0726: "Seat Selection"

[clanders]

This was literally the best comic in months. AND THE ALT TEXT DIDN'T RUIN IT! I guess even Randy can get something right sometimes.

[flag]

...Why is there so much wind in the cockpit?

Ahahaha. Ha.

:p

EDIT: Catch me if you can!

[ghotiful]

He really should have included different title-texts, though: it's not hard, just make transparent divs with absolute positioning and fixed width/heigh. Then set their z-index higher than the image, assign them each a title text, and voila. Randall, you alone could make me feel so happy and contented, and disappointed at the same time...

What happened to image maps?

[Dason]

Looking closer at this comic, I realized that the girl's hair and scarf were fluttering in the wind... inside the cockpit.

Assuming there is no significant airflow inside the cockpit of the plane, this should not be. But then I looked even closer; the plane is at an angle. Therefore, it must be accelerating to its cruising velocity and altitude! If the plane were accelerating the inertia of the girl's scarf and hair could cause it to flutter, but this runs into another problem. The mass of a scarf and hair is not significant in comparison to the collective mass of air molecules, meaning the scarf wouldn't flutter in a standard pressure (or close to it) environment.

I thought to myself, "Maybe there's no air inside the cockpit?" but a co-worker quickly debunked this idea: while acceleration within an airless environment could cause the scarf and hair to be level with the ground, they still could not flutter since fluttering requires air resistance.

I attempted to uncover some previous unknown property of physics to explain this, but I found a better answer: that girl has ESP. The answer was right in front of me the entire time! The only thing that can cause flutter is indeed airflow! The passenger seating area of the plane must be rapidly losing pressure causing air to flow from the cockpit. The girl, using her superhero-like powers, knew this would happen and conveniently set herself up to be the heroine by saving the plane as its pilot.

I wonder if she knows how to fly a plane?

Her hair isn't fluttering. She just used lots of styling product after selecting the seat and before flying the plane. As for the scarf... she clearly tossed it over her shoulder moments before this was drawn and that's why it is the way it is.

I mean you're right. She has ESP but that's not related the hair/scarf situation.

[vviipp]

Hold on...

You get to choose which seat you get on planes? Whenever I've flown, I just get randomly assigned a seat and there's no choice in the matter.

That's what I thought as well, and is it the same thing when you're on a boat? Otherwise, my trip to China last summer was a lie (well, at least the plane and boat parts).


I actually got to fly a plane when I was in Florida over the Christmas holidays. It was actually my mom's friend's husband's plane (My parents seem to have a lot of connections in China and the States). The one thing I forgot to bring were my sunglasses.

[DieInRealLife]

Anyone else notice that she's sitting on the opposite side than what she clicked on?

No, she's not. I think you are seeing the last frame wrong. It is a side view of the plane. The bespectacled man (presumably the pilot) is behind her.

[anclag]

Maybe she has the window open on the flight deck
(yes, they do open and yes, you can fly with them open...but it wouldn't be pleasant)

Or she might have the gasper vents on full blast...although it wouldn't be strong enough airflow to blow her scarf that far back

[Hawknc]

Definitely one of my favourites for a while.

[Ninto55]

This was the best one in a while. Why the hell didn't I think of that!?!??!

[dbmag9]

I've had it with these motherf*cking geeks on this motherf*cking plane?

I like this comic.

[Burkitt]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

In 2005 a Boeing 767, Helios Airways Flight 522, had some problem with its air systems which caused both pilots and most of the passengers to lose consciousness while. One of the flight attendants, who was training as a pilot and had over 260 hours of training completed, attempted to fly the aeroplane. He was seen in the pilot's seat by on of the F-16s which was scrambled to intercept the plane when it failed to follow its planned flightpath. However, he was unable to bring the plane down safely, and after circling for a while it ran out of fuel and crashed into a mountainside.

Given someone with that much prior experience couldn't land the plane, i think the answer to your question is probably "no".

[Kaijyuu]

Assuming the cockpit's window is glass and not plastic, polarized sunglasses seem a damn good idea for a pilot.


Also, the "wind" is probably supposed to be inertia. It would have to be some really fast acceleration to cause that, though.

[squareroot]

Shortest alt-text ever?

By no means. I distinctively remember one where the alt-text was just "...". I think it involved the Black Hat Guy.

[MrGuy]

There's actually a related ad campaign going on for an airline that I use. They're promoting their frequent-flyer program with "WestJet dollars have only one seat restriction: You can't have the pilot's".

Aw, man. I HATE being the lousy co-pilot.

[prosfilaes]

Given someone with that much prior experience couldn't land the plane, i think the answer to your question is probably "no".

Even the most incompetent person could have stopped the plane from circling until it ran out of fuel, so most likely the flight attendant passed out in the pilot's seat before he could do anything.

[squareroot]

He really should have included different title-texts, though: it's not hard, just make transparent divs with absolute positioning and fixed width/heigh. Then set their z-index higher than the image, assign them each a title text, and voila. Randall, you alone could make me feel so happy and contented, and disappointed at the same time...

What happened to image maps?

Image maps are bad. Don't use them if the only thing you want is title-text. I only use them if I want non-rectangular shaped areas.

People, I think that if we put together a couple of different solutions, it's not hard to explain the wind:

She has all the fans on super-high, to make her experience more exhilarating. Since she's flying at an angle, it doesn't take too much power to lift it up the extra ~pi/3 radians left needed to make it horizontal relative to her body.

And if that doesn't satisfy you, then maybe the hands-over-the-mouth on the pilot behind her is actually him cupping his hands so he can suck air in from right behind her. She paid him for the extra wind to make it even more fun.

Heheh, my math teacher would get soo angry if she knew I was using radians.

[SomeRandomPyro]

Shortest alt-text ever?

By no means. I distinctively remember one where the alt-text was just "...". I think it involved the Black Hat Guy.

Actually, there's one even shorter. In 25, the title text was ":(".

[Quaternary]

Forget "Pilot" as a seat choice. How about "Not next to the obese guy"?

Much more useful.

[Rat]

CONTINUTY ERROR WHY WOLD A STICKMAN HAVE A CURSOR OF A HUMEN HAND

ahaha best first post EVAR!

[SlyReaper]

Forget "Pilot" as a seat choice. How about "Not next to the obese guy"?

Much more useful.

Someone has to sit next to the obese guy. Someone also has to sit next to the smelly guy. It's an unfortunate soul who has to do so when the obese guy and the smelly guy happen to be the same person.

[SomeRandomPyro]

Forget "Pilot" as a seat choice. How about "Not next to the obese guy"?

Much more useful.

Someone has to sit next to the obese guy. Someone also has to sit next to the smelly guy. It's an unfortunate soul who has to do so when the obese guy and the smelly guy happen to be the same person.

Oh yeah
You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before
And I gotta tell ya, it was really great
Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor
And the little kid in back of me kept throwin' up the whole time
The flight attendants ran out of Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts
And the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore
And, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out
And we went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside
And the plane exploded in a giant fireball and everybody died
Except for me
You know why?

[xgpt]

FAKE: DOESN'T WORK!

TOTALLY TRIED THIS ON MY OWN!

(Someone had to say it...)

[GunJack]

Darn it, I was just about to create a topic about this.
Oh, well. Congratulations on being first also.

I laughed so hard when I saw this. I wonder what will happen when you click on the wing...or the tail of the airplane...
Also, why is the pilot wearing sunglasses?

WE ALWAYS WEAR SUNGLASSES

Ps: (just like the blues brothers WOOOO)

[GunJack]

CONTINUTY ERROR WHY WOLD A STICKMAN HAVE A CURSOR OF A HUMEN HAND

LOL!!!

[Czhorat]

Oh yeah
You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before
And I gotta tell ya, it was really great
Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor
And the little kid in back of me kept throwin' up the whole time
The flight attendants ran out of Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts
And the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore
And, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out
And we went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside
And the plane exploded in a giant fireball and everybody died
Except for me
You know why?

Because you had your tray table up and your seatback in the full upright position.

[squareroot]

Forget "Pilot" as a seat choice. How about "Not next to the obese guy"?

Much more useful.

Someone has to sit next to the obese guy. Someone also has to sit next to the smelly guy. It's an unfortunate soul who has to do so when the obese guy and the smelly guy happen to be the same person.

Oh yeah
You know, I'd never been on a real airplane before
And I gotta tell ya, it was really great
Except that I had to sit between two large Albanian women with excruciatingly severe body odor
And the little kid in back of me kept throwin' up the whole time
The flight attendants ran out of Dr. Pepper and salted peanuts
And the in-flight movie was Bio-Dome with Pauly Shore
And, oh yeah, three of the airplane engines burned out
And we went into a tailspin and crashed into a hillside
And the plane exploded in a giant fireball and everybody died
Except for me
You know why?

...because you were the only one bored enough to read the instructions for the emergency landing. (HHGTG reference)

...because the Albanian women cushioned you.

...because the reason they ran out of Doctor Pepper is because you drank so much. You were on the toilet when the plane crashed, and it's well established that the bathroom is the safest place to be.

[RebeccaRGB]

CONTINUTY ERROR WHY WOLD A STICKMAN HAVE A CURSOR OF A HUMEN HAND

LOL!!!

xkcd stick hand cursor:
http://www.kreativekorp.com/epsilon/stikhand.cur

[TheGrammarBolshevik]

I'm disappointed in you all. Usually there's a thread up already.

And yet the thread we get doesn't even have a proper link, let alone any actual commentary.

[Aviatrix]

I was very pleased with this comic.

[phillipsjk]

I think I figured out another possibility for the "anti-gravity" scarf:
She could be flying the plane in a parabolic dive with an acceleration of approximately 9.81 m/s².

[HonestConman]

I prefer the 'first in, best dressed' airlines like ryan air.

Pilot steps out for a cigarette and BAM...seat gone.

[evac156]

Anyone here ever wonder how successfully some guy in the tower can "talk you down" like in the movies? Has this ever happened?

In fact... On 2012/04/05, "Eighty-Year-Old Woman Lands Plane After Husband Dies Mid-Flight"

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/04/eighty-year-old-woman-lands-plane-after-husband-dies-mid-flight/

In this case, she was talked down by another pilot flying alongside.

The landing was bumpy but successful. One engine was out of gas and one was nearly out; James Collins remarked to the AP that the “amazing thing is she landed that plane on one engine … I don’t know if there are a lot of trained pilots that could do that.”

[evac156]

I just re-read this strip, and noticed the sign in panel 2: GATES -->

Stands to reason, if you're a Gates (either Bill or Robert), there's a pretty good chance you could pick the pilot's chair if you wanted.

Maybe that's supposed to be Melinda?