Low cost airways do not precisely have the best popularity throughout the board, however with regards to the most affordable methods to fly, Spirit Airways horror tales take the cake.
From the insane variety of charges they cost to the startling frequency with which fights appear to erupt on their flights, Spirit’s financial savings appear to come back at a value. Together with flying on planes which have been fastened with duct tape, if one girl’s TikTok is to be believed.
A TikToker captured a Spirit Airways worker repairing her airplane’s engine with tape earlier than take-off.
TikToker @myhoneysmacks filmed the scene from her window seat simply behind the wing of her Spirit flight from Nashville. As folks continued boarding the airplane, a technician appeared with a roll of shiny silver tape and commenced taping up the airplane’s engine, including a number of layers and patting it down along with his palms, similar to you’d on a field you had been transport again to Amazon or one thing. A reasonably surprising factor to behold, to say the least, and earlier than lengthy her video went viral and created a brand new chapter within the annals of Spirit Airways horror tales.
The passenger vowed to by no means fly Spirit Airways once more after catching the restore.
“And that is the precise purpose why I do not fly with Spirit,” the individual stated, regardless of the actual fact she was on a Spirit flight on the time. “I do not care whether it is aviation, airplane tape, or nothing.” She then expressed disbelief that the technician was performing the restore so casually in plain view of the flight’s passengers. “The truth that you even need to tape the airplane collectively and then you definately doing it whereas individuals are on the flight, like we can not see you?” she stated.
She then stated what most of us are most likely considering. “After some time, that is going to wish a recent new coat of tape, that tape going to lose that stickiness!” She was so appalled by the incident she vowed to solely fly Southwest Airways sooner or later. “Now, Southwest, I can do. However Spirit no, sir… You flying all around the globe, and you bought tape holding it collectively?” she mused. “Child, no, do not even fear about it. I will not be reserving with this.”
Repairing planes with tape is a typical follow, and the tape is an especially costly specialised aviation tape.
It definitely does seem like duct tape—a lot in order that it is a widespread false impression every time somebody captures an airport technician taping up a airplane prefer it’s a rolled ankle on a soccer subject. However it seems it is a extremely technical type of tape known as “velocity tape,” and it is used on plane on a regular basis, together with these extremely costly navy planes.
As a TikToker defined in response to @myhoneysmacks’ video, the tape is made out of ultra-thin aluminum and may value hundreds of {dollars} per roll. Or as he put it, “It is velocity tape. You are nice, the airplane is okay, it simply *appears to be like* ghetto.”
Velocity tape is so high-tech it might stand up to circumstances most of us cannot even fathom, from 600 mph winds to temperatures as little as -65 levels Fahrenheit and as excessive as 300 levels Fahrenheit. It may well additionally stand up to UV radiation, fireplace, and chemical substances.
The tape is used when weathering has induced part of the airplane to be uncovered to the air, and whereas it’s completely protected, it is just used as a stop-gap till the airplane could be returned to a restore facility for a correct repair, type of like placing a spare tire on a automobile. Besides, you recognize, developed in an aeronautics laboratory and in a position to stand up to 300-degree temperatures and whatnot. Nonetheless, it is a disarming sight to behold.
Regardless of all of the Spirit Airways horror tales, its security document is best than many different carriers.
In accordance with airline security monitoring web site AirlineRatings, Spirit Airways’ unhealthy popularity is unearned at the least the place security is worried. It is among the many most secure low-cost airways on this planet, primarily based on incident and crash information, authorities regulatory scores from around the globe, and knowledge from the European Union’s banned airline record.
The airline even has a greater security document than lots of its opponents, together with Southwest Airways, having by no means had a single crash in its 30 years of operation.
Nonetheless, the airline’s notoriously uncomfortable planes, fee-laden, frill-free strategy to air journey, and the lengthy record of anecdotal Spirit Airways horror tales made the entire tape factor appear that rather more eye-popping to folks on TikTok. One man joked that everybody on board this taped-up airplane could be “flying to heaven” on Spirit’s “Walmart Nice Worth” plane.
“Fly with spirit and develop into a spirit,” one commenter joked, whereas one other quipped that nobody should not fear in regards to the tape factor as a result of “he patted it down so it’s okay.” And several other folks stated they’d have jumped off the airplane after seeing the tape incident. “Oh they’d’ve needed to flip me unfastened,” one girl wrote.
John Sundholm is a information and leisure author who covers social media and human curiosity subjects.
