Why is there a tiny hole in the airplane window? (2023)
afar.com
afar.com
> Bleed holes, Captain Joe explains, “allow for pressure equalization between the space between the panes of the window and the cabin interior. Without these holes, the pressure difference between the cabin and the space between the panes would lead to stress on the window.”
The inner pane is typically half the thickness of the outer pane.
So whilst you could argue it cold be seen as a failsafe, I would say its primary purpose remains "double glazing" insulation.
The OAT at 30–40,000ft is very low and there is a lot of combined window area. So the importance of insulation is not to be underestimated. In particular on newer aircraft where efficiency is the name of the game in their design.
That's the scratch pane you are referring to.
Yes, it is made of cheap plastic and serves no structural or other purpose other than to protect the real stuff from annoying kids. ;)
Depends on the aircraft but a typical design would connect the space between the panels to an air supply or otherwise a self-contained desiccator system.
Flight deck windows are completely different, typically three layers, two full thickness and one half thickness. All fully heat/chemical strengthened with additional anti-fog, anti-ice and moisture absorption systems built-in. The fact that some of them are sliding (i.e. openable) adds to the design complexity.
For the non-aviation folks, OAT means "Outside Air Temperature".
The inner cabin window is absolutely there to protect the hull window.
EDIT: Oh. It helps because otherwise the bit between the panes would be at a different pressure to both the interior and exterior of the plane. It would work just as well if the bleed hole were on the outside, as long as both panes are equally strong.
Anyway, I built / slopped out this little wrapper for yt-dlp that I call tuber[1], and it has a feature for grabbing a video's subtitles and summarizing them with Claude, if you've got the CLI. I've found it really handy for those annoying cases where some video seems to promise info I want but I don't want to sit through ten minutes of bullshit.
I feel the same with this article.
https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accid...
I'll definitely be on the lookout next time I fly though but yeah. Maybe its not every window?
I also prefer a flight without get a feeling of a flying can.