"For a few seconds I honestly thought something had exploded close to our aircraft," the traveler told Newsweek.

When you glance out your airplane window at 30,000 feet, that curved little portal seems like a simple design choice. But the reason it is round has nothing to do with style. It is the result of one ...

That annoying little dot in your airplane window pic isn't damage, it's actually a crucial safety feature.

Air travel has become such a routine part of modern life that many passengers rarely stop to consider the engineering marvels surrounding them. Every detail inside an aircraft, from the shape of the ...

Close up of a tiny hole in an airplane window. Known as breather or bleed holes, these tiny holes help with cabin pressurization and keep the windows clear. Wilbur and Orville Wright—the brothers ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Flight attendants may require window shades to be up during takeoff and landing for passenger safety. Open windows let passengers ...

View of planes through an open airplane window. There are two reasons I like to pull my shade down as soon as I settle into my window seat after boarding a plane. For starters, the cabin is usually ...