SUMMARY: It’s not by chance that most planes are white with splashes of color on logos and tails. The white color contributes to the safety of the plane. Additional colors add weight, and mess up the efficiency of the plane.
CLAIM: There is a reason why most airplanes have the white color. These machines take a lot of paint and it increases the drag and messes up the aerodynamics.
SOURCE: Account on X, formerly Twitter
VERDICT: True
New proposed designs for Zimbabwe planes and trains have been shared recently on social media platforms. These have included artificial intelligence generated plane designs by Markos Davias.
Train designs have also been shared.
In response to the train design, various accounts claimed that the use of all the Zimbabwean flag colours would impact on its efficiency.
To support this view, an account, @agent_f_change posted, ‘Exactly 💯 there is a reason why most airplanes have the white color. These machines take a lot of paint and it increases the drag and messes up the aerodynamics. Hazvinei nemaparty izvi. Hunwe hupatriotic hunoda uchiziva kushanda kwezvinhu. (This has nothing to do with party politics. In certain instances being patriotic requires you to know how things work)’.
Another account also added to this view saying ‘most planes are white because it’s light in weight’.
But, is the white color really worth its weight in gold?
According to Boeing aerospace, the layers of paint on a passenger jet can add between 273 to 544kg to an aircraft. The difference between painting a plane or not can add the equivalent of eight additional passengers. Additional colours add weight, therefore decreasing efficiency and immediate cost of running the aircraft.
Aviation experts agree that white is better than other colours for various reasons:
Economical – white is the most economical colour. White is the color that fades the least and that saves companies significant savings. Although the color always fades after spending a considerable amount of time in the air, studies have shown that white is the color that fades the least quickly.
Reflecting the sunlight – white and other lighter colours help with solar radiation. It is easier to protect the plane from solar radiation and also keep it cooler when painted white.
Bird strikes – Lighter colors enhance the background between flying birds and the aircraft, meaning the plane is less likely to hit a bird while in flight or on the ground. This is also important when flying in low altitudes because hitting a bird can cause the flight to be unsafe.
Change in ownership – Airlines hire planes and just put their logos on the tail, usually. Darker-colored airplanes tend to have a much lower resale value than planes painted in a light color. If one owns their own hangar, this is an important feature because the darker-colored airplanes will likely take longer to sell.
Exceptions
There are airlines that do not use white as their primary colours. One of the famous ones is Air New Zealand and their use of white and black models of the same aircraft. According to aviation experts quoted by the New Zealand Herald, black is lighter than white but white is cheaper.
Clearly when it comes to painting planes, it is more than just choosing your favorite colour. For example, in 1996 it was discovered that a blue paint job on an Air France Concorde for Pepsi Cola was prone to overheating. It could only fly at Mach 2 for short 20 minute bursts, or risk burning up.
Conclusion
It is clear that painting airplanes white is not just an arbitrary decision. The claim that ‘There is a reason why most airplanes have the white color. These machines take a lot of paint and it increases the drag and messes up the aerodynamics’ has been rated as true. While it is not clear whether white paint weighs more than other darker colours, it is clear that adding more colours, consequently more paint, to an airplane will add more weight. This in turn will reduce efficiency.
