10 of the craziest aviation conspiracy theories ever

Have you heard some of these outlandish theories about planes and airports? You’ll have to read them to believe them (or not!).

If you’ve ever wondered why aeroplanes leave cloud-like trails in their wake, conspiracy theorists have a wacky idea. They claim a government program is spraying chemicals through the atmosphere that control the weather or even the minds of people below. For those who need proof to the contrary, a team of 77 scientists investigated whether the condensation trails showed any indication of chemical spraying, and 98.7 percent found no evidence. The only hint of anything fishy was high levels of barium in the atmosphere but low levels in the ground – but even the expert to find that agreed a secret government operation was unlikely.

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You can thank a line in the movie Fight Club for spreading the idea that oxygen masks are to keep passengers in line. “In a catastrophic emergency, you’re taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate,” Brad Pitt’s character says in the movie. Not only is that totally unfounded, but the oxygen would actually do the opposite. Euphoria is a symptom of lack of oxygen when plane cabins lose pressure, which is just one reason the masks are released. (It could also lead to unconsciousness or death, so don’t test your luck at keeping the mask off.) The lack of pressure usually isn’t an emergency, and the several minutes of oxygen is plenty of time for the pilots to fly to a safe altitude, pilot Patrick Smith tells The Telegraph.

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Some people believe that airplane cabins are deliberately low on oxygen in order to calm the passengers into a sleepy state, but nothing could be further from the truth, says Boland. “Pilots share the same air as passengers, so if this were true, we’d be falling asleep too.” The real reasons for in-flight fatigue have more to do with boredom, motion and the fact that the cabin pressurisation makes it slightly more difficult for human lungs to use oxygen.

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When the DIA opened in 1995, its futuristic baggage system didn’t work, and despite having spent millions of dollars on it already, the airport didn’t bother fixing it. Few airlines tried using even a stripped-down version of it, and it went defunct in 2010. Rumours have circulated that the suspiciously lax treatment of it hints there’s something hiding under there, like fallout shelters or aliens.

Conspiracy theories are twofold on this one. Some say airlines insist passengers use the “brace” position (keeping feet on the floor and the head on the seat in front of you) during a crash because it will snap their necks, and dead passengers can’t sue or make health insurance claims. Others claim the position makes it easier to identify bodies because passengers are less likely to lose their teeth slamming their faces. Both are utterly morbid, and both are utterly untrue. After a deadly 1989 crash, research showed keeping the head forward reduced head injury, and holding legs flat kept them from flailing.

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Dozens of boats and planes – including a squadron of five U.S. Navy bombers in 1945 – have mysteriously disappeared in an area of the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Florida over a matter of decades. Naturally, that sparked the notion that something supernatural must be at play. Bermuda Triangle theories range from scientific-sounding (powerful winds called “air bombs”) to conspiratorial (underwater tests of government weapons) to downright laughable (magical crystals from Atlantis). A cool explanation might be alluring, but most investigations point to nasty weather or mechanical issues and nothing paranormal.

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Malaysia Airlines flight 370 and its 239 passengers vanished in March 2014, and search parties found just three pieces of debris in the Indian Ocean. With almost no further evidence after several years, conspiracy theories have taken over the guessing game: the pilot crashed to create a mystery; vortex energy from ancient aliens pulled the plane in; the CIA controlled the plane remotely. In one of the more outlandish, YouTubers claim lyrics from Pitbull and Shakira’s song “Get It Started” (“Now it’s off to Malaysia / Two passports, three cities, two countries, one day”) points to prior knowledge of the two passengers who’d used stolen passports to board.

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“Do Not Flush While Seated” – that sign might get your mind racing about worst-case scenarios, but being sucked into it (or stuck on it) shouldn’t be a fear. The toilets do suck waste down with a vacuum instead of the usual plumbing, but it won’t take you – or your internal organs – with it. You’d need to create a perfect seal between yourself and the bowl, and the toilet designs make that next to impossible.

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When Amelia Earhart mysteriously disappeared during her attempted flight around the world, people were desperate for answers. Even her husband investigated rumors that she’d lived in Japan and spread propaganda, and a 1930s photo that recently emerged got people wondering if there was photo evidence that she’d survived. While we may never get all the answers, most experts pin the “mysterious” crash down to running out of fuel.

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