Have you ever wondered why do airplanes have round windows? They must serve some purpose other than allowing you to take pictures from a height of 30,000ft, right? As it turns out, there is a particular reason for the windows to be round and this roundness of windows keeps you safe by not allowing the plane to disintegrate during mid-flight.
The reason why this safety feature had to be added was fuel efficiency. Airplanes begin to fly at higher altitudes in order to avoid drag and turbulence thus reducing consumption of fuel, however, higher altitudes came with problems of their own. The first of them being the fact that human beings can’t survive at 30,000ft and to cater for that, pressurized cabins were introduced. The Fuselage was tweaked to become cylindrical in order to cater to the internal pressure.
Now, when a plane increases its altitude the external pressure drops while the internal pressure varies slightly and this causes a pressure difference that results in the minute expansion of plane. Square windows resulted in a catastrophe when this phenomenon took place. The pressure would build up on the windows’ corners and subsequently cracked the plane’s body. This tragedy happened to three aircraft back in 1953 and claimed a total of 43 passengers.
Afterwards round windows were approved and implemented rigorously. Check out this video for more:
Always good to know the how and why of things. Thanks.
Out of all my plane trips not once has the shape of the windows ever come into question…in fact I don’t even think anyone questions it. It’s just one of those things in life you see and just accept because such information has absolutely no impact on your life whatsoever.