Hi, I have found out some very interesting facts that may interest you - read them and see,

BOMBERS

- Several military planes used in the Second World War were converted into commercial aircraft after the war: the Lancaster became the Lancastrian and the Lockheed C-69 was transformed into the Constellation. The Boeing 377 is based on the B-29 Superfortress. The first commercial jet was the de Havilland Comet which could fly 36 passengers 3000 miles at 450mph.

CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS

- Human error is blamed for just over 70% of air accidents. Technical faults account for 9%, maintenance failures 6.2%, weather 4.1% and air traffic control shortcomings for 3.4%. The remainder are attributed to miscellaneous factors such as terrorism.

DANGEROUS TIMES

- About 69% of accidents occur at take-off or landing, 19% during decent and just 7 and 5% during climbing and cruising respectively.

EUROPE'S BUSIEST AIRPORTS

- Europe's busiest airports are Heathrow (62.2 million passengers passed through the airport in 1999) Frankfurt (45.8 million) Roissy - Charles de Gaulle, Paris (43.6 million) and Schiphol, Amsterdam (37.11 million).

FIRST HOSTESS

- The first air hostess was a nurse Ellen Church who in May 1930 suggested to then Boeing Air Transport (now Untied Airlines) that its passengers might feel reassured by a professional female, medically trained presence. It agreed, and so successful was the idea that seven nurses were quickly employed to fly on the company's Chicago - San Francisco route. The first European hostesses were employed by Swissair.

LEADING AIRLINES

- The world's leading airlines, categorised by numbers of passengers carried on international flights are British Airways (30.1% of passengers), Lufthansa (24.8%), Air France (18.2%), American Airlines (17.3%) and Swissair (11%). The next five are Japan Airlines, United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, SAS and KLM.

PASSENGERS

-Almost 2 billion passengers travelled by air in 2000. The figure in 1950 was 21 million. AN ESTIMATED 200,000 PEOPLE ARE IN THE AIR AT ANY ONE TIME.

SEAT PITCH

- This is the distance from seat back to seat back. The legal minimum is a mere 26 inches but good scheduled carriers ofer between 31 and 32 inches (or more).

TICKETS

- Around 30% of the price of the air ticket goes to paying personnel. Fuel accounts for 10%, hire or purchase of the aircraft 15%, taxes and other charges 13%, commercial expernses and marketing 8%, maintence 6% and general ground expenses such as insurance 13%. Profit accounts for about 5%

TURBULENCE

- Turbulence is unpleasent but does not threaten a plane's structural integrity. Its effects are felt least in seats level with the wings, and most in those closer to the rear or front of the cabin.

Well there we have a few facts about flying, im hopefully going to be getting some more in the next couple of days. Let me know what you think and if you have any more to add.

Many thanks,

Airliners