In terms of the probability of traffic accidents, aircraft claim to be the safest means of transportation in the world, with an accident probability of only 0.18 parts per million. But more recently, 149 passengers on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 shared a frightening moment. On the 17th of this month, the U.S. Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 passenger plane burst into an engine explosion during the flight, resulting in 1 death and 7 injuries.
What's more, after the explosion of the engine, a shrapnel scratched the window, and a woman sitting by the window, half of her body was sucked out of the window instantly. Fortunately, the other passengers caught her in time and pulled her back quickly. After the plane landed at Philadelphia airport, the woman was taken to hospital, but died of serious injuries.
The woman who died was Jennifer Riordan,43, a Wells Fargo executive, the mother of two children. After the accident, Riordan's family issued a statement, deeply mourning her loss.
The accident broke a nine-year record of no flight death on American Airlines. Just as people panicked, the 577 plane crashed again on the morning of the 18th local time. Twenty-four minutes after takeoff, they were forced to return after a bird crash, but there were no casualties.
In fact, the probability of an accident at a height of 10, 000 meters is extremely low, or about 0.18 parts per million, close to the winning rate of winning a lottery ticket in China. It is much less likely to die in a car accident (nearly 1%) and a plane crash (about 0.0125%), so it is still a safer mode of transportation.
However, whether it was one death or seven injuries on Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, none of the German wings crashed, or the whereabouts of Malaysia Airlines Flight 1380 were unknown, frequent air crashes in recent years have prompted people to begin to study the safety factor of seats in the cabin.
The data show that jet airliners rarely carry out airframe collision tests in the course of research and development. Documented in 2012, scientists used the Boeing 727 as a research model for an impact test. They installed cameras and mannequins in the experimental airframe to simulate the crash environment in order to explore all the changes inside the cabin under the impact scenario.
The more valuable data is based on the CSRTG (Federal Aviation Administration) aircraft accident database. Some researchers summarize some rules from the seat distribution map of most aircraft accidents.
Whether you are an airman or a first flight, the following data can be used as a guide to seat selection.
Central aircraft: 44% passenger mortality
Research data showed a 44 percent death rate in the central aisle seat, almost the highest death rate for dead passengers across the fuselage. It is reported that at the time of the accident, the woman Riordan was sitting in the middle of the plane, that is, the location of the engine. As a result, the conclusion that sitting in the middle of the plane, next to the engine, was not safe was corroborated.
Front 1 / 3: passenger mortality 38% / 39%
The death rate for passengers in the top 1 / 3 position is 38% / 39%, which is also very high, meaning that the front seat of the plane is not much safer, even if it is usually first class or business class. The moment the plane crashes into the ground, the cockpit hits the ground with the front row of the fuselage, and inertia throws the seat of the front fuselage far away. Such an impact is unbearable, so the safety factor at this location is relatively low.
Rear 1 / 3: passenger mortality rate 28% / 32%
The fatality rate at the rear of the fuselage was 32 percent compared with the front and middle sides, and the figure was lower, at 28 percent, near the aisle. The survival rate of 1-3 passengers sitting in the rear of the fuselage is higher, and the location near the emergency exit is better, and the location at the predicate aisle is more conducive to escape, which is better than that of the passenger in the rear row of the fuselage, excluding the case that the plane first touches the ground at the end of the crash.
Of course, so far, the aircraft seat safety probability is still in the inference stage, there is no well-established data to prove that there are absolutely safe seats on the aircraft. Subject to your full compliance with the flight rules, as Boeing suggests: "One seat is as safe as the other.