Safest seats for surviving Plane Crash - Rear Seats

[BlueBimmer]

sa mga frequent flyers, or mga paranoid flyers, maybe this info will be useful for a more 'peaceful' flight

REALITY: It's Safer In the Back.
The funny thing about all those expert opinions: They're not really based on hard data about actual airline accidents. A look at real-world crash stats, however, suggests that the farther back you sit, the better your odds of survival. Passengers near the tail of a plane are about 40 percent more likely to survive a crash than those in the first few rows up front.

That's the conclusion of an exclusive Popular Mechanics study that examined every commercial jet crash in the United States, since 1971, that had both fatalities and survivors. The raw data from these 20 accidents has been languishing for decades in National Transportation Safety Board files, waiting to be analyzed by anyone curious enough to look and willing to do the statistical drudgework.

And drudgework it was. For several weeks, we pored over reports filed by NTSB crash investigators, and studied seating charts that showed where each passenger sat and whether they lived or died. We then calculated the average fore-and-aft seating position of both survivors and fatalities for each crash.

We also compared survival rates in four sections of the aircraft. Both analytical approaches clearly pointed to the same conclusion: It's safer in the back.

In 11 of the 20 crashes, rear passengers clearly fared better. Only five accidents favored those sitting forward. Three were tossups, with no particular pattern of survival. In one case, seat positions could not be determined.

In seven of the 11 crashes favoring back-seaters, their advantage was striking. For example, in both the 1982 Air Florida accident in Washington, D.C., and the 1972 crash of an Eastern 727 at New York's Kennedy Airport, the handful of survivors were all sitting in the last few rows. And when a United DC-8 ran out of fuel near Portland, Ore., in 1978, all seven passengers who died were sitting in the first four rows.

Oddly, the five accidents that favored front-cabin passengers all occurred between 1988 and 1992. In the 1989 United DC-10 accident in Sioux City, Iowa, for example, the majority of the 175 survivors sat ahead of the wing.

There was just one crash in which passengers in the front had a pronounced survival advantage. The only two fatalities in a 1989 USAir runway accident at LaGuardia were both sitting in Row 21 in the 25-row Boeing 737-400.

Where detailed seating charts were available, we also calculated survival rates for various parts of the passenger cabin. Again, the trend was clear: The rear cabin (seats located behind the trailing edge of the wing) had the highest average survival rate at 69 percent. The overwing section had a 56 percent survival rate, as did the coach section ahead of the wing. First/business-class sections (or in all-coach planes, the front 15 percent) had an average survival rate of just 49 percent.

So when the "experts" tell you it doesn't matter where you sit, have a chuckle and head for the back of the plane. And once your seatbelt is firmly fastened, relax: There's been only one fatal jet crash in the U.S. in the last five-plus years.

Survival rates for various parts of the passenger cabin, based on an analysis of all commercial jet crashes in the United States since 1971 where detailed seating charts were available.

from: http://www.popularmechanics.com/scie...e/4219452.html

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..parang ayoko na mag mabuhay or business class....next flight i'll specifically request the tail section seats..nagiging paranoid pa naman ako when i've not flown for many months :nerves: :blue:

1st class tickets = 1st class ticket to heaven

[boybi]

Malaki pala advantage pagnasa rear end ka especially kung medyo late ka na nag check-in. Mas safe ka na, mas nauuna pang lumabas ang baggages mo sa baggage claim

[VtEC]

kakatakot naman topic mo BB.
para tuloy ayaw kona umuwi next year.
ako kasi pag nasa loob na ako ng plane at nag take off na, wait konalang kung ano na mangyayari since ala ka ng pwedeng gawin once nasa ere na ang plane e.sa 35K feet it doesnt matter where you are seated tigok kapadin naman e.

[170kphlang]

sa 4beses kong exp nakasakay ng eroplano laging sa likod kasi mga 1 hour before flight kami dumarating kaya ubos na yung sa harap, 1st is seat 89 at 2nd is 94, ang ayoko lang sa pagupo sa likod ay ramdam mo ng todo yung turbulence kahit mahina lang. yung upuan lalo na next to the bathroom, masyadong mauga.. medyo takot din ako sa flying but hey, chances are, i could win the lottery 3-5 times than meeting an air crash accident

[NightWinger]

Mas safe pa rin ang airplane. Sa kotse araw araw may accidente. Sa airplane minsan minsan lang. swerte mo na kung na-abot mo yun minsan!

[Gumusut_Amige]

yung thai one-two-go plane crash tragedy... anybody knows or have an idea where the survivors are seated?

ako kasi pag nasa loob na ako ng plane at nag take off na, wait konalang kung ano na mangyayari since ala ka ng pwedeng gawin once nasa ere na ang plane e.sa 35K feet no matter you are seated tigok kapadin naman e.

so true kaya ako after saying my prayers i'll leave everything in God hands

[boybi]

Yung sa Thai crash, everybody were cramming for the emergency exit doors. Baka hindi ma-identify kung namatay sila while seated or while running for the exit.

[chua_riwap]

Madalas ang seat no. ko (choice ko), below 40 sa eco. seats. Yung sa tail section kasi ang galaw, ramdam mo yung galaw ng buntot. Nasubukan ko na yan. Nahihilo ako.

Daanin na lang sa dasal.

[niky]

Not exactly news... people have been noticing this pattern since the 80's. Most of the "miraculous" survivors of the huge crashes were seated near the tail.

There's more plane ahead of you to absorb the huge amount of kinetic energy generated at impact... like a gigantic hundred foot long crumple zone...

[BongRev]

Mas safe pa rin ang airplane. Sa kotse araw araw may accidente. Sa airplane minsan minsan lang. swerte mo na kung na-abot mo yun minsan!

Yeah sure, mas madami accidents sa mga kotse but look at the population size of cars compared to airplanes. And besides, in an airplane crash the no. of fatalities are much worse than a car accident.