Reasons why aircraft windows are always round in shape

Airplanes are one of the most incredible machines ever created, What’s more, incredible is when you realize how large and heavy these machines are but could still fly on air.

Windows of most mobile machines are usually square-shaped ranging from cars, ships, trains, but in airplanes, there are round in shape. For those that have traveled in airplanes, you might have noticed the round shapes of airplanes window, But have you ever wondered?

In this article, I will be bringing to your view the reasons why aircraft windows are always round.

Many years back, planes were usually built with a square shape window, but around the 1950s when the aviation industry started making planes bigger and faster, issues started arising.

During that period, the industry recorded some similar air accidents where planes started disintegrating in mid-air, the most popular one was the Havilland Comet aircraft which broke apart in midair in 1953.

After so much research regarding the accidents, aeronautical engineers find out that the square shape of the windows was the cause.

The square-shaped windows created weak spots at their edges causing the corners to be easily stressed which can crack and break apart by air pressure at high altitudes.

Hence, Engineers started making airplanes with round shape windows, but why?.

Round shape windows can distribute stress caused by air pressure at high altitudes because they have no corners or edges for air pressure to concentrate, thereby reducing the likelihood of cracks.