2525: Air Travel Packing List

2021-10-07T04:53:57Z

George:

{{comic
| number = 2525
| date = October 6, 2021
| title = Air Travel Packing List
| image = air_travel_packing_list.png
| titletext = I know the etiquette is controversial, but I think it's rude when the person in front of me reclines their seat into the bell of my trumpet.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an AIRBORNE TRUMPETER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about a packing list, and the humor is found because most of the items are either found on the plane, would be useful in a plane crash, or SOUND like they are useful on a plane. a quick summary of each:

{| class="wikitable"
! Item
! Explanation
|-
|Seat cushion
|This can be used as a flotation device in a crash and is provided by the airline. Some people may also bring their own cushions for comfort.
|-
|Parachute
|useful to keep yourself from falling out of the sky in a crash
|-
|Wing glue
|to repair wings in the event of damage, potentially in a crash. unclear on how you would apply mid-flight
|-
|{{w|Air horn}}
|An air horn can make a very loud noise very easily. This may be important for drawing attention to yourself in the event of a crash, but using one in a non-emergency situation would infuriate everyone else on the plane.
|-
|{{w|Sextant}}
|In combination with star charts, a sextant can be used to determine your position based on the location of stars in the night sky. In a crash, you could use this to find your way home, but sextants are rarely used so most people would not know how to operate one. If you've got a homing beacon, it probably makes more sense to just activate that and wait for help to arrive.
|-
|Nose plugs and goggles for pressure
|Nose plugs and goggles are commonly used in swimming but would be useless for dealing with cabin pressurization or depressurization. Since your mouth and nose are interconnected, nose plugs would be useless on their own. Trying to hold your breath in a sudden depressurization event will cause lung damage, so nose plugs wouldn't be a good thing, even if you could also seal off your mouth. Goggles would also not be useful. During depressurization, the air would just seep out. During pressurization, they would just become uncomfortable and difficult to remove.
|-
|Airplane shoes
|like slippers, to keep feet warm and comfy on long flights.
|-
|Navigation crystal
|mystical form of navigation, presumably to help you home after a crash.
Crystals that polarize light can be used as a compass [http://www.polarization.com/viking/viking.html].
|-
|Spare batteries in case the plane runs out
|Planes will generally use more power than any battery small enough to be easily packed in a bag can provide. They will generally use either 115v AC at 400hz or 28v DC, both of which are very uncommon outside of aviation. The plane will almost never use its own batteries anyway, getting its electric power from the APU, engines, or, in emergencies, the ram air turbine.
|-
|Birdseed
|so you can attract birds, and use THEM to fly the plane in case of crash
|-
|Homing beacon
|Once activated, a homing beacon will send out a continuous radio signal so that rescuers can find your location. These can be very useful in a plane crash, but planes already carry them, so you don't need to pack one yourself.
|-
|Meteorite antidote
|Meteorites are pieces of space rocks that make it all the way to the ground. They can cause injury but they aren't poisonous, so an antidote would not help.
|-
|USB wing connector
|this is a just a wire connector, but because it has wing in the name is on the list. alternatively, the plane wings connect by USB, and this can be used to reattach wings.
|-
|Emergency siren
|USE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY
|-
|Spare flaps
|Flaps can be moved to adjust the lift/drag ratio of a wing, generally during takeoff and landing. Flaps are very large and mounted on the wing, outside the passenger compartment, so bringing spares would be very difficult and completely useless. Flaps failing to come down can also usually be remedied by just landing at a longer runway.
|-
|{{w|Mouthpiece (brass)|Mouthpiece}} (pandemic restriction; airlines still provide the trumpet)
|a part of a brass instrument like a trumpet. Randall jokes that trumpets are provided on airplanes (which would be very obnoxious to other passengers), but due to the pandemic you cannot use a shared mouthpiece.
|-
|Luggage ballast
|for keeping your luggage upright in the water. obviously.
|-
|Flag (international flights)
|To identify your country of origin. Other flags are also used to communicate between boats without electricity, in the event the boats are in distress, so they could be used in the event of a crash.
|-
|Decoy tickets
|Maybe these would used as a distraction so you can sneak onto the plane without paying.
|-
|Keys to the plane
|Though some pushed for it after a plane was stolen in the 2018 Horizon Air Q400 incident, planes do not require keys to activate like a car does.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

<big>Air Travel Packing List</big>

If you haven't flown in a while, you might not remember what you need to bring. Use this handy checklist to pack!

[Two columns of lists of items. Each item is preceded by a checkbox.]
*Seat cushion
*Parachute
*Wing glue
*Air horn
*Sextant
*Nose plugs and goggles for pressure
*Airplane shoes
*Navigation crystal
*Spare batteries in case the plane runs out
*Birdseed
*Homing beacon
*Meteorite antidote
*USB wing connector
*Emergency siren
*Spare flaps
*Mouthpiece (pandemic restriction; airlines still provide the trumpet)
*Luggage ballast
*Flag (international flights)
*Decoy tickets
*Keys to the plane

{{comic discussion}}

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2525: Air Travel Packing List