Air India crash Is seat 11A the safest on a plane Not really experts say
LONDON - The survival of a passenger who escaped through an exit door seconds after his Air India flight crashed killing everyone else on board has prompted speculation over whether his seat, 11A, is the safest.
Aviation experts say it is not so straightforward because aircraft vary widely in seat configurations, crashes are unique and survival often hinges on a complex interplay of factors.
“Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location,” said Mr Mitchell Fox, a director at Flight Safety Foundation, a US-based nonprofit.
Mr Vishwash Kumar Ramesh said his 11A seat was near an emergency exit on the London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, and he managed to walk out.
Sitting next to an exit door might help you survive an accident, but it would not always be 11A because aircraft can have dozens of different configurations.
“In this particular instance, because the passenger was sitting adjacent to the emergency exit, this was obviously the safest seat on the day,” said Mr Ron Bartsch, chairman at Sydney-based AvLaw Aviation Consulting.
“But it’s not always 11A, it’s just 11A on this configuration of the Boeing 787.”
A 2007 Popular Mechanics study of crashes since 1971 found that passengers towards the back of the plane had better survival odds. Some experts suggest the wing section offers more stability.
Sitting next to an exit door, like Mr Vishwash, gives you an opportunity to be one of the first out of the plane, although some exits do not function after a crash. The opposite side of the plane was blocked by the wall of a building it crashed into, he said.
In January 2024, a panel missing several bolts blew off the side of a Boeing 737 MAX
أرسل هذا الخبر لأصدقائك على