a bomb had been planted on/in the plane

[brian&me]

After taking off, we were flying low over the city and slowly gaining height, when the plane suddenly turned round and flew back to the airport. While we were waiting to land, an air-hostess told us to keep calm and to get off the plane quietly as soon as it had touched down. ... Later we learnt that there was a very important person on board. The police had been told that a bomb had been planted on the plane.

(New Concept English 2, Longman)

I wonder if the preposition ‘on’ in the last sentence could be replaced with ‘in’.

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Tyrion Lann]

"On the plane" could mean that the bomb was on the plane roof.
But as we say get on the train/ in the train/ on the plane / in the plane.
I think, you can replace it with in.

 

[DonnyB]

No: in BE the idiomatic phrase is almost always "on the plane", not "in".

If you wanted to imply that the bomb had been planted on the roof, you'd have to say something like "on top of the plane".