Okay...another question!

[Kell]

Sorry about this, but you may have gathered by now that I am a bit of a fearful flyer and the way I cope with it, is to gain as much knowledge and understanding as I can!
Whenever I fly I have to have a window seat and I spend 80 per cent of the flight looking out of the window at the engine and wings (if I'm close enough) waiting for them to "break". I wish I didn't, but I do! Every little noise has me looking out of the window - my concern is that if I am sat near the window near the wings and the engine, then I am solely responsible for checking that nothing fails - I am sure you have ways of knowing if a wing is broken or the engine is failing, but I'd be grateful if you could explain/confirm it to me so I can try relaxing on my next flight!!

Thanks for your time. :)

K

[Falcon]

Don't apologize, as Capt Stark says with knowledge comes comfort. Don't bother looking at the engine you wont see anything. The only thing that is likely to go wrong with the wing is the hydraulic system which moves the flight controls. We have pressure and quantity gages on the flight deck to show any failures. For the engines we have N1 and N2 which show movement of the main fan and inner spool. We have exhaust temperature to show possible overheat. We have oil temperature and pressure gages to show adequate lubrication. We have fuel flow to see if one engine is sucking down more fuel then the other one and we have vibration gages to show if any other fault is there. The crew will know something is not right long before you do. From you seat you will see little even if something did happen. I would use your time to match the sounds with what happens on the wing to become accustomed to normal sounds which happen on each flight, especially on take off and landing. Any further questions please don't hesitate.

[Kell]

Thanks for that. I always expect to see flames or black smoke pouring out of the engine, or a crack in the wing! :eek: Can you actually see the wings and engines from where you are sat? I mean, do you have like big rear view mirrors or something like that - I can't say I've ever noticed if there are mirrors on a plane!
I do listen to the sounds and I am becoming more familiar with them - I do notice that some engines sound different to others, but I guess that may have something to do with how high you are climbing and how fast you are going etc.

Thanks again
K

[Falcon]

We can only see the wing outboard of the engines. We can't see the engines in a 737. You would only see smoke if you could see the exhaust. We don't have to see the engines per se as we have the gauges.