Ever Wondered Why Planes Are Usually White?

The main reason why aircraft are painted white or light colors is to reflect sunlight and minimize both the heating and any potential damage from the solar radiation.

It's basically same as putting on.

For example, on a sunny day if you're wearing a dark-colored shirt, you'll heat up more than you will if you're wearing a white-colored shirt.

A cooler plane means cheaper cooling costs for airlines.

But it's not just about saving

The most important parts to keep a light color and protected from the sunlight are the parts that are plastic or composite materials. Carbon fiber, fiberglass, etc. Those tend to be the nose cone, which needs to be transparent because there's a radar behind it so that's a plastic material. Also, often in modern airplanes the control surfaces are made from composite materials. So, they'll normally painted either white, or sometimes they'll be painted a light grey color.

Another thing that tends to happen with the paint is, over time it will oxidize. So, if you're painting something red, after a while when it's exposed both to the sun and environmental conditions, it will tend to whiten up anyway because of oxidation.

Some airlines, historically, have tried to use no paint at all. So, for a long time American Airlines had their airplanes just as metal-colored so that they didn't have any protection, and again, it's not a big deal for the metal parts.

Problem is that those airplanes would start to tarnish over time so they had to spend time and money to polish them frequently.

Content Sources:
Boeing.com
Columbia Daily Tribune
Aviation Stack Exchange

Image Sources:
white plane
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pile of money
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American Airline plane