Name: How Airplanes Are Designed To Feel Bigger On The Inside
Uploaded: 2016-12-26T17:48:05.000Z
Duration: 5 min 35 s
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Airplanes are not all that different from the tall blue police boxes out there… they use psychology,

design and research to make you think: it's totally bigger on the inside!

Early jet airplanes like this 707 had interiors designed for comfort, but based on research,

psychology, and design…today's airplanes consider comfort and a lot more.

We visited Boeing's Customer Experience Center in Washington state to see how they conceptualize

a space, that's essentially a flying tube -- into something more!

When you're flying in an airplane, one of the needs you have is really to be quite connected to the sky.

So, there's many ways that you can have that manifest in your designs.

That's Blake Emery, he's the Director of Differentiation Strategy for Boeing.

in the airplanes that we're creating now, we're moving the windows to a different place.

So now, if you look around this airplane, as an example, 787 Dreamliner, it doesn't

really matter where you're sitting, you have access to a window.

Therefore, you have connection to the sky.

Something as simple as reminding people they're skybound makes people more comfortable -- surprisingly,

A 2005 study done for the European Space Agency, found living in confined spaces can cause

It's somewhat counterintuitive, but the idea of having the windows accessible to everyone

actually can help relieve some of that fear.

Because a lot of that fear is actually related to the claustrophobic aspect of it.

When Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961 his spacecraft -- Vostok 1 had

It turns out, that was one of the most powerful parts of that flight.

For some reason, humans need to see the outside.

While airplanes can feel small they are actually quite large.

over 31,000 cubic feet (876m3) of space, larger than the area of a six bedroom house.

Imagine 400 people in a six bedroom house.

To make a space that size feel livable for hundreds of passengers involves a lot of psychological

"techniques," as Dr Rachelle Ornan-Stone says...

So something that I've been completely fascinated by is visual perception, um, so tricks of

Dr. Ornan-Stone works in Cabin Experience at Boeing; she helps design the parts of the

So, she's always thinking about how we use the space in an airplane.

we've looked at the correlation between satisfaction ratings of passengers with the width of the cabin

Because when you're seated in an airplane, your eye line is about 50 inches from the floor.

So, the engineers made that, the widest part of the airplane's cabin.

We also use light as a really interesting way of drawing the eye to the locations that

we think about all these subtle ways to affect emotion.everyone appreciates a change of scenery

once in awhile and when you're on a really long flight, um, to match lighting to the

activity that's going on is really important and it marks parts of the journey for the

When you enter a confined space like an airplane cabin, engineers and designers use light and

But that's not all the lighting is for…they can actually make these colors do anything.

Now, if an airline wants to do something different or something wild, or have rainbows or have,

you know, crazy light shows, or something like that, uh, that's fine too.

But you take something, you know, dynamic like an Aurora Borealis, okay, I mean that's

something that's moving, it's beautiful, um, and at the same time, it's still sky.

And these are just a few of their techniques.

See those indentations around the windows?

They draw the eye toward the window, so you can see outside, it psychologically makes

They even designed the overhead bins to move up and get out of the way adding to the visual space...

You have all the stuff up and out of the way and you have this beautiful light that draws

We know that from perceptual research, a well-lit interior always looks more spacious.

As airplanes get more efficient and can stay in the air longer, it's important to make

Even making see-through curtains and barriers can help you feel like you're in a bigger space.

I love it when science is truly practical.

Thanks for watching DNews everybody, for more about 100 years of Boeing Innovation go to

And if you want to know how they built these airplanes... we went to the factory!

Make sure you subscribe so you get all the episode of DNews that we got coming at you.

Also, let us know down in the comments, what was your most memorable flight experience?