Do oxygen masks get you high: The biggest myths about air travel

The mere fact of travelling in an aircraft weighing hundreds of tonnes 10 kilometres above the earth is mystifying, and no wonder that flying generates its share of myths, most of them totally untrue.

A lightning strike on an aircraft will not send a shock wave through passengers and oxygen masks won't get you high – but you could get sucked out of an open door.

However, once the cabin is pressurised, opening the door would be a superhuman task.

Drinking alcohol inflight does not get you drunk faster. Your blood alcohol reading is the same whether you're flying high or by the barbecue, but the effects of altitude that you may experience in an aircraft add to the effects of alcohol to give you what is in effect a double shot.

Aircraft do not discharge toilet waste inflight. Toilet waste goes into a holding tank but leaks do happen. There are several cases of large chunks of ice falling from the sky. A leak will form as ice on the fuselage then drop off when the ice thaws on descent.

This is known as blue ice since another word that rhymes with "blue" is a little too close to the truth.

On the same subject, you could get stuck on an aircraft toilet seat, one myth that does have a shred of truth. The toilet works by suction and if you were to sit down and form a perfect seal and flush, the outcome would be pretty uncomfortable.