I’m a flight attendant — here’s the ‘secret’ behind black triangles in airplane cabins
They’re not pointless.
A flight attendant for Philippines-based airline Cebu Pacific is sharing the “secret” meaning behind black triangle stickers in airplane cabins.
“1. Passengers sitting next to the triangles get the best view of the wings,” Henny Joyce Lim explained in a 2022 TikTok that resurfaced this week. “2. If flight crew need to check the wings these triangles let them know the best vantage points for the slats and flaps outside.”
In the 36-second clip, which has landed more than 304,700 views, Lim stands in an empty Airbus 320 as she advises passengers to look for the triangles in the cabin if they get to choose their own seat.
“Anybody who loves taking window shots or videos will get the best view over the wings from these seats,” she declared.
TikTok commenters tried to gauge the rows with the triangles from watching the video.
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“Row 10 and Row 18. got it,” one spied.
“Either at 10 or at 18,” Lim confirmed. “But it still depends on the type of aircraft or depending on the type of aircraft…”
“I saw that. I was seated at 29A then a few seats from me I saw something like that. At first I thought a fly had entered the plane,” another follower confessed.
Retired aerospace engineer Lee Ballentine weighed in on the black triangles mystery on the Q&A website Quora in 2015.
“The black triangle marks the location of what has been called ‘William Shatner’s Seat,’ the seat with the clearest view of the wing. This is the place inside the airplane from which you can get the best visual check for ice or other problems,” Ballentine disclosed.
“The Shatner reference is to one of the strangest Twilight Zone episodes, ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,‘ which first aired on October 11, 1963,” Ballentine continued. “In it, Shatner’s character sees a gremlin on the wing of the plane he’s a passenger on.”
For her part, Lim has also shared the “secret” to the red and green lights on an airplane wing and “tiny holes” in airplane windows.
Additionally, she’s revealed the “scary” reason why flight attendants sit on their hands while in their jumpseats.
