Here are the things a pilot will never tell you

Picture:IS/ istock

Five hours in to a twelve hour flight and you’ve read the book you bought at the airport and flicked halfheartedly through the in-flight movies.

But you’re bored.

And what better way to spend the time than by bending the ear of a flight attendant or even the pilot?

Well, here are the things they won’t tell you, no matter how curious you may be... As explained by pilot Bruno Gilissen:

Well, evidently I won't tell you!

Things an airline pilot won't tell you are:

There are probably plenty of ways an airline pilot could tell you how security could be fooled or bypassed and what the weak points are. Unless it's to the correct and proper recipients of this information, it would be a bit stupid and criminal to tell you.

Information regarding people, passengers or crew, is often forbidden by law to be thrown in the public. Pilots have to respect that. So I won't tell you that Natalie Portman will be on my flight tomorrow... for example.

Safety related issues and company documentation are considered confidential and have to stay inside the company.
The issue for the safety related things is twofold: first, there should be no openly directed blame and shame about reported errors or faults as that would only prevent people to come forward about it; second, the uninitiated greater public often has no understanding of the highly technical aspects of aviation and may think that an airplane will crash when a light bulb is broken, so to speak.
Other documents from the airline are internal and confidential simply because, like in any business, it's a smart thing not to throw all your cards on the table and let the competition look over your shoulder. Airline pilots, as company employees, of course have to abide by those rules too.

Apart from this, there's really nothing that an airline pilot can't or won't tell you.

There's no conspiracy against the unsuspecting traveller.

This article originally appeared on Quora and has been republished with permission of the author.

Here are the things a pilot won't tell you no matter how much you ask