Some people are terrified of air travel; they think that it is fraught with dangers. I think the most feared thing about air travel is the eventuality of a crash.
Airplane crashes are extremely frightening to imagine, fortunately they are extremely rare occurrences. The actual chance of experiencing a commercial airline crash measures in the millions and the chances of you surviving is 95%. This article explores ways to ensure you stay in that 95% chance.
There are other things to be done that will increase your odds of surviving a crash and post-crash; Keeping your seatbelt on through all phases of flight, keeping your jacket close at hand, in/under your seat, keeping your shoes on through the flight, among a host of other things.
To start you off, keeping your seatbelt on is the first and surest way to survive an unlikely airline accident. That said, the safest part of the airplane to sit in, in my opinion is the middle seat in the rear third of the airplane. Now, you may be thinking “What is this dude saying?” but I did some research on the topic and came up with this:
There was a study where the Aircraft Accident Database of the Federal Aviation Administration was looked through, checking for accidents with both casualties and survivors. 17 were found with seating charts that were actually analyzable. The earliest recorded was in 1985 and the most recent being in 2000.
The analysis found that the seats in the back third of the aircraft had a 32% fatality rate, compared with 39% in the middle third and 38% in the front third.
Looking at row position, it was found that the middle seats in the rear of the aircraft had the best outcomes (28% fatality rate). The worst faring seats were on the aisle in the middle third of the cabin (44% fatality rate).
It should be note that this all depends on the circumstance of the crash. If the rear end of the plane bears the brunt of the initial impact, then the front and middle will probably have a higher survival rate. There are other things to be done that will increase your odds of surviving a crash and post-crash; Keeping your seatbelt on through all phases of flight, keeping your jacket close at hand, in/under your seat, keeping your shoes on through the flight, among a host of other things.
Nonetheless, air travel remains the safest mode of transport with the chance of death at 1/8000 while death in a car accident is 1/112 while driving and 1/700 as a pedestrian. From these numbers it’s clear to see that you are statistically more likely to get hit by a car crossing the street to get your morning coffee than you are to be in an airplane crash. In closing, go book that flight!
This article was researched and written by Sease Iyortim. Have more tips for surviving a flight incident? Let us know in the comment section!