What Are The Yellow Hooks On Airplane Wings For?

Airplanes are one of the best examples of thoughtful engineering. Most of the things you find on an aircraft have a special purpose behind them, and there will rarely be a feature that has been added just for aesthetics. Whether it's the headlights, the tiny hole that you find in an airplane window, or the ashtrays in plane bathrooms, the presence of every item in an aircraft has meaning behind it. There's another small but important item that you'll find on airplane wings — yellow hooks that look like a frog's eyes.

While airplane manufacturers try to make sure that the planes are as aerodynamic as possible, they still add these hooks on the wings because of their important use case. Along with the oxygen masks and life vests, these hooks are also part of airplane safety equipment. In case of an emergency, a rope is attached to these hooks, which the passengers use to guide themselves to safety.

On many commercial airplanes you will find an over-wing emergency exit. During an emergency situation like a water landing, passengers sitting near the over-wing exit are evacuated through it. One of the escape slides on commercial planes is situated in a compartment on the rear edge of the wing. The passengers who are evacuating through the over-wing exit need to walk across the airplane wings to reach the escape slide. To ensure that passengers have something to hold onto while they're walking on the wings, the cabin crew uses a guide rope that has hooks on both ends. The yellow eyelets on the wings act as an anchor for these ropes and help passengers and crew members navigate the smooth, wet surface of the wings.

One hook of the rope is attached to the door frame of the over-wing exit window, and the other hook is attached to one of the holes of the yellow hooks. Then, another rope is used to create a pathway for passengers from the wins to the escape slide. One end of that rope is attached to the second hole of the yellow hook, and the other end of the rope leads to the escape slide. Some aircraft, like the Airbus A321, don't have hooks on the wings because each emergency exit leads directly to its own securely attached slide.