In 2012, TV producers bought a Boeing 727 with the aim of bringing it down. The reason the producers did this was to give people the answer to the question: “Where should I sit on the plane if I want to survive an accident?”
The results of this experiment, which was carried out in cooperation between the UK, USA and Germany, were broadcast on television. Full of scientific measuring equipment, crash test dummies, and cameras, the plane took off under the control of a pilot, and the pilot jumped out of the plane, leaving the plane under the control of the autopilot. Everything went smoothly, and the plane crashed into a dried-up lake bed in Mexico at 225 kilometers per hour.
Examining the data, scientists found that the blows received by the 1st class (Business Class) models were absolutely lethal. Likewise, the dummies at the front of the aircraft (up to the 7th row) were also subjected to impacts that could not survive the collision.
The dummies sitting in the middle of the plane managed to dodge the collision with only their ankles broken. Those sitting at the back of the plane survived the accident with minor abrasions.
This experiment also brought up the “support position” (brace position). While dummies that were previously placed in a support position took less damage to their backs than those sitting upright, “I still think the support position should be used to prevent injuries,” said Cindy Bir, a biomedical engineering professor at Wayne State University, who made the statement.
EXPERIMENT CAN BE WRONG BECAUSE…
However, this experiment can be misleading. Because the chance of surviving an accident is more about his circumstances. So if the tail of the plane bears the weight of the impact, it’s more the case for the rear passengers. If the nose hits first, the front passengers are in a more risky position.
An article on Simplefly comments on this subject:
If we look at the world’s worst aviation accident, the 1977 Tenerife disaster, we see the following when a KLM Boeing 747 collided with a Pan Am Boeing 747 while taking off:
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All 234 passengers and 14 crew members of the KLM plane died
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61 passengers survived on the Pan American jumbo jet, consisting of 396 passengers and crew
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The 61 surviving passengers and crew were seated at the front of the plane, not the back. This suggests that whether you will survive is more about luck than where you sit.
Time published an article in 2015 citing 35 years of research on sit-ins and deaths by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). The middle of the plane may be riskier, according to the FAA report examining crashes and deaths between 1985 and 2020. Seats in the middle of the cabin had a death rate of 39%, seats in the front third had a fatality rate of 38% and rear seats had a fatality rate of 32%.
Another study by the University of Greenwich determined that passengers sitting closest to the emergency exit after a crash had the best chance of survival.
IT MAY NOT BE THE SAFE PLACE ON THE AIRCRAFT
Time comments in its analysis: “Of course, the probability of dying in a plane crash has less to do with where you sit and more with the circumstances surrounding the crash. We’ve found that survivability in a few crashes is random. That’s why the FAA and other airline safety experts say it’s the safest thing on a plane. He says there are no seats.”
IT IS SAFE TO FLY
But one thing is for sure: Flying is very safe and has become safer in recent years. This is especially true when compared to other means of transport. The lifetime probability of dying in a car is 1 in 112. As a pedestrian, it is 1 in 700 and for a motorcycle it is 1 in 900. But on the plane? The odds of dying drop to just 1 in 8,000.
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