William Shatner's Seat

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

by vinnyglennon • 9 years ago

458 81 9 years ago

quora.com

JshWright• 9 years ago

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

setheron• 9 years ago

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

WalterGR• 9 years ago

Interestingly, it's also referenced in Futurama.

douche• 9 years ago

Most of the same writers and producers, at least from the golden age of the Simpsons. I think this is one of those bits that every cartoon that goes on long enough has to do - I'd be amazed if there isn't a Family Guy cut-away, at least.

Waterluvian2• 9 years ago

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

"Who says 'SHAZAM!'?"

"Ah yes, Gomer Pyle."

6stringmerc2• 9 years ago

...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.

jfoutz• 9 years ago

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

js2• 9 years ago

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

soheil3• 9 years ago

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!

chatwinra• 9 years ago

Cultural connoisseurs will also no doubt be aware that Johnny Bravo covered that episode the Twilight Zone too, except instead of Gremlins, it was Clowns....

https://youtu.be/W-oEQIiKx_U

soheil3• 9 years ago

I know what I'm gonna watch tonight! ▲

jpmattia2• 9 years ago

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.]

astrodust• 9 years ago

It specifically says "one of".

jpmattia2• 9 years ago

Fair enough. Edited to reflect that.

mirimir• 9 years ago

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

phkahler• 9 years ago

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

canada_dry• 9 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFbWJJj9uFU

Waterluvian2• 9 years ago

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.

6stringmerc2• 9 years ago

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.

zw123456• 9 years ago

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

rbobby• 9 years ago

Getting "The Shatner Seat":

- On a plane... cool

- On a toilet... a little too warm

sand5002• 9 years ago

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

chrisper• 9 years ago

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.

sand5002• 9 years ago

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.

jcrawfordor• 9 years ago

The "landing gear viewer" is only required on older aircraft that do not have dual redundant electrical systems to report landing gear status. There are still some of these in service, the easy way to know on a Boeing is that one of the overhead bin doors will have a label "L/G VIEWER" on it.

lovemenot• 9 years ago

William Shatner seat?

No he didn't. Did you William?

golemotron• 9 years ago

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

mxfh• 9 years ago

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

jwcacces• 9 years ago

SNL Link for those in America https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/nightmare-at-2...

bhaavan• 9 years ago

Holy shat!

thehardsphere• 9 years ago

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

cthulhujr• 9 years ago

A view from Shatner's other other seat: https://youtu.be/Uyp8B8Vro-s?t=1m20s

dannylandau• 9 years ago

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

officelineback• 9 years ago

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

scott_s• 9 years ago

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...

vanattab• 9 years ago

I am pretty sure I have been on planes without ashtray

Rebelgecko• 9 years ago

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

gcb0• 9 years ago

absolutely nobody in aviation ever called it that.

stevefeinstein• 9 years ago

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

valleyer• 9 years ago

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

ouid• 9 years ago

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

William Shatner's Seat

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