How did high power lights even damage the windows so badly that they are literally missing?
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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From the article
"The lights, which were intended to give the illusion of a sunrise, were placed about 20 to 30 feet from the aircraft, shining on first the right, then the left side of the craft for over nine hours in total.
A foam liner had melted away from at least one of the windows and several window panes appeared to have been warped by the thermal heat. "
I’m surprised by that, because I’m having a hard time picturing a setup that was all that much hotter than, say, sitting on the tarmac in Phoenix in the summer.
Stage lights are hot as fuck dude, even hung from rafters you can feel their directionality on stage.
Hell find someone who likes flashlights and ask to borrow a 1000 lumen lights then shine it at your hand, it gets noticeably hot very rapidly.
Especially from 20 feet away
Am I missing something or is the term "thermal heat" just stupid? Are they trying to sound? Or is there some other meaning of heat that I'm unaware of and that would make sense in this context and therefore the description is needed?
I'm genuinely confused...
Huh, to be honest, when i read this, it didn't connect with me how the lights made window panes disappear. were the window panes missing before the flight? It doesn't seem like the window panes fell on anyone or nearby property.
"One shattered window pane was later recovered from the runway during a routine inspection."
It's likely the crew was using fresnel lights which are bright and very hot. You can easily burn yourself or set fire to delicate objects after prolonged use. Not impossible to imagine a crew member moving the lights, leaving them on and highly focused to imitate a distant light source; like a magnifying glass under the sun.
In the article it says the frames were melted by heat from the lights.
Just FYI, I know English is hard, but "a" means one not two.
They did discover a missing window pane. They discovered some more too but at least one. 😉
Here's the Instagram account for the article's author. I don't know if she's on lemmy so there's no guarantee she'll see your comment here.
The author doesn't write the headlines. Not that there's any need to track down the sub-editor to yell at them either.
Why use an actual in-service aircraft and not a mock-up or a fuselage from a retired or otherwise out of service aircraft?
It was probably more cost-effective.
Probably won’t be now that they’ll have to fix the aircraft.
Maybe I missed this on reading (and rereading) the article, but do they mention the airline?
A different article I read says Titan Airways / TCS World Travel
Thank you!
Well that’s terrifying
Not really. Most planes leak quite a bit anyway- they’re constantly running air compressors to keep it at about the equivalent pressure of 6,000-8,000 feet.
At that point, it was merely mildly concerning. If the window had blown out mid-Atlantic that would have been terrifying- flying low enough to maintain pressure would expend too much fuel, etc. but they were only 10-15 minutes into the flight; so, no big deal.
Also? At 20kft, yiu have about 30 minutes before you pass out. (Airlines typically have 10-15 minutes oxygen reserves, for a fully packed aircraft, more than enough time to dive down to breathable pressures. Even from the normal cruising altitudes of 30-40k ft)
I’m surprised there wasn’t a flashy warning thing, though. At 14k-ish pressure altitude… the oxy masks should have dropped automatically
Not really.
I would comfortably say that I would be at least slightly terrified if I were on that plane, regardless of how ultimately justified it would be. Nobody wants to hear that there is a problem or needing to turn back after takeoff.
I meant more that it was a surprise to the crew that two windows were missing. I’d expect something so obvious to show up on a pre flight check
I think it's more shocking that the flight attendants didn't notice.
Based on the 321 size and regulations in the route, it should have had a minimum of 2. Usually, that would mean one in the front and one in the back galley. Even flying mostly empty, they would usually be fully staffed at 4.
How did they not hear the noise? They should know exactly how loud that plane should be.
Besides, windows.that somehow reflect differently than their neighbors should have been spotted with the walk around
That's a whole other good point.
Nothing you typed makes this situation seem less terrifying.