Aviation Blog Post #3- Nine Interesting Facts About Aviation

I found an intriguing article that has some random facts about aviation.  The article is from an aviation academy called Baltic Aviation Academy, so it seems to be pretty legitimate.  Here is the link in case you would like to look at the article in its entirety; I will be giving an overview of all of the facts here.

http://www.balticaa.com/en/about-us/news-and-press-releases/top-10-interesting-facts-about-aviation/

1) Meals
Pilots eat the same meals served to business and first-class passengers, while co-pilots are encouraged to eat something different to guard against cases of food poisoning.

2) Boeing 747 
This aircraft is the most widely-known and the first wide-body airplane ever produced.  A Boeing 747 is made of six million parts, made to be all controlled by the pilots in the cockpit.  

3) Flight Phobias
More than 80% of the population is afraid to fly.  This statistic may not be a surprise to most people.  

4) Boeing 747 engine
Its engine weighs almost 9,500 pounds.  Hearing this is pretty crazy considering the plane flies thousands of feet above the air!  The cost of this engine is about eight million dollars.

5) The world's busiest commercial airport
The Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta is the busiest commercial airport in the world.  I have never been to this airport personally, but I have heard many stories about how busy it always is!

6) Speed of a Boeing 747
A Boeing 747 can go up to 593 miles per hour.

7) Airplane travelers throughout the world
Only 5% of the world's population has flown on an airplane.  Although the aviation sector is growing rapidly, there are many people from underdeveloped regions that have not been on an airplane and will likely not have the chance to in their lifetime.

8) The average age of a commercial aircraft
The lifespan of these aircraft are actually not measured in time, but in pressurization cycles.  The lifetime of these aircraft is usually 51,000 flight hours/ 75,000 pressurization cycles.

9) The world's most frequent flyer
Tom Stuker, a 59-year-old New Jersey resident had one million miles on an airplane in 2012, all flown with United Airlines, all in first class.  His job as an independent consultant and a sales trainer for automobile dealerships around the world contributes to a lot of his need for flying.