Facts you may not know about the cockpit

Weather of Arabia - The passengers of the plane have always focused on the cabin in which they spend their flights, indifferent to what happens in the cockpit, although their fate depends on the good management of the captain and his assistants for the trip, and the use of their skills and experience to get the plane to safety.

The following is a set of questions that can come to mind for many about what happens on the plane in general and inside the cockpit in particular, during the flight, according to the “EW” website:

way to operate the aircraft
Unlike the operation of the car, which only needs to turn the ignition switch, the operation of the aircraft is more complex, and Captain Pierce Applegarth explains that the air engine operates the jet engines, before the fuel is pumped and the ignition process begins.

This means that there are many buttons and handles that must be pressed to operate the aircraft, and in modern aircraft these buttons can be operated automatically, but most pilots still use manual methods of operation.

the food
If meals are provided by airlines, the pilot and his assistants do not eat the same foods that are served to passengers, as Applegarth says that airlines provide different meals for the crew, to reduce the possibility of food poisoning.

Sleeping and defecation
Airplanes that travel for long trips that require more than one pilot to be in command contain special beds for the crew, and in some cases the pilot or one of his assistants resorts to taking a small nap on special seats inside or near the helm.

The Airbus A380, which is the largest in the world, provides private sleeping quarters for flight attendants, and for defecation, the crew usually uses the same bathrooms for passengers, with the exception of the Boeing 747, which provides private bathrooms for the crew.

bathroom droppings
Waste is not disposed of in the air, as some believe, as it is kept on board the plane until it lands, and if the bathrooms are full of waste, the plane crew prevents passengers from using them, and this is a rare occurrence, as the bathrooms are completely emptied before each flight.

Do pilots chat to each other?
Mr. Applegarth says pilots monitor many frequencies during flight, and pilots chat with pilots from other planes to exchange information.

What is the plane's need for fuel?
The aircraft engine usually burns about 1100 liters of fuel per hour, and the planes carry a large amount of fuel that exceeds their need in each flight, and the amount of fuel consumed depends on the type and size of the plane and the amount of cargo on board, as a Boeing 747 is burned on a flight from London To New York about 34,020 liters of fuel, while the Airbus E380 consumes twice that amount of fuel.