue-airplane-duct-tape.
The door probably blows open in an emergency?
This is hilarious by the way
Cool, I am gonna hijack a flight with the evil keys of doom. Muahaha!
(For every FBI and whatnot person lurking through this comments: This is a joke!)
you gonna have FBI in your colon. It’ll take 6 months or so but they will find you the next time you try and fly. Enjoy the anal cavity search.
Hey, don’t knock the TSA Cavity Search till you try it. For some folks, that’s the highlight of their trip.
That’s probably aluminum speedtape, your fingernail can pierce it. It’s good for covering holes, but lousy for holding things together. The plastic pieces inside aren’t all that important for airworthiness, so this is just fine.
That it is. Anyone that has ever flown a plane should know that it’s the outside that counts. The inside is just kind of a fashion statement. lol
I’ve seen some pretty crazy little planes. One of the pilots at my drop zone has a from scratch plane that is pretty much a flying frame. He took his son on his first flight on it. Safe enough for an 18 month old. As long as you don’t fly too high, you’re good. I don’t know too much about planes, but after a few months of skydiving, and seeing some of those jump modified planes, that aluminum tape wouldn’t even phase me.
That tape is aluminum tape. You don’t need anything to cut it, you can tear it with your fingers quite easily. It’s a lot thicker than aluminum foil but still relatively easy to tear.
Unlike duct tape, it is designed to be easy to remove, yet has a strong adhesive but that won’t leave any residue.
oooo… I take back my pissy comments.
Do they still sell those little bottles of booze? Or can you get the big ones now?
Ya know, i have a problem with flying already, this isn’t helping me!
Meh, that’s just holding the cosmetic bits on. I’d be more worried if it was actually holding the door on, but it’s not.
So you and Noah sit in that row just before the emergency landing. I’m right behind you… to help, of course.
“Interfering with the safety equipment of this aircraft is a federal offense, unless you use duct tape”
Duct tape is strong my friend! Really strong! Have you seen the landing gear fit?
You better check the wings while you’re at it.
It’s a piece of plastic for cosmetic purposes. Wow, stupid AND paranoid.
What’s the visual cue that lets you know this? Is there something I am missing? I don’t see it.
Is it knowledge that no airline would tape a door shut or do anything so dumb with doors and windows, therefore it has to be only a problem with the trim?
I’d argue that point. There’s a British Airways pilot who won’t trust that the airlines would never do anything stupid with safety equipment. He started out in the cockpit of Flight 5390, and ended the trip on top of 5390.
20+ years of experience in the industry is my “cue”. As for the British Airways pilot… Many pilots are egotistical jerks who know very little about the actual underlying mechanical equipment that makes the airplane safely fly. The VAST majority of aircraft incidents are due to Pilot error, not mechanical failure.
Agreed, this is just a plastic panel to line the interior. No structural risk here.
The BA Pilot was also stupid for loosening his lap belt so much. A bit, sure, especially since there’ll usually tight for takeoff and landing due to the shoulder harnesses pulling the 5-point ring upwards. Obviously, he loosened them way too much.
To clarify, on pretty much all modern passenger jets, the doors are designed so that that fit in the doorway like a plug in your bathtub drain. No matter how hard you push on the plug, it’s not going to go down the drain.
The only way to *open* the door is to pull it inwards, then swing it out through the doorway. When the plane is on the ground, this is rather easy. When the plane is at altitude, twenty or thirty thousand feet up in the air, the outside air pressure is very low, meaning that the air INSIDE the jet is pushing outwards on everything, including the door.
For someone to open the hatch from inside the plane at altitude would require enough force to rip their arms out of socket. So I wouldn’t worry about the bit of tape keeping the plastic trim from wiggling around in some passenger’s face while the plane is in flight.
“yes, they let the plane take off this way”
So what, the plastic bits on the inside do nothing to aid in the structural integrity of the plane. Now if the rivets holding the aluminum skin together had popped off and they duct taped it together, that would be another story.
They DO use that tape to hold on parts of the skin, its called 100mph tape. Google it, its made just for that purpose. Theres a great picture out there somewhere of an aircraft wing with a bunch of that tape on it.
They used zip ties for that part.
Actually, not really, cause that tape is designed for exactly that. It was created by the air force to cover bullet holes in fighters, known as ‘Battle Damage Repair Tape’.
Most of those are plug doors that open inward, anyway…once the plane’s pressurized, they’re not going anywhere.
Not to worry.
It’s made out of the same stuff the black box is.
There is no way I would fly on that plane after someone seals the exit doors with ducttape.
Brings a new meaning to the phrase: Pop goes the weasel!
That’s because you are a huge vagina.
No it doesn’t.
The door wouldn’t open because of the air pressure, and even if it magically did (or a terrorist opened it or something), it wouldn’t suck you out of the plane. They talk about it in a mythbusters episode. The biggest concern at altitude is oxygen.
And assuming we’re not over water.
But don’t worry, if you’re scared I’ll take the exit door seat. Just know if we have an issue, I’m grabbing my rig, taking a big breath of air, and bailing out. Cause there is no way I’m checking my rig… Nope nope nope. Once I get one anyway.
actually, you’re wrong. The Mythbusters esisode showed that shooting a hole in the plane will not cause explosive decompression, but removing the window completely will, you just don’t have room to be pulled out. opening a dooor at altitude, and you’re not staying on that aircraft. Explosive Decompression is real, just not quite as easy to casue as in the movies,
It’s just a trim piece. Has nothing to do with cabin pressure…..
Let’s all, of course, ignore the fact that once the inside of the plane is pressurized and they’re up in the air it is completely impossible to open it from the inside short of an explosive charge blowing a hole in the door.
You do realize that the pressure difference between airplane interior and exterior during flight is less than one atmosphere? (It’s actually around half atmosphere, depending on plane.)
So it would not be difficult to open the door during flight, not at all. The bigger problem, if the door was to be opened during flight, would be airspeed.
I had to fight 3 minutes yesterday to open an airtight container that went to the fridge after being closed when warm. It was just a rubber on flat plastic seal, at the lid was 6×3 inches. Now I didn’t have a nice handle, but half an atmosphere is nothing to sneeze at.
With regards to the problem at hand: you don’t have a parachute, so you don’t open the door until you’re back to normal outside pressure (and internal is either 2km or equal to external, so lower or equal), so pressure doesn’t come into play (insert bold and caps if it helps).
The whole point is that the number of exits regulates how many people can legally fly in the plane. You can’t tape an exit shut and fly a full plane. Even if the other emergency exits are enough (the test is with half of exits locked, in the dark, with 90 seconds to empty the plane), the airline risks losing its license (and major lawsuits) if they have more than X people flying and a door disabled.
So you’re saying that you didn’t have butterknife to pry oped that lid? You do know that, to pressurize the cabin, most modern airplanes use the plane’s own speed and regulated inlets to force air into the cabin right?
Half an atmosphere is 7 PSI. A 3 foot square panel is about 1300 square inches, resulting in over 4 tons of force. Yeah, that’s gonna be easy to open in flight.
Well, for the sake of argument, let’s assume a 1 psi difference between the inside of the plane, and the outside (although in reality it’s probably between 6 and 8 psi http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-altitude-pressure-d_462.html ). Now the door is, what, 30 inches wide by 60 inches tall? So that’s about 1800 in^2, implying that you’d have to pull with 1800 pounds of force to get the door to budge.
so much for “…not be difficult to open the door during flight”.
So, you’re saying that you could open a door which has 7lbs of pressure pressing on each of the 2000 square inches of surface area? You realize that that is 14000lbs of force holding that door closed? I don’t think you’re moving it anywhere. No, you’re not opening an airline door in flight. they are designed to be held in place by the pressure inside the plane. airspeed has nothing to do with it, though. the pressure is provided by bleed air off the engine compressors.
1 ATM of pressure is equal to 14.6 PSI. (Pounds per square inch) Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that there’s only 1/4 of an ATM of pressure difference between the inside and outside of the plane.(This is ludicrously low.) That’s 3.65 PSI. So, assuming the typical aircraft door is 6 feet tall by 3 feet wide, that’s 72″X36,” which is an area of 2,592 inches. This means that, with just 1/4 ATM of pressure differential, you would need to exert 9,460.8 pounds of force on the door to open it in flight. That’s simply not possible. In reality, the pressure inside an airplane in flight @35,000 feet is roughly 10 PSI. So, you’d need 25,920 pounds of force to open that door. Folks… that door ain’t opening.
And that tape isn’t holding the door shut in any way, nor is is hindering the door’s operation. It’s just holding on the cosmetic trim piece. The door is still fully functional.
But plane doors open outwards (you can see it as you board)
The boarding door on some aircraft opens outward, but those Emergency Exit doors are plug-type, which means that when they are released via the upper pull down handle directly under the “Exit” sign and under the “lip”, the door opens inward and onto your lap. In fact, most modern larger aircraft have all doors that are “plug-type”, including the Boarding Door. When closing, it goes thru the hole which you entered at an angle (or comes down out of the ceiling) and plugs outwards to seal the gap. The Passenger Information card in the seatback pocket in front of you will show you this.
As far as the Pressure Differential, most modern day aircraft have a maximum Pressure Differential of 8.2 to 8.6. Not being anal, so 10 is close enough. The tape used to hold the pretty piece of plastic on the door itself is doing only that despite the tape actually touching the sidewall panel also. It’s aluminum tape, not duct tape. If you were to pull that handle down on the ground, the door would open just as if there were no tape. If you were to pull that handle down in flight, the door isn’t going anywhere for a long time due to the Pressure Differential. There is so much pressure pushing outwards from the interior of an aircraft in order to maintain a Maximum Cabin Altitude of around 7000 feet while at a high cruise altitude, that there’s no way that door is opening. Flight Crew members have been severely injured, and some even killed, while opening doors on the ground when the aircraft hasn’t been fully de-pressurized due to them being pushed out of the aircraft.
That’s why these doors are made in the manner that they are — so passengers who want to be stupid can’t be. Pull the handle all you want in flight. The only thing that will happen is a Single “Ding”, a Master Caution light, and an “L (or R) Wing Door 1 (or 2)” Caution Message. It’s not a Triple Chime, Master Warning, because that door won’t open.
Ainlina, yeah, but they flip inwards first then tilt to be pushed out of the frame as the door is bigger… Watch carefully how they open/close a door…
Once the plane is pressurised, there is no way that you could pull it back, and then not even a herd of Hulk Hogan’s on amphetamines would budge it… Though playing with the lever will make lights come on up at the sharp end and the chief steward *will* have a few choice words with you…
Most airplane doors open inwardly for this specific reason.
No, you should really pay attention next time you fly… the doors on this type of aircraft move inwards slightly before being swung open. Look at the diagram of the emergency exit operation next time you fly (you know, that little pamphlet that the flight attendants show you each time you fly). It clearly shows pulling the door in, before tossing it out.
Some smaller pressurized aircraft do, in fact, swing directly outwards, but they have thick hinge/lock mechanisms and very thick air seals which wedge to the interior surface of the fuselage frame when pressurized. People that don’t know jack about aircraft design should stop talking now.
So does the DC-10′s cargo door, which was unsafe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC-10#Cargo_door_problem
They swing outward, but they come into the cabin and then push out to seal. Next time you’re on a flight, watch them open or close the door – the last move of the door as they close it is outward. The first move of the door when they open it is inward.
Nomnom…do a little math…if it is within the realm of possibility for you…the pressurize planes to 5,000 to 8,000 feet and when flying at 30,000 feet the pressure difference is about 8 pounds per square inch…not much until you think that the door has maybe 600 square inches of area which results in almost 5,000 lbs of force holding the window shut. I would LOVE to see you pull that sucker open…
“You do realize that the pressure difference between airplane interior and exterior during flight is less than one atmosphere?”
That’s as obvious as saying 2+2=4.
FYI, no, it would not be humanly possile to open one of the door during flight since there is thousand of pound of pressure applied to them.
Do the math. Let say there is a 3 PSI pressure differential on a 2½’ by 5′ door, that’s equal to a force of 5400 pounds being applied to that door. (2.5′x12″/1′) x (5′x12″/1′) x 3 lb/in²
Of course, those are fictive numbers, but it’s a realistic example.
Meh. No need to worry yet, not until they start pulling up floor panels and trying to get a look at the landing gear…
That’s nothing more than the plastic the lines the inside of the car door. You’re not going to die if it’s gone, it just looks nicer that way.
Forget that popping open in flight (its duct tape guys, it will hold). Sure with no sharp objects allowed on the plane, it won’t get hijacked, but there is no way to get through the tape if you crash.
I’m going on a plane trip in a month. This makes me feel REAL safe.
Was once on a flight on Northwest where the handle of the door broke off as the flight attendant tried to close it. 2 hours of waiting, no fix, they deplaned us and we took another flight an hour later. 3 hours. A broken handle.
Boo hoo hoo.
A handle is different; you need a handle to open the door in an emergency and to secure the door before take-off.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Kludge Airlines. For your safety, please look towards the front of the cabin where we’d like you to watch a little tape…
This…
I love to fly and even I would be a bit nervous about this.
Whereas, I was on a plane made to sit at the gate for AN HOUR while they repaired A DRIPPING LAVATORY SINK.
This is a “win” by the maintenance crew. all the passengers got where they needed to go and got there safely. it’s just a piece of plastic held on by the tape.
I sat next to a gal who “identified” a similar problem on a delta plane once. the trim strip between the panels was missing and she “insisted” they fix it. So, the mechanic put a piece of color matched tape on it and off we went. I had to listen to her the entire flight about how she “saved us all” by alerting them to such a dire maintenance problem. people are stupid.
agreed
It’s funny how people can believe that this tape would have to hold the door shot, while at the same time, believe that everything gets sucked out when the door is opened in mid-air (like in movies). Irrational beings, we are
At least they used the shiny tape and not regular duct tape.
Makes it seem kinda special.
Ditto the cosmetic stuff above. There’s no harm there.
I was on a charter from Argentina (Tower Air). Oxygen masks were dropping at random on passengers, and some overhead lights wouldn’t turn off, so the crew stuffed aluminum foil over the lights. That is much scarier, but I had the emergency exit seat next to the galley, and the crew quickly realized they could dump almost-empty wine bottles into my glass and everybody would be happy. They could throw out the empty bottles, and I had a full glass. And no oxygen mask.
Stop! you are giving Spirit ideas…
Yeah, if they used a white tape it wouldn’t grate so much on passenger’s nerves
“Witlesses says dat dat der’ flying machine wasn’t safe. But I told dem dat my pappy in WW2 flu t’ins wit’ duck tape all da time. ‘N woodn’t ya no it? Dey said it was good to fly.” – President of “Git ‘er Done” Airlines.
My very first flight, ever, I was seated near the wing. Looked out. And that stuff (which my military friend calls 500 mph tape–basically duck tape on steroids, I guess) was on the WING. Yeah. Nice. I wasn’t nervous about the flight that that did make me a tad uneasy
It’s either 99 or 100 mph tape. As for the fact that it was on the wing…. sounds bout right. Though, you’re not suppose to see it.
This isn’t much of a kludge.
No airline is going to delay a flight for a broken piece of plastic trim. That would be an unnecessary waste of money. It doesn’t affect the safety of the aircraft in any way, so just tape it up to hold it in place until the aircraft comes into the hangar for its next inspection/servicing, at which time they get it fixed/replaced.
Oh look! That’s where all my hopes and dreams went!
Yeah, I know that’s just on the trim and the door is pressurized so that it actually becomes more secure the higher you go, but I’m still reminded of the quote from “Serenety.”
“This is the captain. We have a little problem with our entry sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then – explode.”
And what makes you think this picture isn’t from….. Hold on for a sec… *drooling about Gina Torres*
Err… Say who now?
Curse the duct tape’s sudden but inevitable betrayal!
We shall duct tape this plane, and we will call it . . . “this plane.”
I think we should call it your grave!
We’ll be fine as long as our flight attendant, Jayne, doesn’t throw anybody out to save some weight.
another firefly fan
*shouts*
hello brother
“If you come with us, you’ll get your own room.”
“This plane ain’t luh-suh…”
Uh-oh…now they’ve gone and pissed Kaylee off. *This*’ll be a fun flight…
I flew in a blackhawk helicopter a few weeks ago, and before takeoff, one of the ceiling panels fell out! I was like WTF!?!?!! Really!
I work on airplanes and it that is the scariest thing that you can show me I am not worried at all you should actually see all the thin metal and plastic parts on the airplane you fly in before getting in one. and if that doesn’t change your mind about flying watch the ground crew that will definatly scary you.
My girlfriend’s dad used to be ground crew.
Trust me, I’m terrified.
This is totally unacceptable! It is.. it is… UGLY!
Thats it.
No danger, no impediment of use of the door.
Probably just put on to prevent passengers from freaking out when it visibly vibrates.
Look – the tape ISNT STUCK TO THE DOOR!!!! its on a trim panel surrounding the door. The bit that opens is the bit around the window – its not very big, but it is an emergency exit. The plastic is securely taped out of the way to stop it interfering with the door, so there are no safety issues involved. That will get the aircraft to the next maintenance stop when it can be replaced.
This would be a nice April fools trick if the doors are alright.
“This is your Captain speaking and we would like to thank you for flying Red Green Air…. “
Wish I had pictures of what we used to patch up bullet holes in helicopters…
Kludge Air
Chief of Airplane Maintenance : Angus MacGyver
I’ve been working fueling planes on Barajas (Madrid) and I have seen pretty much scarier things, from not-grounded hoses (the friction between the fuel and the hose can pretty much create a discharge), passin’ thru hit-needed-to-work duct-taped exterior airplane electronic control panels, to nobody-even-cares-about levels of condensation on the plane tanks (yep, water condenses on the tanks and why, of course it should be purged frequently. It only isn’t).
I just don’t know why they don’t blow up more frequently.
Makes you wonder just how much duct tape is in use on that airplane, maybe in places that passengers don’t normally see.
Well, if it’s good enough for the space shuttle, it’s good enough for a stupid airplane.
Those sneaky gremlins will get into and try dismantle anything, won’t they?
Portrait of a frightened man: Mr. Robert Wilson, 37, husband, father, and salesman on sick leave. Mr. Wilson has just been discharged from a sanitarium where he spent the last 6 months recovering from a nervous breakdown, the onset of which took place on an evening not dissimilar to this one, on an airliner very much like the one in which Mr. Wilson is about to be flown home, the difference being that, on that evening half a year ago, Mr. Wilson’s flight was terminated by the onslaught of his mental breakdown. Tonight, he’s traveling all the way to his appointed destination, which contrary to Mr. Wilson’s plan happens to be in the darkest corner of the Kludged Zone.
Emergency doors open IN anyway. How do I know? I saw one fall in a guys lap across the aisle from me as we landed and the plane depressurized.
!!!
Awww pshaw – that’s nothing. As pointed out, it’s just some cosmetic stuff. If they had issues, they seal them with foam and move the passengers a few rows away. I fly within africa quite often – you want scary planes, try those.
-Facepalm- It’s not duck tape! It’s called High speed tape, and it’s made and designed specifically for small patch ups and cover ups on AIRPLANES! I know this because my dad made a career of fixing privately owned airplanes and we always had a roll of the stuff in the house. It’s made out of aluminum and has a much, MUCH stronger adhesive than duck tape. Seeing as how the people who take the countless pictures of tape on planes land safely is proof enough the people who put the stuff there KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!
the REALLY sad thing is that ive seen this posted at least five times and people are still posting duct tape
After fixing this, American Airlines collected a $20 “flying safer fee” from each passenger on board.
I bet NO ONE ignored the “Fasten Seatbelt” sign on THAT flight.
Okay, this thread is priceless.
All you engineeer nerds get that this is humor, right? No one really thought that the safety of the plane was in question? IT’S JUST FUNNY.
Lighten up, guys.
No no no, you missed the point. This isn’t about humor, it’s about commenters proving that they’re smarter than everyone else here. And that, my friend, is a very serious business.
Web 2.0 was invented to discourage the aliens from invading.
You heard what Stephen Hawkings said “we should do our best to avoid them.” And he’s one of the best scientific minds alive.
THANK YOU!
I was getting all freaked out by the number of people who look at this website
and have absolutely NO discernable sense of humor!
This pic is to make you LAUGH!
My flight home this morning had actual Duct Tape holding things together, not this pretty, high-speed, airplane tape. Now just practice laughing with me…. Ready? LOL…LOL… (and whatever you do, don’t start asking questions about deferred maintenance, It’ll make you crazy again)
the plastic is just a cover. it really doesnt matter.
Hey, guys…..duct tape was first known as “100 mile an hour tape” so as long as the plane takes it easy you’ll be just fine. Quit whining.
Aircraft Maintenance calls this speed tape. Though unsightly, it is also used on exterior panels for abrasions and holes in composite. These are temporary fixes, to get you on your way. Just think how mad you would be if your flight was delayed due to a broken “cosmetic” interior panel. C’mon, lighten up there you old worry worts!
Seeing that on a flight you are on would be like having a loaded gun on the coffee table: you just can’t stop thinking about it.
“Speed tape” (expensive, bought at airplane supply shops), “100 mile per hour tape” (inexpensive, bought at hardware stores)
Whatever you call it, airplanes have been successfully (temporarily) patched with it for a century.
I flew a friend to a small mountain airstrip in my fabric-covered cub to meet up with her climbing party. I took her pack (with ice axe atttached) from the luggage bin. She put it on and stood up under the wing, skewering the wing with the ice axe.
She thought she couldn’t be more horrified until I took out the white (to match the paint job) 100 mph tape and patched the wing on the spot.
For some reason, she never flew with me again.
I wish I had a picture of one of the Caravans we have at my drop zone. It’s a safe plane, but the cargo is plywood and cargo tape. Then there are the other jump mods; plastic sliding door, seat belts on the floor, and most of y’all would be scared of the video step (Where the skydiving videographers cling on the side of the plane to get the exit shot
)
But I’m super excited! My drop zone just got two Sky Vans! They’re doing jump mods on them now, so, hopefully they’ll be jumpable by mid May.
This is a perfectly safe kludge. In a pressurized aircraft, the air is exerting several tons worth of force against the door, so there is no way that thing is going to open.
What makes me laugh is, i work as an aircraft dispatcher and on one of my flight last week the engineer used the same tape to hold an overhead locker down, seriously Duct Tape can fix anything on an aircraft.
Engine Hanging off? No problem Duct Tape it back to the wing Problem Solved.
To be honest, if it was only a cosmetic thing, I’d rather they quickly duct-tape it together rather than holding the plane for three hours trying to find the guy who’s supposed to fix it.
After working for years on the Ramp at Sydney Airport (YSSN) I can confirm that on many aircraft the Cargo Door Latch does not always close properly. SPEED TAPE is frequently used to hold the latch closed before the hop to LAX. It’s good stuff and we haven’t lost an aircraft…yet… that’s why its called “AIRCRAFT”.