Tape on Airplanes
Q: Please tell me the photograph of tape on the airplane, sent to me by a friend who swears he took the picture himself, is doctored.
I’m willing to bet the picture is not doctored. What you see is the perfectly safe and legal application of some heavy duty aluminum bonding tape, called “speed tape” in the mechanic’s lexicon. Depending what a plane’s maintenance manual stipulates — the manual itself under aegis of the FAA — certain non-critical components can be temporarily patched with this material, embarrassing as it sometimes looks. It’s extremely strong, durable, and able to expand and contract through an extreme range of temperatures.
Here you see speed tape covering a crack or some other superficial defect in a flap track fairing. That bullet-shaped fairing is just a cover, a streamlining shell, that conceals the tracks and hinges of the wing’s trailing edge flaps.
This article is part of a collection that originally appeared on Salon.com. Patrick Smith, 38, is an erstwhile airline pilot, retired punk rocker and air travel columnist. His book, Ask the Pilot (Riverhead) was voted “Best Travel Book of 2004″ by Amazon.com. Patrick has traveled to more than 55 countries and always asks for a window seat. He lives near Boston.
Some pages you might find helpful:
- 747 Fly a Loop
- Adjusting Weight on Planes
- Air Force One and Markings of a Jet
- Airline Announcements
- Airline Gags
- Airline Registrations
- Airplane Crash on “Lost”
- Airplane Engines Running at a Terminal
- Airplane Fuel Different From Other Fuel
- Airplane Noise Maneuvers
- Airplane Structure
- Arctic Flights
- Art and the Airplane
- Cleared to Land
- Cool Mapping Systems and 3-Engine Planes
- Destinations for First Timers
- Dinging on Flights
- Do crews eat the same terrible food as the rest of us?
- Exhaust
- Expensive Jet Fuel
- Flight Cancellation Due to Weather
- Flight Logbooks
- Flying Without a Tail
- Fuel Flying Cross USA
- Heavy Airplanes
- Heavy Fliers and Fuel Consumption
- How are pilots evaluated for promotions and raises?
- How Do Engines Start?
- How Does a Jet Engine Work?
- In-Town Airports
- Items Taken at Airports
- Landing at the Wrong Airport
- Left and Right Runways
- Life and Times of Patrick Smith
- Life as a Pilot
- Listening to Pilot Communication
- Noise of Boeing vs. Airbus
- Nonstop to India from the United States
- Office Paper and Other Misfortunes
- Onboard Music Offerings
- Open Window Shade on Landing
- Overpaid Pilots?
- Pet Treatment on Planes
- Pilot Identification
- Pilot Pay and Seniority
- Pink Liquid De-Icing Planes
- Plane Taking Off in Opposite Direction of Destination
- Religion in the Skies
- Rudder Deflection
- Shutting Down an Engine Mid-Flight
- Shutting Down One Engine After Landing
- Slanting Planes
- Southern, Northern Flights and Safety Standards
- Tape on Airplanes
- Top Views from an Airplane
- Unusual Airplanes
- Weight of Planes
- Westbound Red Eye Flights
- What are some ways in which passengers can make the crew’s job easier?
- What are those numbers and letters for on the back of every plane’s fuselage?
- What do the Pilots do?
- What to do with Crews?
- Which airports do pilots dislike most, and which do they enjoy?
- Why Delays After Emergency Landings?
- Why Not Cancel an Empty Flight?
