Why do planes still have ashtrays even though smoking is banned? There's a very obvious reason

You're not allowed to smoke on planes, so why on earth do they still have somewhere to dispose of cigarettes?

Anyone who's been on a plane in recent years knows that smoking is very much banned.

Although it used to be permitted on airliners, somewhere along the way someone very clever decided that perhaps it wasn't a great idea to have flames on a vehicle full of jet fuel 37,000 feet up in the air.

And yet, we still have ash trays on planes. You might argue that the planes must have been made before the smoking ban, but what about the modern liners?

Well, there's a very obvious explanation. In the case of passengers completely ignoring the rule and lighting up in the toilets, there has to be a safe place for them to put out their cigarette.

Answering the question on Q&A website Quora , Dick Karp explains: " The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) doesn't want them to put the cigarette in the waste disposal bin where there is a risk that it could start a fire.

The no smoking light is always on

"Waste disposal bins on planes have their own sensor and automatic fire extinguisher as an additional form of backup protection."

In 1973 a plane flying from Rio De Janeiro to Paris had to make an emergency landing after smoke was reported in the cabin, resulting in 123 deaths and only 11 survivors.

One of the possible causes identified was that a cigarette could have been extinguished in a wastepaper bin in the toilet, setting fire to its contents.

It's for this reason that ashtrays are still on board planes as a precautionary measure