A family of pilots with more than 100 years of collective experiences have debunked some of the common myths about flying.
Husband and wife Henry and Haley Brewis, and Henry’s brother, Tom Brewis, from Suffolk, who are all pilots, shared their knowledge on today’s episode of ITV’s This Morning.
The trio have clocked up more than 100 years of experience while working at TUI, with the airline allowing the family to fly to Cancun together on International Family Day in May to mark the achievement.
Speaking on today’s show, hosts Ben Shepard and Cat Deeley presented the pilots with some of the biggest flying myths to see if there was any truth behind them.
The pilots covered several topics including, waste disposal on planes, the risk lightning poses on flights, and whether turbulence is getting worse.
Henry Brewis (pictured left), his wife Haley Brewis (pictured centre), and his brother Tom Brewis (pictured right), who are all TUI pilots, debunked common flying myths on ITV’s This Morning today
Is turbulence getting worse?
First, host Ben asked Henry about turbulence, claiming that some individuals feel it is getting worse during flights.
However, Henry thinks otherwise. He said: I don’t believe it’s getting worse. In fact, there’s some good news on that front.’
‘The information we’ve been given to avoid it [turbulence] is getting better in the last couple of years.
‘Without getting too technical about it, when we first started flying, we just had a thing called a significant weather chart, which told us about jet streams and thunderstorms.
‘We still get that, and that’s very good, but…in the past two years…there is a chart which tells us where the turbulence is so we can actively plan or go round it.’
‘So, I’m confident that things are getting better and not worse.’
How dangerous is lightening when flying?
Next, Cat asked Haley whether lightning has the power to take an airplane down in the middle of a flight.
Married couple Tom and Haley, who often co-pilot together on TUI flights, said turbulence is not getting worse
Haley said: ‘No, basically. Yes, lightning can strike an airplane, but they’re designed for that. There are systems in place to make sure it won’t damage the airplane, so it’s perfectly safe.’
‘We would go round it [lightning]. We have ultimate control of going round these things and that’s what we do. We want a nice comfortable ride as well.’
Haley added that she has had to divert flights due to bad weather, but it is extremely ‘rare’.
Is flying safer than driving?
Next, Tom was asked whether flying is safer than driving.
‘It certainly is,’ he answered. ‘The most dangerous thing you do on a day of flying is drive to the airport in your car.’
The trio have worked for TUI for collectively 100 years. To mark the occasion, they flew to Cancun together
Is the air dirty on planes?
Next, Cat asked: ‘What about the recirculated air? People say there are so many germs on a plane, and they get ill’.
The pilots found little truth in the myth, and Henry answered: ‘There are very good filters on the plane for a start’.
Haley added: ‘First, the airplanes are equipped with HEPA filters, and they are hospital standard filters to filter the air.
‘Air is recirculated very frequently around the cabin, the airs changes are the equivalent to a hospital operating theatre.’
Haley added that the air is also filtered down and around the sides of the plane, so it doesn’t go around everybody’s head.
‘So, in fact, you are far more likely to pick up a bug in your local supermarket than you are on an airplane I think,’ she concluded.
Where does human waste go?
Lastly, Ben sought to find out where human waste goes during a flight. He said: ‘There is a popular belief that planes can sometimes dump human waste mid-flight.’
Henry debunked the myth and said: ‘No, that doesn’t happen’.
He added: ‘It goes into a tank, and it’s collected at the end of a flight.’
