In the 1940s, in the face of the naval blockade of China by the enemy, China opened two famous transportation lines, one is the land transportation line of the Yunnan-Myanmar highway , and the other is the air transportation line of the hump route . These two transportation lines provided material support for us to resist the aggression, but we also paid a huge price, especially the hump route along the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where a large number of pilots died on this air transportation line. There are no enemy fighter jets on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Why do so many transport planes crash?

Not to mention that the propeller planes of the last century were difficult to climb over. Even in the 21st century, when aircraft technology is developed, no passenger plane from any country dares to fly on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and generally detours to India and Central Asia. If we look at the statistics of aircraft flight routes in the world throughout the year, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is blank. Why is this?

The first reason - the altitude is too high

We can look at a set of data. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is about 2,800 kilometers long from east to west, about 300 to 1,500 kilometers wide from north to south, with a total area of ​​about 2.5 million square kilometers. Among them, there are more than 100 peaks with a height of 7,000 meters, which is a disaster for planes. During World War II, the aircraft generally had a ceiling of about 5,000 meters, so the pilots on the hump route at that time, if they were not careful, might hit the nearby mountain, and the plane would crash and die. After the end of World War II, more than 2,000 transport planes crashed along the entire hump route, many of which were not shot down by the Japanese army, but were caused by the harsh environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is said that later pilots can identify the direction by observing the crash on the ground, and the hump route is also called the "death route".

Many people may have noticed that for modern jet aircraft, the altitude of 7000 meters is simply a piece of cake, and many aircraft can easily climb over it, but the truth is far from that simple.

The second reason - the short time left for accident handling

During the flight of today's jet aircraft, sometimes some emergencies occur, requiring the aircraft to adjust the altitude. This is very simple for most flight routes, but it is not enough for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The height reserved for the aircraft is not enough. When the crew encounters an emergency, the processing time is relatively short, and it is easy to cause the aircraft to crash and die.

The third reason - atmospheric turbulence is too complex

Atmospheric turbulence refers to an irregular flow of air caused by topography and heat. This turbulence is generally difficult to predict. Turbulence affects the transmission of light and electromagnetic waves, which are deadly for aircraft to transmit signals, and can easily cause jets to stall. In 1996, a British Overseas Airways plane suddenly shook uncontrollably during the flight, followed by a rapid descent of the plane, and finally crashed from an altitude of 4874 meters, killing all the people on the plane. The cause of the accident was the influence of atmospheric turbulence.

In fact, modern passenger planes are equipped with radar, which can determine whether there is turbulence by detecting pollutants in the air, but this is not applicable in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, because the environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is so good that there are no pollutants in the air at all. The turbulence on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is also very fast, because there are too many local mountains, and the direction of the turbulence is very complicated, which is extremely dangerous for aircraft.

Fourth Reason - Lack of Temporary Alternate Airports

The area of ​​the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is very large, and there are only one or two airports. If there is a problem with the flight, you need to find the airport to make an emergency landing, but you should not spend your energy on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, because there are no other airports to land, so There are no airliners flying here.

The above reasons are the influence of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau on the aircraft. In fact, the influence of the aircraft itself on the plateau cannot be ignored. We know that many places in the Qinghai-Tibet region are covered with snow, and some mountain tops are covered with snow all year round. In such an environment, avalanches often occur. If the flight route is opened on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the distance from the top of the mountain will be too small when flying in the past. The sound of flying will cause avalanches, which will affect the lives of local residents. After all, there are still more than 400,000 herdsmen living in the Qinghai-Tibet region.

The fifth reason - the problem of aircraft fuel

Today's aircraft are basically equipped with turbofan jet engines, which require that the fuel must be liquid. If there is an aircraft flying on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it must ensure a long-term high-altitude flight. The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature, and the longer the time, the more likely the fuel will freeze. At present, the aviation fuel used in passenger planes all over the world is basically JET-A type . The freezing point of this fuel is minus 47 degrees Celsius. Below this temperature, in terms of the fuel reserve of the aircraft, it may be completely frozen in two hours. The turbofan engine is in danger of failure. Under such circumstances, almost no one dares to fly a jet plane on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In fact, it is a good thing for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that there is no plane. In the hearts of many people, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has always represented a pure holy place. The blue sky and clean lake water are a place for people to purify their souls. It is best not to be overly disturbed by the outside world for such a good place. If it is easy for planes to fly here, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, located at the intersection of Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia, will definitely become an air traffic route. At that time, the sky may be full of the smell of aviation kerosene.

In fact, China still has one or two airports in Qinghai-Tibet, but these flights will have strict restrictions. Generally speaking, they are short-distance inter-provincial flights, and the size of the aircraft is not very large. This is the only aircraft that dares to fly to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. .

For the world, the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau flight route is not necessary. After all, the plane can fly anywhere, and the long-distance flight can fly directly from India. Moreover, India's market demand for air transportation is much greater than that of the Qinghai-Tibet region. The northwestern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a Central Asian country. Generally speaking, these places are not developed. It is difficult for them to develop such an expensive travel method as aviation. In general, flying over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is dangerous and economically unnecessary.