Why are airplanes painted white?

[@jtphotography0]

Short answer: To reduce heat on the fuselage and it's easy to spot leaks and dents

[@zakinnamis5577]

Cool cool cool tight tight tight

[@rykerbrand4705]

*Shortest answer

[@gameriffy2458]

@@zakinnamis5577 You are an amazing human/genius

[@furko1103]

Your summary misses a lot of points of the video though. As in many things in life, the answer often contains a lot more nuances and complexity.

[@0li_O]

Thank you

[@richardperkovic7476]

Air New Zealand’s black planes look amazing!!

[@ervandrush3116]

Yeah it's good)

[@neilwilloughby3180]

@@ervandrush3116 pride all the way. I see them flying over my home and think proud to be Kiiwi

[@thomasburke7995]

OUTSTANDING..bloody brilliant presentation.. federal Express did a cost analyst back in 1993 and put a dollar value on the paint scheme.. on the 747 they owned the purple pigments based paint alone weighs in at over 800 pounds and that was placed over the all white base coat..switching to the current FedEx scheme saved the company 3 billion dollars in the first year with only 10 aircraft done up..

[@mcmb8254]

Luke E some paints, especially pigment paints, and especially certain colors like that purple I’m assuming are *very* expensive, getting 800 lbs of it I’m sure was a lot of money. Switching to the way things are now, I’m sure they only need about an 8th of that paint saving 700 lbs of paint off each aircraft, which saves energy and with ten planes each using 700 lbs less of paint, that’s already 7000 lbs less paint required, I doubt it’s 3 billion dollars, they most likely meant 3 million dollars, but still, it’s a lot of savings

[@dmrr7739]

No, your figures are wrong. Saving $3B over ten planes would mean saving $300M per plane per year. That is $375,000 _per pound._ If each plane flew on average once a day, that’s $1,027 per pound of paint per flight. I haven’t used Fedex in a long time, but they weren’t that expensive.

[@F-Man]

Only our wonderful Mr. Sky can make a video about paint so enjoyable. 🙂

[@usmale4915]

I agree! And I enjoyed the opening of this video with the plane "flapping" it's wings. Now that was funny and very clever. I'm still laughing!

[@edofluit6568]

@@usmale4915 it wasnt that funny...

[@biggfooty5379]

"Why are planes painted white?'' Southwest: Am I a joke to you?

[@henrychubbs2823]

You made what could have been a dull topic interesting. And while others fail at humor, I enjoy your sarcastic wit.

[@Deathmastertx]

Damn, those Qantas planes with the indigenous art patterns look good though.

[@6yjjk]

Have you seen the photos of their old indigenous specials? If not, google "wunala dreaming 747". That one was a stunner.

[@mudchair16]

I think they're lame. The standard white, red, white kangaroo is brilliant.

[@Deathmastertx]

@@mudchair16 The standard one is clean but I think the indigenous art ones are the most visually interesting. I also like the Retro Roo and Gay330 because it's nice to see something a bit different now and then.

[@lex1945]

Air New Zealand: Hold my All Blacks livery..

[@sebastiannoir5712]

plenty of nz taxpayer money available for the those periodic bailouts so paint baby paint ::: :

[@KiedisHaze]

@@sebastiannoir5712 That's what happens when A. The New Zealand Government is the majority shareholder B. Air New Zealand itself is a massive tourism driver in New Zealand C. One of New Zealand's largest industries is tourism It's a good investment, to be honest with you.

[@mongkoktakeaway]

@@KiedisHaze Tena Koe. Sure, you're right. But how about some considerate pricing rather than the price gouging bullshit? I think if you asked the NZ public "would you happily support a NZ carrier which price gouges you for $300 one way Auckland to Tauranga, or $500 one way Auckland to Invercargill?" or "would you rather the NZ Govt withdrew significant support from AirNZ and allowed tax breaks for outside airlines to expand in NZs domestic market?" I think we would see more people happy to see other carriers come and compete.

[@munky123jw]

To keep it cool inside and color paints weight more due to the pigment.

[@krissp8712]

In the video Sky said it's the multiple coatings for colour. White needs titanium pigment already anyway.

[@deusexaethera]

White paint still has pigment in it. Pigmentless paint is called "varnish", and it's transparent. You are correct about reflecting heat away from the airplane, however.

[@christianzhouzheng]

The intro with the plane (think it's an A330 family aircraft) flapping its wings cracked me up

[@emerald39]

It was an April Fool joke

[@usmale4915]

I'm still laughing, it was very funny and clever!

[@viperdriver82]

Looked like a 767 to me

[@flyerkiller5073]

Pretty interesting explanation

[@bidhanchandraroy5524]

0:03 The wind flex on the a330 😂🤣😹 LOL!

[@jamesturner9651]

Makes me wonder about Southwest Airlines livery...

[@default123default2]

It's bad for resale

[@super.manzie9844]

That’s what I was thinking

[@ice711real]

Me too

[@johndumont3114]

"Naked metal" look will always be my favorite. But let's be honest, anything is better than a blue Pepsi Concorde

[@alexv3357]

Not even the Concorde can make Pepsi attractive

[@mingming9604]

unless you are concorde. Which white reflects heat since the concorde skin heats up a lot during supersonic. Hence the one off Pepsi painted AF concorde have dark blue paint limited only to fuselage.

[@user-gu1hl2kx2k]

my pussy taste like pepsi cola

[@ervandrush3116]

I like the blue Pepsi Concorde) At first I thought that's a Photoshop

[@deusexaethera]

Bare aluminum is risky. Aluminum is very chemically active. (in case you're not aware, Thermite is made from aluminum powder and iron rust powder; the aluminum tears the oxygen right out of the iron rust in order to burn, and that's why Thermite gets hot enough to weld railroad tracks together.) Aluminum normally forms a smooth oxide coating when exposed to air in just a few seconds, but a few contaminants can interrupt that smooth oxide coating and allow the aluminum to continue oxidizing. Mercury, gallium, and even salt can do this. Look at the aluminum valve cover of an old car that was driven on salted roads; it's darkened and pitted and corroded, not smooth and shiny.

[@Kamugin1]

Also white wreckage is easier to spot after a crash, especially in a jungle or in the sea.

[@towermoss]

Snow?

[@6yjjk]

@@towermoss Hence Air Greenland's all-red paint.

[@dmrr7739]

White, silver, and day-glow orange, as used on USAF non-combat aircraft, was the best combination.

[@ShawFujikawa]

From my knowledge of space travel (which faces even more extreme environments), I had guessed it was to help the plane reflect and eject heat more easily than a darker colour. I did not think there would be this many alternative reasons! :o

[@jjmcrosbie]

White reflects light and heat, it is a poor radiator of light or heat. For radiation of heat the ideal is mat black. Consider satellites. They need to reflect sunlight and so are a shiny silver colour (no oxidisation worries, OK?) However their electronics generate heat which must be removed, but how? No air to blow. So the only escape for heat is by radiation, So matt black cooling surfaces are used, which must face into deep space which has an equivalent temperature close to absolute zero. Care must be taken to prevent these surfaces from facing the sun because they would heat up very quickly. For any given black radiating surface, the heat loss is proportional to the fourth power of the temperature difference between the radiator (ho t) and the equivalent temperature of the material or space (low) that it faces. Doubling this difference thus would give 2×2×2×2 = 16 times the radiation, so facing absolute zero offers a good prospect. FOR BLACK.

[@usmale4915]

I had no idea about the painting of a plane! Very interesting and educational to say the least! However, I seem to like the more colorfully painted aircraft. Also, your opening with the plane flapping its wings was funny and clever; still laughing about that! Thank you for the video upload! Posted: June 12, 2020

[@kennethramonet5421]

A white fuselage is paint scheme is called "Euro White". The first airline to use an all white fuselage was Air France, way back in 1975. AF is a European carrier, hence "Euro White". Air France was slowly joined by nearly all carriers over the last 45 years. You might also consider doing a video on what a "cheat line" paint scheme is and how that treatment has fallen out of favor. And also you could do one on what "billboard" titles are. And finally, black paint underneath the flight deck windows used to be popular to reduce unwanted reflection in the cockpit (look at TWA and Air Canada paint schemes from the 1970s). Interestingly, Airbus seems to be re-enamoured with black trim around the cockpit, but I don't think it is to reduce glare on the flight deck.

[@ervandrush3116]

Interesting information)

[@intertr0ns]

Very interesting. Thanks

[@DasLuft]

Great research!

[@Sacto1654]

Supposedly, the all-white color was originally introduced on the Concorde, mostly because white better resists the fuselage heading process of supersonic flight. Mostly white is done nowadays because not only is it widely available, it also keeps the weight of the plane down.

[@ervandrush3116]

I heard, that the Pepsi blue Concorde had additional speed limits, nearly Mach 1.7

[@microRiZu]

That a330 with those wing flaps made me crack a bit lol

[@AFlyingCapybara]

Why many have a grey/painted belly? Does it serve any function?

[@trash4cash454]

Oh that's interesting!

[@Flying_GC]

Serves no function other than breaking up the white and also oil/ muck is less visible

[@juandiegogonzalez9510]

So they don't get shot at

[@krissp8712]

_Air France has left the chat (and the Congo)._

[@genkikiwi8240]

Great video. Interesting, informative and well produced. Thanks

[@yahwea]

my father flew single engine aircraft, and i have traveled, but II never thought about this topic! THANK YOU

[@ildarg8449]

I watched this video first in Russian, then in English) it's an interesting experience)

[@Saberjet1950]

Are there any differences?

[@ildarg8449]

SaberJet , no difference. Two versions are very good.)

[@howard5030]

Ecc12:13 I watched while having clothes on.

[@coolfungame8467]

I am watching on the toilet as my poops are sitting in the water for a long time

[@sarbaazchabahar]

Love this channel👍✌🍺

[@aramakonstantin]

The great content. You are the best

[@kevinbarry71]

I enjoy the video; from what I could find out from a little research; the weight of the paint on an Airbus 380 is 650 kg

[@hedgehog3180]

Ocean liners and ferries also tended to be painted white above the water line, and a lot of train companies have used fairly white paint schemes throughout the years. It seems to be something of a default for any passenger carrier unless there are some other factors influencing choices (like steam trains being mostly black because they were so dirty).

[@hedgehog3180]

This also of course means that choosing any other color is an easy way to distinguish yourself from the rest and we probably see this the most in passenger trains. The new DSB livery is black and red which is something of a call back to their older liveries and is a reintroduction of red after it had been gone for about two decades. We also saw steam trains painted in fairly lively colors but that seems to have mostly been a trend in the UK and in the US when it came to streamliners, which of course were mostly designed to stand out.

[@tedtheodorelogan8618]

Anyone else looking forward to the new flight simulator hopefully I can fly my DC 10.

[@LM1C144]

Brussels Airlines has some realy nice liveries. A plane all in Magritte theme, one in Brueghel, Red Devils, the Smurfes etc. They didn't look on a kg of paint :)

[@6yjjk]

One big safety reason NOT to go with white is if you're mostly or completely operating over snow. Air Greenland's all-red birds look really cool, but they're that colour for a reason. Same with anything that spends much time in the Antarctic, or the Canadian north - yellow, orange, or red are typical.

[@frankgaleon5124]

I think this is not a very common operation conditions

[@6yjjk]

​@@frankgaleon5124 It's an everyday event if you live in Greenland or the north of Canada, or work in the Antarctic, for example. If you go down in that environment, you want to be found quickly. Other than Piper Cubs and CL-215/415 water-bombers (which love being yellow), I'd bet that the Twin Otter fleet has the highest proportion of red/orange/yellow - precisely because they're so useful in these environments. You don't even have to be that far from the equator to benefit, either. An instructor I knew told how his club had lost a Grob somewhere over the Scottish highlands in winter. The SAR people asked what colour it was. White. "Great.... any markings?" Silver stripes. "Greeeeeeaaaat..." This story came back to me while on a joy-ride over the snow-covered mountains of Utah in a TwinStar painted - you guessed it - white and silver...

[@JoseJimenez-sh1yi]

Now that is timing.

[@koimackan1287]

Vietnam Airlines: *hold our livery*

[@ervandrush3116]

"A customer can have a car painted any color he wants as long as it’s black". Henry Ford

[@krissp8712]

_Air New Zealand has entered the chat._

[@trash4cash454]

@@krissp8712 Middle Earth Airlines)

[@johannesbols57]

Hello, Sky. Thanks for making a vid on the topic of toothpaste tube fuselages. If I may point out two things, one of wh. I know to be fact (but doesn't detract from your information being communicated so well). The first is that black and white are shades, not colours. The second is something that slightly surprised me because it was left out of the white paint narrative. The paint used on airliners is different than house paint. The fuselage expands and contracts as it moves from ground level to cruise and back again. If house paint was used on airliners it would crack almost immediately. A different kind of expoxy is used for airliners. Thanks again for your vids! I look forward to viewing them and always learn something new!

[@ervandrush3116]

Oh, interesting info

[@Miftahjaya96]

Nice video..very informatif

[@Katniss218]

AA should paint their planes in metallic colors

[@ervandrush3116]

Yeah, that would be good

[@stevmania8138]

Silverbird awesome livery.

[@yumphallangthaphal1598]

Simplicity is the king of all ingenuity. Thanks.

[@davidvgool4851]

KLM: “Am I a joke to you?” (Blue planes)

[@fusion4373]

dont forget southwest

[@danielridlon3198]

10:10 Colorblind people: Am I A Joke To You

[@ice711real]

Lol true

[@ianmontgomery7213]

leaving a panel in the natural finish also takes extra effort to stop fingerprints etc from spoiling the finish.

[@krungangkor9693]

Great and interesting

[@jasongomez5344]

I thought American Airlines started painting their aircraft because planes made with composite materials will need to be painted anyway? I remember that being discussed when it happened, a few years ago.

[@PS-Straya_M8]

Air New Zealand middle earth livery looked great too! 👍🏼😁

[@darkglasseswoody]

Because white is beautiful

[@darkglasseswoody]

@Fernandez Martinez I don't agree with you that America is supreme.

[@GeorgTheGr8]

based

[@MachineHeadDissent]

Love that Maiden livery!!!...🤙😎🤘

[@intertr0ns]

Ed Force One 🤘

[@yngmf1364]

Why are airplanes painted white? DHL: Am I a joke to you?

[@randoseworld5557]

0:04 sees wing bend: *visible confusion*

[@isaaclim8645]

Interesting

[@zaarifhossaini6467]

Thanks for showing the Biman aircraft! 🇧🇩🇧🇩🇧🇩

[@farminmanicmx]

I just watched a guy play a saxophone into a pipeline. now this must be Christmas

[@andyaim4764]

Pepsi painted a french Concorde blue for advertising purposes. Due to the extra heat build up the aircraft could only fly for 20 mins at Mach and the wings remained white due to fears of the extra heat in the wings igniting the fuel.

[@boitoiful]

All I can say is Braniff and Trans Brasil....Awesome liveries in the 60's and 70's. I think that Eastern's silver and blue and turquoise from the 80's was really stunning as were American's silver jets. White has now become boring. I also liked Uniteds grey/blue livery in the 90's. Very handsome corporate schemes as were Northwests blue/gray/red. Real corporate identities.

[@jepolch]

Great video. I thought the answer would be that white paint was lighter, because less pigment.

[@andrewphillips6563]

Anyone old enough to remember Braniff's Flying Colors? Or Alexander Calder's beauties? I thought they were beautiful. Braniff went all-in on riots of color for their planes.

[@Тимофей-ю2ы]

I didn’t know that Sky had a channel in English and Spanish. Cool. Не знал что у Ская есть канал на английском и испанском. Круто.

[@suzukigixxer1627]

ANA's flying honu A380 liveries and Hainan airlines's red kung fu panda livery look so damn good.

[@greateraviationgl91]

Hainan Airlines Kung Fu Panda livery: am i joke to you?

[@munky123jw]

Kung flu panda

[@greateraviationgl91]

Lol good joke m8

[@SurveyCaptainAkari]

Airlines painted white KLM,Southwest,TUI,Qantas Wunala Dreaming,Suncountry,ANA,Kulula *_We dont do that here_*

[@krissp8712]

Wunala is a cool design for sure!

[@mirzaahmed6589]

ANA is mostly white. The A380s are also mostly lighter shades of blue.

[@SurveyCaptainAkari]

@@krissp8712 But a lotta paint used

[@wincentyu631]

What about anz all blacks livery

[@homere100h]

grafitti art museum to define Ed Force One :)) up the irons by the way

[@ervandrush3116]

Good video! Loved it

[@donlove3741]

Like your channel. White paint is cheaper. All colors start with white and are tinted to achieve desired color. Colors are no harder to paint than white. An airliner flying isn't being warmed by the sun.. what's the temp at 12,000m ? Paint bright yellow or neon green for visibility.

[@maximrukinov3101]

Oh wow. This translation is surprisingly pretty fine. Good luck.

[@NoFallToggled]

Title: Why are planes white Southwest, Korean, Spirit, KLM: Am I a joke to you

[@frecklemouth6791]

WTF man? Why aren’t we “Aviators” anymore? I don’t like “aviation fans”

[@krissp8712]

Coronavirus has grounded us all D:

[@AdventureswithaaronB]

❤️ el al livery

[@Manicscitzo]

Basically the same reason so many cars are white, it's just the default and makes it easier to sell second hand

[@patricksawyer9779]

White paint also provide better thermal management and UV protection, which is an important factor for more modern aircraft using bonded metal construction or composites.

[@trash4cash454]

He said about it

[@historyandmusic8646]

What about Wizzair? Some of their planes are pink/purple

[@greg_mmm]

About American Airlines planes... I know this is something most people won't ever notice BUT American planes actually use metallic paint. Really! I can't say where I work but I work on a lot of AA planes and get a very close and personal look at them and can tell you that it's a beautiful grey metallic.

[@sheeb2855]

At 4:10 , on the plane it says P. Tchaikovsky. I’m assuming it is about Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a Russian composer who wrote many popular pieces like Violin concerto in D, Swan Lake, and many more. If anyone knows any information as to why it says that, it would be amazing.

[@skyraider1055]

Because most aircraft belong to leasing companies and it's easier to change the livery when a lessie returns an aircraft

[@SolarMoth]

i like all da pretty planes!

[@pcz5233]

Air New Zealand Is a cool looking Jet.

[@deusexaethera]

Wow, that was a seriously risky intro joke in 2020. But I laughed.

[@default123default2]

Haha yeah. I thought this would be the top comment. What a week for a joke like that. Maybe Sky should just take that out. We don't want to lose his content

[@deusexaethera]

@@default123default2: I'm not too worried about it. In a couple months very few people will remember what week certain events happened.

[@MetDaan2912]

What a nice video, thanks for the explanation!

[@Knight6831]

so i'm wondering how you'll get the vc-10 video back up cause i really liked it and can't wait for the bac 1-11 and hawker siddeley trident videos

[@p0lytube]

based on the video, it looks like a lot of the more detailed artwork on planes is a vinyl wrap

[@Bangy]

Because it looks better

[@francissantos7448]

Thanks for the info. I thought it was to identify it as civilian rather than military. The staining reason makes sense cheers

[@fedde7232]

0:04 *W I N G F L E X*

[@paxundpeace9970]

Air Baltic has the best livery

[@stevenagy88]

What, no KLM jets?? The most beautiful color scheme from the world's oldest airline!

[@AndrewTubbiolo]

White also reflects the flash from a nuclear explosion better than a colored airplane. So during a nuclear emergency you want to be doing your business travel in a white aircraft.

[@mariano7699]

Silver

[@Desireoffreedom]

Because they work

[@FBISHOJI]

White paint is cheap and the sun is hot so it doesn't get that hot due to exposure in the air

[@TheFokker03]

think Eastern originally had unpainted planes until the end,although some were white!

[@mandalorianjedi2288]

Boy did that Aslaskan float! I bet there was an amber ECAM brake temp Caution after that one.😅

[@oxcart4172]

They could use mini projectors-then you'd only need a clear coat

[@bcdrummer1962]

Talk about a perfect clickbait title for June 2020.

[@hoangho4080]

Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet: Hold my Pho

[@lunawatanabe5311]

what i learned from this video: airplanes have layers

[@aminumohammed738]

what is the curiosity about the paint of plane. its only in the airport on the tarmac that it will be sighted not on its way in the sky.

[@YEdwardP]

I think it's also that conservative colors are less polarizing with customers. Not that they'll necessarily choose an airline based on their livery. Nevertheless, I looked at that sleek black Air New Zealand plane (6:52) and I thought "Man that's gorgeous." But those SouthWest (8:59) or Spirit (10:15) planes made me go "eww" even though they weren't necessarily ugly. And that's sort of the gamble you take when you try to be daring with your livery.

[@xoxo9866]

You sound like uncle iroh with an accent

[@flyerkiller5073]

uncle iroh from the last airbender?)

[@stanthompson701]

Hi Sky, Years ago in the days of Playboy, the Playboy Bunnies and Hugh Hefner, their company Airplane(s) were painted Black with White letterings reflecting their logo. Now many airlines are blazoned with artwork like colors. I get your point on cost and effects if the time comes to sell...