Wheres the safest place to sit in an aircraft?

Question

Wheres the safest place to sit in an aircraft?

Answer 1

There is no 'safest' place to sit.  If you are anxious about flying, think about all the flights that happen without incident.

There are hundreds, even thousands, each day.  Not only commercial, but general aviation.

Today's airtravel is by far the safest way of travelling.  You are actually safer getting in an airplane, than walking across your street at home.

Now, if you ask me where I want to sit, that's where I normally am, in the cockpit.  I'm a pilot.  I love to fly.  And, I am safer (and have more options) at two or three miles up, than I am sitting in my easy chair at home.

Thanks, for the question.  Enjoy your next flight.

Answer 2

In the back of the plane, but this is a myth and nothing has been proven that sitting in the back is indeed safer.

Answer 3

Over the wing, this is because there are massive structural spars that run from one wing to another, also, the wing box where the wings meet the fuselage is heavily reinforced.

In JAL 123 (the worst single aviation accident in the world) the only four survivors were located in the last 10 ten rows of seats in the back, this is because of the forces of deceleration would have been less for the people in the back.

So it all depends on how the aircraft is crashing. Head on, then sitting in the back is the best. Belly first (Controlled Flight Into Terrain, or ditching in water), over the wing will be the safest.

Answer 4

Last row in Coach

But honestly, it rarely ever makes a difference

Answer 5

There is no safest seat. Take a look at this site.

http://www.airsafe.com/ten_faq.htm

Answer 6

They say the strongest part of a aircraft is where the wing is connected the the fuselage.

Is that true? Who knows. It's a myth i herd.

Flying is fun. Think of it as a roller coaster.

Answer 7

As far back as possible - how about inside the lavatory if it's located behind the rear doors?

Answer 8

sitting over the wing which is near the exit row.

Answer 9

300 miles an hour? in a thin aluminum can? with lots of kerosene? Flying is lot's safer in terms of miles traveled. Passenger cars only give you the illusion of control and safety.

Answer 10

The pilot's seat in an aircraft which is parked in a hangar

Answer 11

The wings needs lots of reinforcement, so structually speaking right next to the wing will survive a crash without popping into thousands of pieces... the back of the aircraft is usually the last place to hit, so I would think that's pretty safe too.

Answer 12

If you mean least turbulent. You are only going to notice in larger airplanes such as the 777 a340 etc and the best place to sit is directly over the wing as for the safest everywhere is safe is has to be. The airplanes are built to FAA standards and have to be kept so.

Cheers

Answer 13

Its not  on the wing seats cuz you are located very near to the fuel tanks and you will just get grilled. The right hand side door at the end of the aircraft is considered a the lowest risk area. But from all the air crash that i have seen on TV the best conserved part was the tail so i think you must seat as near as possible to the tail

Answer 14

For all those "sit over the wing" people, if the engines are located on the wings and there's an uncontained engine failure, the two or three people who get injured or killed by flying bits of engine will be the ones seated over the wing.

There really is no safest place. Every accident has a different pattern and there's no way to predict what kind of accident you're going to be in should the extremely likely case that you will be involved in an accident actually happen.

I do agree that being near an exit door is probably the tiniest bit safer statistically. In the event of a cabin fire or latent fire, once the doors open on the ground, you do want to be one of the first ones out of the cabin.

Answer 15

all the seats are equally safe.

but the first row in first class gets to be first in line at customs, that's gotta count for something.

Actually, a lot research went into aircraft seats about 8 years or so ago, when they passed a law requiring the seats to withstand an impact about 100 times greater than any human can survive (talk about "feel-good" legislation, made flying way more expensive but not any safer).

It's not the initial impact with the ground that gets you - human body can withstand a very very large g-force *laterally*, that is, acceleration and braking.  It's when the tail section slams down;  structurally speaking, the human body can only withstand a very small amount of *vertical* g's - don't remember exactly but it's less than 5.  More any more than that and vertebrae get compressed severing the spinal cord, arterial separation (arteries literally tearing loose from the heart), stuff like that.

Nevertheless, only the last few rows of Delta 191 survived.

Bottom line, it's gotta be the exit rows - gives you the best chance of getting out, should you survive the impact.

Answer 16

It is said that the tail section has the greatest chance of surviving in a crash. That is why the Flight Data Recorder is usually placed there.

Unfortunately they dont put any seats there.

However statistically speaking, the seats towards the rear is comparitively safer. (See link)

Answer 17

Near a door.