Sleeping Plane

December 9th, 2013
ideas, transit
Sleeping on a plane is no fun, mostly because you can't get horizontal enough. Unless you spend thousands for a lie-flat seat. At the same time the current deck-with-seats configuration gives much more room for cargo than is really needed. What if we used bunks? Here's a cross section view of a typical 737-sized airliner, comparing the current seated economy layout with a proposed sleeping layout:

In the same cross sectional area that currently gets you six seats and an aisle we have twelve bunks and two aisles. This doesn't double capacity, though, because bunks are a bit more than twice as long as seats. Still, this would be a dramatic increase in comfort with only a small decrease in capacity.

(You'll notice we did get rid of baggage space entirely. If the bottom of the bunk had a shelf for you to put your bags on, your feet could go under it. With 30" of vertical space you could have 12" for your feet and 17" for bags, which is more than enough.)

(I would bet this currently violates FAA regulations for airliner configurations, which are written assuming people are in seats. It would be worth it to look over which regulations apply and figure out whether they should be changed to permit this layout or whether there are good reasons not to allow it.)

Comment via: google plus, facebook, substack

Recent posts on blogs I like:

American effective altruists should probably donate to political candidates

My recommendation for donors who are American citizens or permanent residents is that they donate directly to high-value political candidates.

via Thing of Things December 28, 2025

Opinionated takes on parenting

This post is a collection of parenting takes that sometimes go through my head, based on my experience raising our two boys (5 and 2 years old). All of this is based on my experience and might not apply to others (see the law of equal and opposite advice)…

via Victoria Krakovna December 16, 2025

How to Make a Christmas Wreath

Yesterday, I made a Christmas wreath. Here's how to make one. First, find an evergreen tree near your house. Clip off a few branches from the tree. Try to have as many leaves or needles on the branches as possible. Next, bring them home. What I usu…

via Anna Wise's Blog Posts December 6, 2025

more     (via openring)