Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

brazzy42 t1_ixtx1p6 wrote

Reply to comment by letrestoriginality in TIL that despite it being illegal to smoke on any part of an airplane, airlines are legally required to provide ashtrays as a way to dispose of lit cigarettes. by Your-username-must-b

In fact, back when smoking was allowed, minor fires started by cigarettes (often in trash cans) were so common that anything looking like that was not considered a very serious concern.

This led to the disaster of Air Canada flight 797, where an electrical fire near a toilet was mistaken for such a case, leading to a delayed response and a late emergency landing, the cabin already filled with smoke, so that 23 people died even though the plane had landed safely.

13

letrestoriginality t1_ixtxdg7 wrote

Interesting, I hadn't heard of that one, I'll be going down that rabbit hole today.

2