Where you sit on a commercial aircraft can determine if you survive an airplane crash - Research Paper Example

Several studies have analyzed plane accidents in the past in an effort to find out which seats can be considered as being safe. Before any passenger tries to locate the safest seat while boarding a plane, it is important to take note of the realization basing on the past accidents that the ratio of a passenger dying in the event of a crash while using one of the top twenty five airlines considered to be the safest is 1 to 5.4 million (Noland 2). This implies that airlines have become safer and safer with time.

It is also true that the chances of surviving while using airliners which have a history of crashing is placed at thirty percent. Considering the two facts above, basing of the statistics, the selection of a safer seat can improve your chances of surviving while travelling in commercial aircrafts in case of a ditch or a crash. Ditching refers to the situation where a plane is forced to land in a place that is not a runway. A good example of a ditch is the accident that took place in January 2009 in Hudson River involving a U.

S Airways jet. In this accident, no fatalities were recorded. A crash on the other hand refers to the situation where a pilot is helpless hence has no control over the plane or an attempt by the pilot to ditch a plane misfires (Noland 1). The manufacturers of aircrafts, airline companies as well as Federal Aviation Administration have come up with quotes insisting that all seats are safe in a plane. Several studies have been conducted in relation to such quotes with most studies dismissing the quotes.

One of such studies is the ‘Popular Mechanic’ magazine which analyzed data on airline crashes from 1971 and examined the seating positions of the survivors. According to its findings, the magazine concluded that in any airline, the safest seats are the rear seats located behind the wing (Noland 1). From the studies, it was observed that passengers sitting at the rear cabin had a forty percent chance of