Which seats are safer on an airplane?

[fairytalelover]

I have seen specials on TV about airline safety and which part of the plane is the safest to be in if you happen to be in a plane crash. Not that it's good to be anywhere on a plane during a crash,but I recall that they talked about certain seats and certain parts of the plane that are safer than the rest. Does anyone happen to know which seats these are???

 

[Bill From PA]

My understanding is that it all depends on when the crash takes place. Crashes due to failure on takeoff, the front of the plane is safer, crashes on landing, the rear is safer. I wouldn't worry about it, there aren't too many fender-benders in the sky. I'm resigned to going in like a lawn dart if something goes wrong.

Bill From PA

 

[fairytalelover]

I keep reading that seats near the wing are the best because that is the sturdierst part of the plane.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

Bill from PA cracks me up!

I HATE to fly but I view it as a necessary evil. DS8 flew for the first time in January (to WDW) and it didn't seem to bother him except for the ears.

I have heard that the seats over the wings are the best, but I didn't hear it from a reliable source. It was actually my hairdresser that said it. Not sure where she heard it.

 

[fairytalelover]

Where are the engines on a plane? I would think that it would be dangerous to be right on top of them?

 

[inkkognito]

I once got a weird piece of trivia from a pilot which was later confirmed by a flght attendant (who had never heard it and asked the flight engineer). In any crash, if the aisle is blocked, supposedly you can plow your way through the seats and they will give way. They are supposed to be designed to do that. I hope I never have to confirm that personally!
Barb

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I wouldn't worry over it. Chances are if something goes wrong, it will be catastrophic and it won't matter. Lawn dart indeed.

 

[shatzjsl]

. I'm resigned to going in like a lawn dart if something goes wrong.

Bill From PA

I hope you are able to land in a big crop circle and at least make some points!

 

[sgtdisney]

Theoretically the rear most seats on the airplane are the safest. The rationale behind that thought was that was were the black boxes were placed in the very rear of the aircraft. However as many have said, it really depends on the accident and a great amount of variables. It really depends on the accident itself more than the structure of the plane. Sometimes the front fares better and sometimes over the wing. It really isn't something that anyone should use to base seat section on.

inkkognito, your friends were right. The seats on a commercial airliner will fold forward if you push on them. So if you needed to climb over the seats, you would be ok as long as you needed to go forward in the cabin and not aft. Of course with the pitch that they use in modern aircraft I doubt they would fold flat.

 

[fairytalelover]

This is the quote I found in an article about how blackboxes work:

"Typically, the tail of the aircraft is the last portion of the aircraft to impact," Doran said. "The whole front portion of the airplane provides a crush zone, which assists in the deceleration of tail components, including the recorders, and enhances the likelihood that the crash-protected memory of the recorder will survive."

http://travel.howstuffworks.com/black-box.htm

I dont want to be sitting in what the experts who place the blackbox call "crush zones" !

 

[Amberle3]

I like to sit at the back of the plane, just because I'm more comfortable there. On one flight a guy seated closeby was talking about the benefits of sitting at the back and he said "No plane has ever backed into a mountain". I thought that was kind of cute.

 

[fairytalelover]

I like to sit at the back of the plane, just because I'm more comfortable there. On one flight a guy seated closeby was talking about the benefits of sitting at the back and he said "No plane has ever backed into a mountain". I thought that was kind of cute.

Plus you get seated first.

 

[localdriver]

This is the quote I found in an article about how blackboxes work:

"Typically, the tail of the aircraft is the last portion of the aircraft to impact," Doran said. "The whole front portion of the airplane provides a crush zone, which assists in the deceleration of tail components, including the recorders, and enhances the likelihood that the crash-protected memory of the recorder will survive."

http://travel.howstuffworks.com/black-box.htm

I dont want to be sitting in what the experts who place the blackbox call "crush zones" !

The purpose of this is to try to protect the black box from total destruction.

A black box can take alot more G-Forces than a human body. Regardless of where you sit, G-Forces are what they are, depending on the type of crash.

Pick the seat with the best view. Air travel is the safest way to travel....Period!

 

[WDWBetsy]

My father-in-law is retired from the Air Force (also used to be a steward on Air Force 2); he has always told us to try to get seats in the very back.

 

[my3kids]

I'm resigned to going in like a lawn dart if something goes wrong.

Bill From PA

Yoo Hoo....Tag Fairy....Where are you??

 

[sgtdisney]

Pick the seat with the best view. Air travel is the safest way to travel....Period!

I agree completely. There have been a number of incidents where the people in the rear of the plane didn't make it while those in the front did. It is all up to fate really. Any seat in an airplane is safer than the seat in your car travelling to the same place.

It really isn't something to worry about, in my opinion.

 

[lsteadman]

My understanding is that it all depends on when the crash takes place. Crashes due to failure on takeoff, the front of the plane is safer, crashes on landing, the rear is safer. I wouldn't worry about it, there aren't too many fender-benders in the sky. I'm resigned to going in like a lawn dart if something goes wrong.

Bill From PA

I agree! Make it quick and pain free!

 

[Tikiman]

I work for a company and I am a Mechanical Engineer that designs missiles and have worked with engineers who have designed most planes that are used today. This is why I will only fly certain models of plane. You will never see me on a 767.

To answer the original question the safest place is over the wings. It is the strongest part of the plane. The front is the worst for obvious reasons, the back is bad because any fuel rupture and fire will affect the rear of the plane. I have a few links to information on crashes, what planes crash the most and which are the safest if any one is interested.

I always pick my flights by type of plane and what carrier has the best safety record. I figure it is worth the extra money for me and my family to have a higher percentage of arriving safely. You would be amazed on how many crashes or accidents there are each week that you never see on the news.

By the way I am not this paranoid about things in life but I know way too much about the design of planes and safety records to ignore the facts.

 

[sgtdisney]

This is why I will only fly certain models of plane. You will never see me on a 767.

You have piqued my curiousity now. Why won't you fly on a 767? I have kind of always felt that way about a DC-10, but that wasn't based on any professional expertise per se. I am curious about your take on the 767.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Well let me also jump in here and say I am not crazy about MD-88s. Sadly that is what Delta mostly flies out of my local airport, though Delta has recenlty added some new equipment. OMG I watched Nova this week and it was about the SwissAir Flight 111, scary what flammable items are still used on aircraft.