When you travel anywhere far away, airplanes generally are what take you there. The crew on the plane, including the pilot and flight attendants, work long hours to ensure you safely arrive at your destination, and there is plenty they know about the plane and the operation of the plane that you don’t know about, or perhaps, don’t want to know about. It takes a lot to get the plane off the ground, and pilots know plenty of wild things about the aircraft they control. You’re in good hands once you get onboard, as pilots have hundreds of hours of experience flying and will make sure you are safe.

Meanwhile, flight attendants are the front-line workers who deal with the passengers each day. They are more than just waitresses but ensure everything runs smoothly, on-time and everyone in the cabin is safe. But there is a lot of things they don’t tell you, either because of safety reasons or because it could cause panic in the air. They keep a lot to themselves to make sure the flight goes off without an issue, and there is a lot of things they won’t tell you unless you really need to know. So check out this list and look for some of these details when taking your next flight.

30 Pilots: Just Enough Fuel

It is very expensive to fuel up a plane and they don’t top up these massive commercial carries to the rim like you would your car. In fact, according to CBC, they put in just enough fuel to get to the plane to the destination, and it’s up to the pilot to figure out how much fuel that would be. According to NBC, pilots are told to fly with the least amount of fuel as possible to save costs, as it also keeps the plane lighter. If you run out, don’t worry, as planes can fly for a good distance with no fuel.

29 Pilots: Pilots Nap

Pilots are sometimes forced to fly upwards of 14 hours a day. That’s a long time to be working for, even if planes are doing a lot of the work themselves when on autopilot. According to USA Today, pilots take controlled naps in order to keep them fresh when in the air. But don’t fear, as all planes have two pilots, so while one may be catching a few z's, the other is in complete control of the airplane and can wake the other pilot if trouble arises. With tight schedules and long trips, even the pilots need to rest their head a bit.

28 Flight Attendants: Lights Dim On Landing In Case Of Emergency

During takeoff and landings, the lights in the cabin dim down. No, they aren’t trying to set the mood for the flight coming up, but rather for passenger safety. According to the Telegraph, lights are dimmed in order to adjust your eyes to dim lights, so that if the power goes out in an emergency, your eyes have already adjusted and can find the exits easier. Flight attendants won’t tell you this, however, because they want you to think it’s just to make the flight calmer.

27 Pilots: They Have Least Favorite Airports

Not every airport is the same, and pilots will admit, they don’t like certain airports that they have to fly into for many different reasons. According to Reader’s Digest, the two worst airports are Reagan National in Washington, D.C., and John Wayne in Orange County, California. John Wayne Airport has noise restrictions because of locals complaining, so pilots have to turn the pilot silent as soon as they take off. Others have short runways which mean quick and unpleasant stops and difficult fast take-offs.

26 Pilots: Planes Do Get Struck By Lightning

There is always that fear that a lightning strike will take down an airplane. Well, pilots will tell you that, yes, the plane does get struck by lightning, but that doesn’t mean it’s bringing you down. According to Reader’s Digest, pilots say that passengers will just hear a large boom from the lightning and a bright flash, but that’s about it, and you won’t fall from the sky. The plane is constructed to withstand the lightning strike, but most of the time, you won’t even know it.

25 Flight Attendants: Pillows And Blankets Aren’t New

If you have ever asked for a blanket or pillow on a flight, you should know they are reused blankets and pillows and a new one isn’t opened every time a customer asks for one. According to littlething.com, the pillows and blankets are just folded up and put back in the bin to use again. The only time new ones are being used is when they are brought in in the morning before the plane has had any flights that day.

24 Pilots: Turbulence Can’t Bring Down A Plane

One thing everyone experiences on an airplane is turbulence. It can make some people sick and make for a rough ride, but it won’t bring the plane down, despite people thinking it will. According to Reader’s Digest, pilots say they avoid turbulence, not because it has any danger to the plane, or the wing is going to rip off, but rather because it’s just annoying to ride through. For pilots, it’s more of a comfort thing for the passengers than a safety concern.

23 Pilots: Pilots Take Selfies

Everyone has cell phones these days and are taking selfies when on vacation, so why shouldn’t the pilots? According to the Daily Mail, there are a few pilots who have made names for themselves by posting awesome selfies from the air, putting everyone’s selfie game to shame. They are allowed to take them like anyone else, just not during take-off and landing, or when there is turbulence. Although it does raise a question, if the pilot can use a phone, why not the passengers?

22 Flight Attendants: They See Everything

If you think of pulling a fast one on the plane, like a couple slipping into the bathroom, or trying to change seats or grab overhead bags before you are allowed, just be aware that flight attendants see everything. According to Insider, flight attendants have a good idea of what is going on the plane, which passengers are trouble, which ones to keep an eye on and what rows and seats people are in, just in case they have to point them out to police later on. So be mindful that with multiple flight attendants, someone always has eyes on you.

21 Pilots: They Eat Different Food

Pilots have to eat as well, as you don’t want them hungry at the throttle of a flying plane. But for safety reasons, they eat different food. And no, not just different food as the passengers, but different food from each other. According to the Express, both the pilot and co-pilot eat something different, just in case one of the meals prepared gets them sick. It ensures at least one person will have a probability of not getting ill in the air. Although the food is the same quality as what passengers eat, which isn’t the greatest.

20 Pilots: Rough Landings Done On Purpose

A lot of people dislike the landing part of flying. What if the plane comes up short or misses the runway, and they hate the hard landings pilots do that jumps them out their seat. However, pilots will tell you, according to Reader’s Digest, that hard landings are done on purpose, and not because the pilot is not trying to make it soft. If the runway is slick, icy, snow-covered or short, pilots will hit down hard to create more friction to stop the plane.

19 Flight Attendants: There Are Germs Everywhere

Airplanes are like a flying dish of germs, as flight attendants won’t tell you that the plane doesn’t get clean after every flight. According to Reader’s Digest, the plane is cleaned deeply once a month, and other than that, the flight crew will do a quick sweep through the cabin to pick up garbage that people didn’t throw into the bag when they walked by, but things do get missed, and they don’t get all the germs as they are trying to prepare the plane for a quick turnaround for the next flight.

18 Pilots: Phones Won’t Bring Down the Plane

During flights, you are generally asked to turn off your cell phones or put them on airplane mode so that no signals interfere with the plane's systems. Despite what has been said, no plane has ever crashed because of cell phones being turned on, but it can create issues for the pilot. According to Reader’s Digest, the reason is that the signal coming to your phone can disrupt the readings on the aircraft, telling the pilot they are higher than they actually are. That could be dangerous, but, luckily, so far, no planes have crashed because of it.

17 Pilots: FAA Rules Don’t Make Sense Either

Don’t worry, you’re not the only ones that don’t understand the FAA rules for flying. According to Reader’s Digest, even pilots don’t understand why passengers can be served hot drinks in the air, 39,000 feet above the ground going over 400 miles per hour, but when the plane is coming in to the terminal at a brisk five to 10 mile per hour pace, people have to be strapped down. Sure, a sudden stop could send someone for a jolt, but it still seems rather silly.

16 Pilots: On-Time Is Most Important

There are many reasons not to be late for a flight and the first and most important is, you’re not the most important stat to the pilot. According to Reader’s Digest, the Department of Transportation has put more emphasis on on-time performance than worrying about passenger numbers. If you’re late, that should be your issue, but for those who are coming in on a connecting flight that might be late for many different reasons, sorry to say, the plane isn’t waiting for you at the gate.

15 Pilots: Engines Do Fail

We all get this scary thought that both engines will fail and the plane will fall out of the sky. That isn’t entirely true, as planes can fly without engines and land without them as well. They can also fly with one, as according to Thrillist, engines do break down, but planes can fly perfectly fine with just one engine. In most cases, the pilot won’t even tell you there is a problem so as not to cause panic, so you could be on a flight with one engine out and not know a difference.

14 Pilots: Pilots Tell Attendants To Sit And So Should You

Pilots know what kind of weather they are flying into and when to turn on the seat belt sign. But if you see the flight attendants racing from the row and buckling up themselves, you should follow as well. According to Reader’s Digest, if the attendants sit down, that means the turbulence they are heading into is too dangerous for even them to be standing and handing out coffee. So it’s not just a warning sign for passengers, but one for the men and women working as attendants as well.

13 Pilots: Landings Tell The Good From The Bad

Landings are generally done by the pilot and not autopilots. According to the Telegraph, 90 percent of the flight is done by autopilot, but the take-off and landing are all in the hands of the pilots, and so a pilot who can land smoothly and without incident is considered a good pilot. If they take a few bumps on the runway, or need another try, or come in shifting side to side, they either need some more experience or aren’t very good.

12 Pilots: It’s Expensive To Become A Pilot

Most people think pilots have the luxury lifestyle, as they can be paid high salaries once they earn their wings and work their way up the ranks. But in fact, according to Traveller, it is very expensive to become a pilot in the first place, costing thousands of dollars to get the hours needed to fly as a co-pilot. Most require over 1,500 hours, and it’s expensive to rent a plane and get time in the sky, so while they do get paid very well later in their career, it can be expensive to even get off the ground.

11 Flight Attendants: Yes, They Can Upgrade You

Everyone would love a free upgrade. Maybe moving up to first class, or getting a little extra snack or drink, but they don’t know who they should ask. Asking the person at the ticket counter is useless, but according to Express, the flight attendant is the one who can give you the upgrade, just make sure you ask nicely and are polite to them. Flight attendants deal with plenty of passengers in a day and they come with all types of attitudes and want something from them. So if you are polite, say please and thank yous and don’t ask too much, they may give you an upgrade.