
William Shatner's Seat - vinnyglennon
https://www.quora.com/I-always-see-this-small-black-triangle-on-the-inside-of-airplane-walls-What-does-it-mean-or-do?share=1
======
jfoutz
Perhaps a relevant bit of trivia. William Shatner was on the tv series. John
Lithgow remade the same scene for the twilight zone movie. i was never much of
a fan of 3rd rock from the sun, but they did have this adorable little (20
second) callback:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTNOihQnqVQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTNOihQnqVQ)

~~~
js2
Having seen both the tv episode and the movie episode, my recollection is that
the tv episode was superior.

~~~
soheil
Just watched the tv episode absolutely mind blown. Impossible to not notice
these:

\- they could smoke in airplanes

\- anyone could just open the emergency door mid-flight

\- they had triangular paper cups for water

\- there were curtains running across the cabin on each side

\- all men were dressed in suit

\- you could carry guns on the airplane

\- he wasn't immediately declared a terrorist and shot after plane had landed
but instead taken by an ambulance

how civil!

~~~
hkmurakami
I feel like smoking sections were still a thing in the late 80's / early 90's
on some Asian carriers.

I was really young though so my recollection is questionable.

~~~
punctilio
I flew from JFK to Heathrow in 1986 (don't recall the airline but assume it
was either a major US carrier or British Airways) - I vividly remember the
cabin being full of cigarette smoke. I suppose there must have been a nominal
"section" but can't remember.

According to Wikipedia:

"After years of debate over health concerns, Congressional action in 1987 led
to a ban on inflight smoking.

The U.S. ban on inflight smoking began with domestic flights of two hours or
less in April 1988, extended to domestic flights of six hours or less in
February 1990, and to all domestic and international flights in 2000."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflight_smoking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflight_smoking)

~~~
jcadam
As an asthmatic, I find the dry air on planes to be bad enough. If smoking
were still allowed, I probably wouldn't be able to fly.

~~~
coldpie
I was just thinking that, holy cow. It's bad enough when a smoker sits down
next to you on the bus. Imagine the guy next to you lighting up on a four hour
flight. Holy shit.

------
scott_s
The second comment also mentions ashtrays, pointing them out as an example of
a holdover from a previous time. But that's not true in the US. They're still
required by the FAA because even though smoking is never allowed, the
reasoning is that if someone smokes anyway, it's safer for them to have a
proper place to put it out. See [http://gizmodo.com/5912352/why-airplanes-
still-have-ashtrays...](http://gizmodo.com/5912352/why-airplanes-still-have-
ashtrays-in-the-bathrooms)

~~~
vanattab
I am pretty sure I have been on planes without ashtray

~~~
Rebelgecko
Even if the seats don't have ashtrays, there's usually (always?) one in each
bathroom

------
thehardsphere
I totally thought this was going to be about the Captain's chair on the USS
Enterprise before I clicked it.

~~~
cthulhujr
A view from Shatner's other other seat:
[https://youtu.be/Uyp8B8Vro-s?t=1m20s](https://youtu.be/Uyp8B8Vro-s?t=1m20s)

------
setheron
I know the episode from Simpsons. Never knew where it originated from.

~~~
Waterluvian
So much of my knowledge of my dad's generation is from Simpsons references.

"Who says 'SHAZAM!'?"

"Ah yes, Gomer Pyle."

~~~
6stringmerc
...which got re-tread in Futurama when Fry goes back in time to become his own
Grandpa by way of a nuclear weapon test - the doofy "Grandpa" Fry replaces is
most definitely a pastiche of Gomer Pyle.

------
canada_dry
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbWJJj9uFU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbWJJj9uFU)

~~~
Waterluvian
I'm so damn sick of that stupid song. Teens constantly ruin good content with
it. I should know, I did the same thing with that song when I was a teen.

~~~
6stringmerc
You think you're sick of it? Ha! Try being me watching a Lord of the Rings
trailer on TV with that epic soundtrack underneath. It actually hurt my head.

Still, nothing quite compares to Carnival Cruises thinking it was a great idea
to mold a TV ad campaign around the Iggy Pop song "Lust For Life" which, for
me, will forever be associated with the film Trainspotting, petty theft, and
heroin addiction. I guess those are better than what I normally associate with
most large cruise operators though, which is engine failure, diarrhea, and
onion sandwiches.

------
JshWright
Huh... I always assumed it was marking either the center of mass, or the
center of lift...

------
zw123456
I absolutely love these obscure pop sub-references. Thank you for the post, it
tickled my funny bone.

------
sand500
Is there really a window under the carpet the pilot can use to check if the
landing gear is down?

~~~
chrisper
If you go to the link it says:

>If the crew gets an unsafe light when putting down the landing gear, there is
an alternate visual indicator on each wing in two locations. If you go to the
triangle stickers and look out you'll see the small one inch diameter red post
protruding up about 2.5 inches. This confirms the gear is down and locked
over-center.

~~~
sand500
I was referring to this comment at the link

>Right below that mark will be a small window in the floor.

>In case of a cockpit gear indication failure, one pilot goes back, peels back
the carpet over the window, and checks the manual alignment indicator in the
wheel well.

~~~
aaron695
[https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/2x29gv/inside_a_7...](https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/2x29gv/inside_a_737300_main_gear_wheel_well/)

or [http://airplanereading.org/story/4/loss-of-blood-
flow](http://airplanereading.org/story/4/loss-of-blood-flow)

The co-pilot and flight attendants were trying to lift up the carpet in the
exit row, apparently to find a floor window which would give a view into the
cargo hold. No such luck. The carpet had recently been tacked down to the
floor when this particular aircraft underwent some renovations. Unfortunately,
no consideration had been made for the floor window in case of an emergency,
such as we were presently experiencing.

~~~
socket0
“Are they going to try and land anyway?”

It's unlikely that the pilot simply took a gamble. Presumably ground crew took
a look, either on the first go-round or during the second approach, and
confirmed that the landing gear was down. I like to think my "screw it we'll
see what happens" IT methodology isn't used in all industries...

------
mxfh
Just for Reference: SNL's take on it feat. Jude Law's clearest view of _Pearl
Jam_

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma_LSr7CwlQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma_LSr7CwlQ)

~~~
jwcacces
SNL Link for those in America [https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-
live/video/nightmare-at-2...](https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-
live/video/nightmare-at-20000-feet/n12760?snl=1)

------
officelineback
That's interesting, that also resembles the AA symbol.

------
gcb0
absolutely nobody in aviation ever called it that.

------
ouid
no two answers agree, and they're all wildly different, and many of them seem
to be from experts.

------
stevefeinstein
Strictly speaking it'd be the "Shatner Seat", or the "Shatner Viewing Seat".
Shatner's seat only works if Shatner owns it.

~~~
valleyer
You're right. Good thing Lou Gehrig owns ALS, and Duff owns Duff's device
then.

------
jpmattia
> _The Shatner reference is to one of the strangest Twilight Zone episodes,
> Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,_

I don't know that earned a title for _one of the strangest_. There were lots
of great episodes in the series, it would be hard to argue any of them were
other than very strange.

[Edited to address astrodust's comment.]

~~~
mirimir
> Part of the beauty of The Twilight Zone, as a science fiction show, was that
> Serling could get away with social commentary by disguising it as harmless
> fantasy. He was allowed to be critical if he was allegorical at the same
> time. As he himself put it, "You know, you can put these words into the
> mouth of a Martian and get away with it."

[http://www.plosin.com/beatbegins/projects/brenner.html](http://www.plosin.com/beatbegins/projects/brenner.html)

~~~
phkahler
That explains why there isn't anyone doing that today. Hollywood is too PC so
there's nothing for them to "get away with".

~~~
zeveb
Presumably someone who's _not_ PC could use allegory to get away with being
un-PC.

Think of Joss Whedon's Firefly, in which the Alliance is a thinly-veiled
allegory for the triumphant Union shortly after it destroyed the Confederate
States.

------
bhaavan
Holy shat!

------
dannylandau
A bit off topic... Was just watching the old episodes of Star Trek on Netflix,
still classic and very entertaining.

------
lovemenot
William Shatner seat?

No he didn't. Did you William?

------
soheil
I know what I'm gonna watch tonight! ▲

------
rbobby
Getting "The Shatner Seat":

\- On a plane... cool

\- On a toilet... a little too warm

------
golemotron
Wouldn't this be better called 'The Shatbird Seat'?

