I’m a pilot… here’s why the windows on airplanes are round

A pilot has lifted the lid on the real reason why airplane windows are round instead of square. 

Captain Steve often shares safety tips on all things flying to his TikTok channel, where he boasts over 53,000 followers. 

Most recently, the veteran pilot took to the video-sharing platform to give viewers a history lesson. 

In a viral video, which has so far amassed over 2.3 million views, Captain Steve took his followers back to the 1950s as he opened up about the engineering of aircrafts. 

Over 70 years ago, planes were made with square windows, the pilot and content creator revealed.

But this design caused a flurry of issues as cracks formed along the corners of the windows when the planes soared 30,000 feet into the sky. 

After many planes broke due to the flawed design, engineers restructured the aircrafts. 

They ultimately landed on rounded windows because the design drastically reduces the chances of pressure building up. 

The viral video was captioned: ‘Why Airplane Windows Are Rounded: The Surprising Truth Discover the fascinating reason behind the rounded edges of airplane windows. 

‘This design change, rooted in safety concerns from the 1950s, prevents catastrophic failures during flight. 

‘Join Captain Steve as we explore this crucial engineering evolution.’

Captain Steve ditched his usual spot in the cockpit and headed into the passenger seating area. 

In the clip, he sat in a window seat as he shared the reasons the windows were rounded. 

‘Did you ever wonder why the passenger windows on an airplane are rounded on the edges and not square?

‘It all started back in the 1950s, the airliners – well some of them – were designed with square windows and over in Europe, as airplanes began to climb higher and require more pressurization, they discovered a problem. 

‘They lost a few airplanes in the air. The airplanes literally came apart because the square windows created a little crack right in the edges and if enough of those hairline cracks were created because of the stress on the airframe from the pressurization, the airframes actually came apart,’ he explained. 

In a viral video, which has so far amassed over 2.3 million views, Captain Steve took his followers back to the 1950s as he opened up about the engineering of aircrafts (stock image)

People on the web flooded the comments section and praised the pilot for the lesson

Captain Steve revealed that after engineers lost many planes in midair, they went back to the drawing board to find a way to fix the problem. 

‘So in the analysis afterward, they said, “We are going to engineer these things differently and make them round.”

‘They are stronger and won’t crack and we have never had a problem since,’ he said at the end of the video. 

People on the web flooded the comments section and praised the pilot for the lesson. 

One person said: ‘I would fully trust Captain Steve with my life while flying!’

Someone else wrote: ‘Thank you for the info.’ 

Another user added: ‘Thanks for the explanation! The more I know, the easier it is to fly.’

‘Wow, never knew that,’ a fourth person commented.