Reasons Why "Star Wars" Spaceships Make No Sense

Practically every movie we see requires the audience to suspend disbelief in one respect or another. In what they call "an exercise in overthinking a great sci-fi series," Popular Mechanics deconstructs some of the spaceships in the Star Wars franchise, pointing out flaws in design. For instance, here's what the author has to say about the TIE Fighter:

Mainstay of the Galactic Empire's fighter force, the TIE fighter is a pretty menacing aircraft. The Twin Ion Engine (TIE) fighter has two such engines—somewhere—and like a World War II Stuka attack plane makes a menacing screeching noise as it passes by.

The biggest drawback of the TIE fighter are the flat panels on both sides that make it look like an eyeball suspended between two playing cards. This is a large vertical surface area that seemingly serves no purpose—except to be a large aiming point for Rebel Alliance fighters. 

Another problem with the panels is they restrict pilot visibility. The F-16 Viper has excellent visibility, thanks to a bubble canopy with the pilot in the center. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has poor visibility, but the Distributed Aperture System helmet is expected to help the pilot "see" 360 degrees. 

The poor TIE fighter pilot on the other hand has two large panels on both sides of him, preventing him from seeing anything more than perhaps a 50 degree cone in front of him. He would be unable see other TIE fighters flying abreast of him, or even in a staggered formation—unless he had a Distributed Aperture System helmet, too.

Read about four more Star Wars spaceships that Popular Mechanics picks bones with here.