Why can't you open windows in a jet airplane?

I think it’s to stop angels from being hurt.

The cabin is under pressure, you would be sucked out and the plane’s structure itself would probably seriously deform from the sudden pressure change.

There is very little oxygen in the stratosphere where planes fly.

It is very cold in the stratosphere.

I’m sure there are more reasons. And yes, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Mitt Romney is, despite his vast success in private equity, actually kind of a dumbass. The giveaway for me was when he said researchers at the University of Utah solved cold fusion.

@Qingu OMG

You can open the windows Mitt. In fact I suggest you do exactly that next time you’re at cruising altitude in your private jet. If it doesn’t work out, just open the door, the effect’ll be the same.

You might even win an award for it.

Can I open the jet window for Mitt?

Isn’t that what happened to Payne Stewart? I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. Dumbass or not

Because the higher pressure in the cabin would force the cabin air out of the plane and cause you to suffocate. What an idiot.

Holy christ. I knew he was clueless about a lot of things. He should go to the door and stand in it and open it. Preferrably at real high alititude.

@majorrich Yeah, Payne’s cabin depressurized and they all passed out. The chase planes could see them in the plane.

Maybe they stopped having open windows when kids stuck their arms out, causing them to fly off.

The best answer I saw on Huffington Post comment section: “Ann Romney would have been safer if she was strapped to the roof of the plane.”

Just reading this stupidity makes my head hurt.

Also, when the kids try to hit mailboxes with the beer bottles from the windows at lower altitudes it causes some serious damage.

What is really scary is that this probably doesn’t bother a single one of the people who would vote for him. Maybe they don’t believe a president needs to understand basic physics. Or maybe they think that public policy should not be made on the basis of scientific facts that they don’t understand.

Perhaps policy should be made based on their ideas. Their ideological ideas….. cue alternate universe music….

…I mean, after all, reality is what we think it should be, right? Indeed, it’s what we want it to be. Poor people are shiftless and want to be poor, so we don’t need to pay attention to them. They don’t vote, anyway. At least, not for the Mittenator. So who cares what science says about them. And who cares what science says about the economy and investing. I made my money. I did very well and I didn’t know nuthin’, so I don’t know what’s wrong with you. No. I do know. You picked the wrong parents. Yeah. But I made my money all by myself. It didn’t have nothing to do with my Daddy. No. It didn’t Vote for me! Mitt! The Romneyator!

Shhhhh….. Don’t say a thing. Let him find out for himself.

Because when you stick your arm out the window like a wing, it would mess with the plane wings and the plane would lose altitude.

In his defense, maybe he just meant that while on the ground they should be able to be opened, and knows at 30,000 feet it would be catastrophic.

I thought you meant the operating system windows, as in turn off all electrical devices.

Seeing as we are talking about windows the object, please someone tell him that you can open windows, and to try it next time, and to not breed until he has had a chance to see how cool it is.

@SpatzieLover, let him open the windows in his own plane. If you open the windows for him, you might get sucked out before/with him. Let him do it himself. If he understands how to do it himself, that is!

The idea of actually being able to open the windows in a jet aircraft is appallingly stupid & even (most) children understand that it is NOT something that should ever be attempted while the plane is in the air (but then, even children have MORE sense than does Mitt Romney !).

@amujinx OMG thank you for sharing that! I’m out of breath from laughing!

My vote is cast that Mitt gets a window seat that opens on every flight.

So let’s give a fire more oxygen…...

Sometimes (well, MOST of the time!) Mittens is just to stupid to be believed, let alone put THIS CLOSE to the “atomic football.). I love my planet too much for that.

If Mitt wants to open them, let him.

Hopefully before the election.

I don’t remember how tolerant we are here of some bad language… But this shit really scares me. People at this level of intelligence (could you even call it a level?), within so much as a snowball’s chance in hell of leading this country, or any other. We already have plenty elsewhere in office. Scared and upset.

Did anyone even read the quote provided by the OP? Romney is talking about while the plane is on the ground, not mid flight.

@JLeslie Yes I read it. It is still a scary concept that one would think they should engineer a window to open only while on the ground. People still try to open the bloody door while in flight. Let alone tamper with the smoke detectors in the bathrooms. Not to mention those who play Words with Friends when they are not supposed to. Don’t get me started~

@JLeslie Because there is always some idiot that will try to open it mid flight, just like the idiot that jumped off the tram in the tigers sanctuary and got mauled by a tiger.

@chyna i bet there was no sign to stop them. A sign works everytime.

If the window could be opened and someone did that, then a dragon could show up, put his boner in the open window and bang the person in the head until they puked everywhere.

“When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem.”

Omfg I can’t even believe this.

^^ and that my friends is the real answer

@blueiiznh tr00th

@chyna Of course I understand they can’t be openable mid flight, and if they opened like my living room window some idiot would try it. It is probably possible to make them locked during flight, controlled electronically or something, just expensive. My only point is Mitt was not sayi g it is ok to open a window mid flight at 30,000 feet. When I flew a private jet it actually tells you the temperature outside and location, etc. I would assume Mitt has seen the -30 degrees posted at 40,000 feet (or whatever the exact temp is) during his travels. Emergency exit doors probably can be opened mid flight come to think of it.

Of course, letting oxygen could cause the fire to be worse I guess. I don’t know much about fire. Seems the best course of action is to get out of the plane.

Oh, and remember, wear natural fibers like cotton when flying. Polyester melts onto your skin.

@JLeslie I doubt Ann or Mitt wears polyester. :-)

@chyna It was just a little safety info for the collective.

I love how Mitt helps us all think in ways we never thought possible.~

@JLeslie I dont understand how his quote implies he’s talking about while the plane is on the ground. If the plane were on the ground opening windows would be a non issue because there would be somewhere to go exactly, you’d gtfo the plane….

He’s definitely talking about while its in the air. Here’s the full quote.

“When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous. And she was choking and rubbing her eyes. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver. But she’s safe and sound.”

From the article “I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don’t think she knows just how worried some of us were,” Romney said.

@filmfann I just reread your first answer and it reminded me of my husband when he was very little he took his first flight and he thought he would see the angels in heaven once up in the sky.

Plus, it is ok to open a window on a flight once you are low enough. Probably below 15,000 feet, but I am not sure of the exact altitude.

@JLeslie are you taking into consideration just how fast a jet liner is going verus a small prop plane. Even if you could breath the oxygen (due to alt) the rush of wind going through the plane would still be insane. Not to mention the noise…

Add in that seats behind the wings would have scorching hot exhaust wind coming in the windows

@uberbatman It would have to be at slower speeds I agree with that, amd of course larger planes need to go faster to stay up I would guess? You would need more speed to get lift to get off the ground, I assume that goes for while in the air also. I am only saying being up in the air does not mean you can’t open a window. I am not saying jet planes should have windows that open, I don’t think they should. But, I don’t think from one statement Romney says while being very concerned for his wife, and maybe has not thought things through we can call him a total idiot. At least not about that.

@JLeslie No, Im pretty sure we can. 5 year olds know you cant open a window on a plane. I get he was concerned and stressed so you may want to say he wasn’t thinking straight. But then is that a quality we want in a president?

Plus, I realize everything gets sucked out when a window is opened at the wrong time.

@uberbatman I don’t want him as president for many reasons. But, if Obama said something stupid while worried about his wife, would we be so annoyed? An answer like Obama would never say something so ignorant is not an answer in my opinion by the way. The media is relentless with Romney on stupid shit in my opinion. They went on and on that Romney said he wants to be able to fire people if they don’t do a good job. Who disagrees with that really? It’s tiresome. Let’s be annoyed that he wants to stop taxing interest and dividends and markets it as helping the middle class (I saw that last night on 60 Minutes). Or, that he is ok with low capital gains tax, because it is taxed at the corporate level already according to him. Me: Not all capital gains is earned by corporations. Maybe he should lower the corporate tax, get rid of the loopholes for corporations and raise the capital gains tax. But, I digress.

@JLeslie, if it’s taxed at the corporate level and corporations are people it should be taxed again when it’s transferred just like any other money. Maybe the first $13,000 could be exempt just like the gift exemption but I would hope not.

@Judi Sure, I agree, it should be taxed twice. I am only saying if Romney argues Capital Gains tax should be low (he did not say to get rid of it altogether) I would say no, raise capital gains tax and lower the corporate tax. We do need to compete with countries that have very low corporate taxes. However, most industrialized nations with low corporate taxes have high individual income taxes. See the graph near the top of the page. I am unclear however if the rates on the graph account for the loopholes and write offs, I assume it does?

Why did the __________ submarine sink? It had screen doors to keep out the flies.

Same reason as why you can’t open a nun’s legs.

Another quote being sensationalized yawn….. FUCK YEAH JOURNALISM 2012!

and this is what I think about Romney, ok not really but it may cause one to laugh a bit or giggle I think some of the editing is rather clever haha.

@_Whitetigress
That is called “mott romnoy”

There’s no damned crank to open them, and if they’re electric, I can’t find the button.

They don’t have any hindges either…....

I think they slide up into the wall, but the switch is controlled by the pilot. Nudge. Nudge. Wink. Wink.

@JLeslie I don’t see where he was referring to opening windows while on the ground.

@JLeslie Every thing gets sucked out, including all of the breathable air!

I’m wondering…didn’t face masks deploy? If they did, smoky air shouldn’t have been a real problem, other than uncomfortable.

Of course they van be opened. Anything bigger than a .22 caliber round will work.

@Dutchess_III I said everything gets sucked out at those fast jet speeds.

But, hey, he will not be building planes. I would bet most CEO’s of companies cannot build the prodicts that are produced. They usually are not engineers, but businessmen. The CEO of the hospital I worked for was not a medical professional.

I don’t think I could vote for someone who hasn’t seen Goldfinger

@JLeslie Also, where did it mention that he was talking about planes that are sitting on the tarmac?

He says he was joking.

How come Romney always says he was joking 36 hours after he says something stupid?

@Dutchess_III From the article “I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don’t think she knows just how worried some of us were,” Romney said. I guess what he said can be interpreted that he was talking about being able to open windows while still in flight. Honestly, it doesn’t matter in my opinion. He was worried about his wife. Maybe he did make a nervous joke, maybe he doesn’t realize you can’t open a window while flying very fast, I don’t know why it is a big deal. If my husband, who I consider to be very smart, he has a high position in a midsize firm, he is responsible for budgets worth millions of dollars, has a masters degree, knows a lot about a lot, if he said something absent minded or ignorant while worried about me suffocating from smoke while flying, I would hope no one would give a shit. It certainly would not imply he is not good at his job. Just like I think Clinton get a blow job means he can’t understand and conduct negotiations with the Palestinians and Israelis.

Poor internet connection?

except that Romney says A LOT of stupid shit, this is just the latest example…..

Breaking News
^^Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin offered to send assistance

Oh noes!!! O!!!!

So I finally got around to watching the video and I’m pretty sure ol’ Mitt was trying to make a funny.

I do not think it was intended as an earnest proposal.

So I retract my previous statement. He’s still a dumbass though.

Where’s the video?

I saw it on the Daily Show….

Here’s the video except some damn kid’s face interupts it right in the middle.

When he says “I wonder why” (ie why don’t the windows roll down) it definitely sounds like he’s being sarcastic.

Well, what little bit I saw, I have to agree. He was joking….

So he’s being asked about an emergency landing of the plane his wife was on, and he decides it’s time to make jokes? That’s worse than being stupid.

@zenvelo Many people joke when nervous or afraid. Breaks the tension. I am not saying he definitely was joking, I am only saying a little levity is not that unusual.

@JLeslie well if that is the reason, I sure as hell don’t want a guy as president who gets nervous under pressure and makes dumb jokes. I would prefer my president to be cool and calm when under duress!

@rooeytoo Fair enough. I have no idea if he is always cracking jokes in times of stress or not. I do think there is a difference between cracking a joke when we ourselves are stressed and when someone else is. I still think people are making too much of a big deal out of it honestly. I really think it is just the sum total of everything he has said, rather than this particular “joke” being a big problem.

I mean seriously, after a stressful situation that turns out ok, when you tell the story you have never added some sarcasm or a joke? Maybe Romney has a little Jewish Northeast America in him after living in Massachusetts for so long. Or, even Michigan, my friends up there are good story teller jokesters also.

He looked awkward while making the joke. It wasn’t like he was making light of the situation. Of course Romney always looks awkward.

@Qingu I agree, he looked uncomfortable, a little stiff. That isn’t a great look for trying to pull of some jocularity.

WE’LL ALL DIE….....
EVERYBODY WILL DIE!........

…...what du mean this isn’t a plane?.......
......oh, a question and answer forum type thingie…...

who knew?