Former pilot reveals why you should never swap to an empty seat before take off
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock
A former pilot has shared the surprising reason why you shouldn't swap seats to an empty one when taking off.
It might be tempting to shuffle over to an empty seat as you take off, but Pete Hutchison – a former pilot for Virgin Atlantic – has explained why moving isn't the best idea.
Firstly, you'll get a telling off from cabin crew if you leave your seat mid-take off as it's hardly the safest idea, but there's another reason you probably didn't think of.
Moving seats could be dangerous in a different way, that being that it could negatively affect the balance of the aircraft.
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"To start moving seats, especially in significant numbers, to unplanned areas, could significantly impact the aircraft's balance," Pete explained to The Independent.
"If everyone were to sit at the front of the aircraft, it could make getting off the deck harder compared to the norm, or even, in some cases, impossible," Pete continued.
"Conversely, everyone sitting in the back end might cause the aircraft to tip on its tail on take-off or encounter a tail scrape on touchdown."
Where people sit impacts the crew's flight calculations, for example they wouldn't have everyone seated at one side of the plane.
The aircraft fuselage (the main body of a plane) is 'like a see-saw', said Pete, and the idea is that the passengers keep it balanced.
"Flying safely is about keeping the aircraft correctly balanced," he shared. "That is, within the airplane's operational center of gravity. And it is crucial that the center of gravity be within an envelope — or limits."
Pete went on to discuss the importance of making sure that weight is distributed evenly on a plane, something which those in the industry call being 'in trim'.
He explained further: "Your specific position in the cabin is one of the variables in that aircraft trim calculation.
"During a flight, you can move around, including to a different seat [with permission], but you must be in your allocated seat for both the take-off and the landing."
The main time that seat swapping can become an issue is if the aircraft is less than 80 percent full.
Another thing you shouldn't do when traveling by plane is ignore the cabin crew's request to turn your devices onto Airplane Mode.
Explaining why, Mandy Smith, former cabin crew for Virgin Atlantic, said that it comes down to signals.
"Say a radio beacon would be there and you're coming into land or taking off, [the beacon] would signify where the ground is and the ground level," she said. "The aircraft is following that beacon."
Mandy added: "Any other radio signals such as mobile phones, even Furbies – they used to ban Furbies back in the day – are not allowed because they could interfere with that signal."
Duly noted!