Why don't airplanes break down more often in mid air?

Keep in mind also that there have been many many crashes where we had to learn over time how to make a better flying machine. It was by “trial and error” and advanced technology we find ourselves in an era of safe commercial flight. read more

All this is to say, things do break down in flight, we just don't notice. If the air conditioner breaks in our car, we notice immediately, But on a plane, because there are two, and one alone can produce all the conditioned air required for flight, no one is the wiser. read more

Allegiant repaired important parts of its planes, only to see the same parts break down again, 18 times last year. Allegiant's planes are, on average, 22 years old. Despite this, it only has maintenance engineers at 11 of the 118 airports that give it hospitality. read more

I wonder, therefore, what Allegiant Air might do this weekend. I wrote about this airline a couple of years ago, after it had been accused of having planes that break down four times more often than those of other airlines. In mid-air, that is. Of the airline’s 86 planes, it was said that 42 of them had broken down in mid-air the previous year. read more