Why are there only life jackets under seats in a plane and not parachutes?

Question

Or why not both? Why not life jackets under your seat cusion and parachutes under each seat? And maybe they could add parachute intructions on that little instruction sheet in your front seat pouch. Hmmmm....

Answer 1

why dont they make the plane out of that black box that they are always searching for when it blows up

Answer 2

Take it from someone that jumps out of planes for fun. There is not enough room to put on a parachute in a commercial plane. Everyone would have to wear the rigs before getting on the aircraft. Even if everyone had a parachute there is no safe way to exit the aircraft. You would need special equipment and training to survive the 560 + mph winds and 30,000 foot plus altitudes. Without extra oxygen and protective gear you would die in that environment. The fastest skydiving jumps are at 150 knots, not 500 + knots and are made from 18,000 feet MSL or lower. Just getting out of the airplane could kill you as you'd be slammed into the door on exit. The next issue would be landing a parachute. Most likely this case would use rounds and you'd just have to do a parachute landing fall. That is easy enough to learn. The steering of the canopy would require training. I'd say that about 25% of the people on any flight are not healthy enough to survive a normal skydive. The very young, old, and anyone not in good health would have no chance at surviving the exit, parachute flight or landing.

As a skydiver we know that at some point we will have to exit our aircraft during an aircraft emergency, it doesn’t happen very often, almost never, but it does.  But here is the catch, you need time and altitude to open up the parachute.  We wear seat belts in the plane for taxi, take off, and if needed landing.  If there is a problem with the aircraft under 1000 feet above the ground you go down with the plane.  In a commercial flight you will climb past 1000 feet very quickly but there will not be enough time to put on a parachute system, nor enough time to get everyone out of the plane.  The vast majority of the very rare commercial accidents happen right after take off or on landing…. A parachute would be useless.

If every seat was an ejection seat then maybe you could save a handful of lives, but the extra training and complete redesign of the aircrafts would not be cost effective.

For more information about traveling with a parachute you can check out www.uspa.org and there is a link to the TSA rules about traveling with rigs.

In the big picture. commercial airline flights are very safe and not something to worry about.  I travel for a living.  Taking two or more flights a week across the US.  I hate landing in planes because I’d rather be jumping out and landing my parachute, but it is impossible to do that safely from a commercial aircraft; never mind the less than legal part of it.

As for flotation devises, I don’t know about you, but when I get into water all I do is prolong my drowning.  I’m very glad there is something there to help me float if needed.  The parachutes are pointless, the flotation device, might of might not be useful, but I like having the piece of mind.  Perhaps having a parachute on the plane would give piece of mind, even if it couldn’t be used.

Answer 3

Cost,weight of the parachutes,and the liability involved,also the FAA or the DOT do not require them,parachutes on board a commercial airliner are impracticable because of the reasons above and also you could not learn how to use the chute from an instruction card and I don't think passengers would want to attend classes let alone pay for them.

Answer 4

To put parachutes for a passengers, without adequate training to use them - it is money waster.

The plane is a collection of details and each of those details can fly separately, but only down. Nobody will stay in the air

Answer 5

$$$$$$$$$$$$$ all about the money $$$$$$$$$$$$$

Answer 6

i believe that the fact that alot of people would have absolutely no clue what to do with a parachute would have something to do with it

Answer 7

Being up so high in the air + Getting sucked into the engine Hmm

Answer 8

I love all of the "not cost effective" arguments that imply airlines are too greedy to provide passengers with parachutes.  Really.  The only way they would be usable would be if passengers were to wear them for the duration of the flight.  I doubt that will happen, since everybody complains about having to remove their shoes at security as it is.  Most crashes happen shortly after takeoff or shortly before landing when there isn't sufficient altitude for a chute to open even if you had time to herd a couple hundred people through the 6 exits.  On top of that, jumping out of a commercial plane would be suicide at the speeds they travel.  The only parachute system that could work would require everyone to wear a chute for the whole flight, stay harnessed into their seat the entire time, and have all of the seats replaced with ejector seats.  Air travel is already safer than road travel.  You shouldn't live your life in fear.

Answer 9

The doors are to close to the engines for parachuting, and you will be to low unless you are getting shot down by a missle 17,000 feet in the air.  It is not safe for people to parachute that close because if the parachutes get tangled up they will go to the ground MUCH faster.  Just because the plane gives you instructions to parachute, dosent mean you are going to do it right, it is problably a 25% chance that someone will know how to go down right.  The only reason I could think of that someone would need a parachute would be if they are being shot down (like I already said).  So I wouldnt think it would be a good idea to have parachutes on airliners.  Oh one more thing, usually the only times you would crash is because of failed landings, or a part of the plane that isnt working correctly.  So I only have a few reasons, but still it does a lot to the decission of putting parachutes on airliners.

Answer 10

it's not cost effective and it would be complete chaos attempting to push 150 +people out of plane w/ parachutes... could you imagine what a mess that would be? Not to mention if the plane is going down there may not be enough time to get everyone out before it crashes.

Answer 11

For the same reasons given the last forty times this question has been asked here . . . . . money, weight, training, time, liability.

Answer 12

Not everyone onboard is a certified jump instructor or is in the Army airborne program. If there were parachutes and jumped and broke a leg you would probley sue the company.

Answer 13

Before a plane crashes, there is rarely enough time to put one on and jump, which most people would be afraid to do anyway.

Answer 14

Parachutes have to be re-packed every 6 months, therefore it would not be cost effective for airlines to put them in the airplanes.

Especially when they have to re-pack them all of the time, plus also the extra weight that they would add would cost more for gas and it would raise ticket prices to the point where we wouldn't be able to afford the tickets.

Answer 15

As a professional skydiver, I can assure you it's more dangerous to jump with a parachute if you've never used one before than taking the chances and staying in the plane for a crash or water landing.

Skydiving is not something that should be taken lightly, controlled freefalling is not an easy skill to acquire: this can lead to an entaglement with the canopy lines when you try to open the container.

That said, I feel naked without my rig when I fly. Even commercial flights. It's a normal reflex I guess =)

Answer 16

Parachuting from a jet aircraft is nigh impossible without ejection seats.  In most cases it is safer to stay in the aircraft in any case.  

Water landings are a real possibility for a damaged aircraft, so flotation devices are a good idea for that eventuality.  An aircraft will usually float long enough to give most people a chance to get out.  

Most aircraft accidents happen at take-off or landing.  It is extremely rare for an aircraft to have a major failure while flying at an altitude where using parachutes would be an option.  So, for the very rare instances when a parachute might be a viable option, it simply isn't worthwhile to add that much more expense and weight.  

Like everything it's a bit of a trade off.  How much did you want to spend on that airline ticket anyway?  How much more would you be willing to pay to have a parachute for an extremely rare eventuality?

Answer 17

Yeah...and why do people keep asking stupid questions over and over. They must be really bored. Hmmmmm