FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The further you go to the back of the plane, the more likely you are to survive. Chances range from 40% in first or business class (depending on configuration) to 57% in the rest of the plane up to the wings. The percentage increases to 62% in the funnel block...
Most of the survivors of the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan – after being hit by fragments of a missile fired from Russian positions in Chechnya – were in the back of the Embraer E190. Some of them are still hospitalized, but almost all of the dead - including the pilots and a flight attendant - were in the front section at the time of the crash. For those who study the results of airline disasters, however, this is not a surprise: statistics show that seats in the back of the plane have a higher survival rate in the event of an accident.
Dynamics
Experts remind that each accident should be treated as an individual case. And that the overall dynamics—speed, weather, geographic context, maneuvers—determine the final outcome in terms of deaths, injuries and survivors. However, there is one part of the cockpit that would show higher survival rates than other parts: it is located between the wings and the tail. Anyone sitting in this area has a 74% chance of escaping an accident.
ANALYSIS
The data comes from a recent analysis that the Corriere conducted by browsing FAA databases: all accidents in the US and the rest of the world that resulted in death and injury were studied (excluding so those without survivors), for which the internal configuration of the seats is available with an indicator of the physical consequences for those who sat there: if they died (due to impact or suffocation, burns, asphyxiation) and if they survived and how (with wounds or without). All these parameters provide details of 50 crashes from 1969 (a DC-8 in Santa Monica) to 2013 (Asia's Boeing 777 in San Francisco).
In the cabin
The further you go to the back of the plane, the more likely you are to survive. Chances range from 40% in first or business class (depending on configuration) to 57% in the rest of the plane up to the wings. The percentage increases to 62% in the fuselage immediately behind the wings (and engines) to reach 70% in the last ten rows, in front of the toilets and tail. Among the seats at the back, those along the side of the aisle (on an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737) or between two rows (on an Airbus A330/A350 or Boeing 777/787) show a survival rate of 74%.
The data
The final result of an accident - it is worth remembering once again - depends on various factors. A plane that plunges into the ocean at very high speed offers virtually no chance of survival. However, flying, during this period, remains the safest way to get around. Statistics for 2023 – provided by Iata, the international airline association – show that at current numbers a person would have to fly every day, for 103,239 years, before losing their life in a plane crash (but dying first for obvious biological reasons). Flying has become so safe that 2023 was the best time since commercial aviation existed. Mortality at high altitudes, compared to sixty years ago, has decreased by 97%.
90 seconds
University of Greenwich professor Ed Galea points out that most passengers lose their lives because they fail to leave the plane in time. At least not in the 90 seconds set by the international standard. In the now famous book "Survivors Club - A Journey to Discover the Hidden Face of Life (and Death)", author Ben Sherwood recalls that 80% of plane crashes occur within three minutes of takeoff or within eight minutes of landing .
Rule of 5 lines
To increase the chances of survival, Galea has long supported the "rule of 5 rows": after studying 105 plane crashes and after talking to over two thousand survivors, the professor concluded that those who sat at most five rows from an emergency exit is more likely to save. /Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Corriere Della Sera"
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