The Safest Seat on an Airplane
...is the seat you can get out of the fastest. So the aisle seat near an exit row is slightly safer than other seats on the plane, on average, according to a study out of the University of Greenwich in the UK.
The flurry of recent media attention focused on this particular finding, but the broader implication is that anything you can do to increase your speed of exit (from counting the number of rows to the exit to familiarizing yourself with how to open the exit door) could also boost your odds.
In fact, the study is riddled with provocative findings--including the revelation that people will go to great lengths to stay with their loved ones during a plane evacuation.
So if family members are sitting rows apart, they will try to get to each other. That’s why a lot of computer models of airplane evacuations are so wildly off the mark: they don’t usually take into account the complex dynamics of actual human beings.
What makes this work so valuable is that it is based on the behavior of real people in real planes. Ed Galea, who worked on the study and helped me with the book, looked at thousands of passenger accounts from 105 plane accidents and assessed how regular people perform in the worst of times.
Stephen J. Heavey said on June 30, 2008 at 7:21 pm
I have no idea which particular seat is “safest.” What i do is...always fly with long pants and enclosed shoes......ask for the exit row if available (and imagine opening the exit in an emergency)...study the safety card.. Listen to the safety talk...make sure my vest is there ( I imagine putting it on)...count the seats to the exit behind and in front of me...tighten my belt...order a drink...and let the professionalls do their thing. Note: Flight Attendants are there for our safety, they are not cocktail runners--Listen to them. (I am not one, I just respect what they try to do).
Dr. Todd Curtis said on July 09, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I welcome any study that looks deeply at the issues around passenger survivability and of passenger behavior during emergency evacuations. I’ve reviewed the CAA study, and found it very informative. I’m especially pleased with the development of a database that can be used to ask very detailed questions about evacuations, and I’m hopeful that the tool will be used by professionals to improve survivability. After reviewing the study, I think that it gives passengers great insights into those situations that involve passenger evacuations. However, the study does not cover every situation, and I still hold that what I’ve said on AirSafe.com since it was launched in 1996 still holds true, “In an aircraft accident where the plane is seriously damaged or one or more occupants are injured or killed, the severity of the injuries depends on many factors, some of which may not be apparent until an accident occurs. For example, there have been many accidents involving heavy smoke or fire where survival depended on the ability of the passengers to not panic and to quickly remove themselves and others from the aircraft after landing.”
Dave said on October 18, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Great article, well written. But isn’t this fact pretty obvious?
Dave
rain head
low cost lifeinsurance said on November 09, 2008 at 1:05 am
its a fine thinking.but is that safe seat can safe u from a plane accident.
if u escape from the plane then...........
john brook said on November 10, 2008 at 11:00 am
i would normalley sit my familey at the back of the plane in the middle isle when we travel to udon thani thailand via bangkok every year
i never take the window seat always the isle even on thai domestic flight to udon thani which only takes one hour
Documents Management said on November 13, 2008 at 8:51 am
when plane crash at sky how can people get out of the fastest ?
martin said on November 19, 2008 at 3:35 pm
i always take a seat in the aisle in the middle row when i fly long haul
is this the best place to put myself
hieseenioge said on January 06, 2009 at 1:48 pm
What is bumburbia?
alex said on January 06, 2009 at 5:15 pm
yeap, what is bumburbia?
indillaGodo said on January 15, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Hey all!
I’m new here.
So i’d like to know if someone of you or your frineds was fired because of a financial crisis?
lauren said on January 20, 2009 at 5:52 pm
eeks. why is it that plans give people so much anxiety? They are so much safer than car travel. Although, i suppose, chances seem ok that you’ll live through a car accident. Probably no so much with the plane accident.
Shareware said on January 29, 2009 at 6:43 pm
And normally of course the aisle exit seat has more legroom so it’s a good seat to get in any case.
William said on April 21, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I guess there was no safest seat when plane going to crash. Just keep praying. God Help!!
DUI said on August 26, 2009 at 11:38 am
This is one accident I don’t want to be in
official canadian said on January 02, 2010 at 5:20 am
I think that will be around the world
Kjetil said on March 20, 2010 at 4:58 am
Well, if they turned all the seats around, just the way kids sit in a car - a lot more people would have survived a crash. It may feel strange to sit with the back in the direction of driving, but in a situation where a plane crash the weight of the person is spread along the seat and back, head etc will have good protection. When you face the direction of driving/flying the G-forces is enormous at the body on impact. I think I did read somewhere that the G-forces is reduced by more than 80% when seat is put backwards.
Forgive my bad english....
Kjetil