Unsplash | Avel Chuklanov

Secrets That Our Pilots And Flight Attendants Won't Tell Us

Flying on an airplane can be an exciting experience because you're usually on your way to go on vacation to a foreign and fun place. While we're looking forward to going to the destination, the journey isn't always the best. There are some crazy stories of flights and trips, because we don't know everything about flying on planes. But, thanks to this Reddit thread, now we do.

If someone dies, you aren't supposed to know.

Unsplash | Ross Parmly

"I was learning to be cabin crew at college and in the event that someone dies onboard, the CC (Cabin Crew) make it less obvious that they have passed. Put glasses on them, maybe a hat. Essentially dress them up as subtle as possible to not alert and or panic the other passengers," -cMindge

Flying private isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Unsplash | John McArthur

sydneybrooke23 says her boyfriend flies a private jet and sometimes AKA all of the time, people are up there having sex. And, because it's just a small plane and a door, the pilot has to hear all that stuff.

Pilots are fun.

Unsplash | Westwind Air Service

"There's a special frequency called Guard that all aircraft are supposed to monitor. It's for emergencies, or for when an aircraft ends up on a wrong frequency and the controllers need to get contact with them to change them to the right frequency.

It's full of pilots meowing at each other, and people accidentally asking for gate assignments and making other radio calls." -dog_in_the_vent

Pilots only get paid when they're flying.

Unsplash | Iwan Shimko

cornbreadcasserole said that pilots only get paid when the doors are closed and they're off the ground. So, if a flight is delayed, they're pretty mad, too, because they could be flying and making money—but, they're not. Who knew?

They don't all fly people.

Unsplash | Q86UX

purcerh said that pilots are known to transport people, but many times, they transport more things like dead bodies, organs for transplants, and sometimes just luggage and "stuff." Pilots are pilots, they fly any kind of plane.

You can localize odors.

Unsplash | Arie Wubben

"Ex airline employee here. Often we'd have someone on board with terrible body odor. You can set the temperature in one end of the cabin hotter and it localized the smell to one part of the plane. If you see coffee filter bags hanging anywhere its because someone smells like open a** somewhere on the plane." -Subrookie

Pilots don't have pension programs.

Unsplash | Josue Isai Ramos Figueroa

"I worked with a pilot that was really old. He couldn't stay awake in flight. The first officer kept having to poke him and wake him up. We kept feeding him black coffee but it didnt help much. I asked him if he was retiring soon but he said he couldn't afford it because our airline has no pension program and the pay scale is pathetic." -abicus4343

Yikes.

Unsplash | Johan Van Wambeke

"An instructor told me that he and his training buddy BOTH fell asleep for about 45 minutes at the same time, while gaining hours for licensing. The plane was in complete auto pilot mode, clear skies, zero turbulence. They both swore if they ever flew again they would “hand off” sleep like handing off the controls." -IMSYE87

No one is DOA on a plane.

Unsplash | Oskar Kadaksoo

"Nobody is ever pronounced dead on a commercial flight. The crew will perform CPR until the body is removed from the plane. Otherwise, the coroner’s office can impound the aircraft for days, until their investigation is complete." -N2TheBlu

Don't fly when you're sick.

Unsplash | Joel & Jasmin Førestbird

"Don't fly with an ear infection or fluid in your ears. There is a chance you can rupture your eardrum. Flight crews are especially susceptible to this since we are constantly going through pressurization and depressurization when we work." -AcromionProcess

Pilots sometimes do weird stuff.

Unsplash | Caleb Woods

White_Umbrella said that on a plane, they once caught their pilot just flying the plane, watching porn. Seems like a pretty odd situation to begin watching pornography, but hey, to each their own I suppose. Hopefully, he was paying attention to the flight.

Passengers don't get to know the full circle.

Unsplash | Bao Menglong

"Most of the time the passengers are not given the full answer on why a flight is delayed or cancelled. Airlines will typically blame cancellations on unrelated events (weather) instead of mechanical issues so they don’t have to pay for hotel rooms/meals etc...

Also, chemtrails are not real. For those of you who believe they are real, give your head a shake." -darbel

People are all in the mile high club.

Unsplash | Ali Abdul Rahman

"Corporate pilot here. passengers have a lot of sex in the cabin of the airplane. Often there are no curtains or doors between the cockpit and the cabin. Generally when the back end of the airplane is moving side to side or up and down through the air, and there is no known turbulence, the eyes stay straight ahead." -im_a_chinook

Flight attendants work like dogs, unpaid.

Unsplash | Mariah Krafft

"Flight attendants dont get paid on the ground. Only flying hours are paid. We are slave labor on the ground and duties are continually added to our unpaid work time because the company knows they dont have to pay us. We show up 2 to 3 hours before we even start getting paid and some days we will work up to 14 hrs and only get paid for 5 or 6 of those hours. It should be illegal." -abicus4343

Food is scarce.

Unsplash | Oskar Kadaksoo

HITHEREIS said that if too many people want to eat and drink on a flight, they'll run out of food. And, they don't usually have a big back-up in there for extras. They also have to feed the passengers before they feed themselves.

h/t Reddit