Another surge of aerophobia after the disaster in Nepal updated research on flight safety. As a result, scientists, based on a large amount of data on past crashes, calculated the place on the plane where passengers have the highest chances of surviving a crash. The Daily Star wrote about it. On the one hand, the experts of the publication assure, air crashes are extremely rare, on the other hand, even if it happens, the chances of survival sometimes remain, and the choice of location can really affect them.
Recall, on January 15 in the morning in Nepal, a passenger plane of the local airline Yeti Airlines crashed, making a domestic flight from the capital Kathmandu to Pokhara. The airliner was supposed to land at the newly opened airport in the central resort town of Pokhara just 25 minutes after takeoff, but during the landing approach, according to observers, the ship fell sharply on the left wing and crashed into the gorge of the Seti River. There was an explosion. None of the 72 passengers and crew on board the Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara are believed to have survived. There were four Russians on board. Read more here.
“Those who are afraid to fly were horrified by the news,” the publication writes, and then publishes the results of a study conducted by the UK Federal Aviation Administration. Let's start with the bad news: “In the event of a dive, water landing or collision with a runway, there is no safest place,” experts assure.
But in other cases, studies have shown that passengers in the tail of an aircraft have a 40% higher chance of surviving than those sitting in front. The data is based on an NTSB study of U.S. commercial aircraft crashes since 1971 that had survivors. It turned out that the probability of survival for those who sat in the front 15% of the seats was 49%. Those who sit in the middle of the plane – above the wings – have a 56% chance of survival. And those who ended up in the seats near the end, behind the wing, had a 69% chance of surviving a crash.
Similar results were shown by the Time study, which, on the contrary, calculated the death rate in plane crashes with surviving passengers. The lowest death rate among passengers was in those who sat in the middle seats at the rear of the aircraft – only 28%. Other seating-specific mortality rates were 32% (rear of the aircraft), 39% (middle of the aircraft and behind the wings) and 38% (front of the aircraft).
where you sit may not help depending on the circumstances, it is usually better to choose a central seat at the back of the aircraft,” experts say. They also reminded to “always listen to your flight attendant in case of emergency” – they are trained on what to do to help passengers leave the cabin.
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