Why don't they put parachute in commercial air plane?

Question

Why don't they put parachute in commercial air plane?

Answer 1

You can't get out of commercial airplanes fast enough even if you could survive... not enough time, no means for exit.  Commercial air travel is so safe there is no reason.

Most crashes occur upon liftoff or landing, parachute wouldn't work at those low levels.

TWA 747 fuel tank blew up... no way out

Concord crashed in France never could develop lift with engine on fire.

The odds of going in a commercial airplane are so slim its not really anything you need to worry about.

Answer 2

First off, the vast majority of accidents happen at take off or landing, where a parachute is useless. there is not enough altitude or time to use a parachute.

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.  Further, the location of the wing and the engines with respect to the location of the doors would make it nearly impossible to exit the aircraft without hitting the wings, stabilizer or the engine.  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.

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

Also, it's a marketing nightmare.  How would you feel if they handed you a coupon for a free coffin "just in case" when you visited a local amusement park???  I can hear the pre-flight brief now:  "Ladies and gentlemen, in the event our aircraft quits producing lift effectively, we ask you to calmly don you parachute located in the overhead bin, behind the other guy's oversized luggage.  Then, please hurl yourself out of the aircraft in an orderly manner.  If you are flying with small children, please don your parachute first, and remember, two children per parachute please."  And, like all the others, you'd sooner be killed either slamming against the body of the aircraft, or when untrained jumpers met with the pretty Forrest below, or worse yet, the North Sea.

Answer 4

Weight, space, practicality and the chances that they would ever be needed.

The heavier an aircraft is, the more fuel it burns, and thus the more expensive it is to operate. This is why many bag surcharges are based on weight. Space is also at a premium on most aircraft. Where would you put them?

As for the practicality - how often do you think they would need to be used? As rare as airliner crashes really are, how many of those have had ample warning that there was something wrong, or about to go wrong? Not many. And in the few instances where the crew had some warning that they were about to crash, there was no way there would have been enough time get the passengers prepared to bail out.

The only instance that I can think of where there would have been ample time to prepare an enitre aircraft for a bail out, and where it may have actually been a wise option, was the United Airlines Sioux City crash. That crew spent a significant ammount of time getting vectors to Sioux City before that crash.

But even in the recent case of the Qantas 747, can you imagine what the casualties have been if you had a 747 full of inexperienced jumpers making their first skydiving attempt? As it was, it was far safer to remain on the airplane than to try and bail out. Zero fatalities by staying on board.

Answer 5

At the speeds commercial aircraft travel, one would have to eject rather than bailing out.  That would require training, and passenger discipline: just not practical.

Also, ejecting/bailing out is a last resort; even in military flying most crews by far prefer to remain with the aircraft unless there's literally nothing else to do.  

Finally the majority of commercial accidents happen on takeoff and landing:  bad situations to eject even with trained crews-let alone having Joe BagO'donuts pulling the handle.

Answer 6

For the same reason they dont have scuba gear for everyone on board a submarine. Plus, the folding trays in front of you can be ripped off and be used as a mini-wing/parachute. Your terminal velocity when you hit the ground will be a slow and comortable 119mph instead of a lethal bone liquefying 120mph.

Answer 7

they don't float like seat cushions do. like these easy ones.

Answer 8

I've often wondered this myself, you would think the lives of all the people on board would be worth more than the parachutes.  I would definitely take my chance, rather than wait to see if you survive the crash, even if I was flying over the Atlantic ocean.

Answer 9

Because they would be completely useless and a total waste of money.

Answer 10

Consider these issues:

1.  Commercial airliners fly too high/fast to use parachutes safely.

2.  Parachutes require training to use safely.  

3.  A commercial aircraft does not have the exit points necessary (in number or design for use of chutes) for safe egress in this fashion: risks of striking the fuselage/wings/empennage or engines is possible, depending on where you leave the aifcraft.

4.  Consider the decompression incident that caused a forced landing of a Qantas B747 at Manila last week: can you imaging putting a parachute on in that chaos, plus in the cramped conditions aboard a plane, with people who are scared/injured/infirm/young/old etc?

5.  You bale out (assuming the other issues are solved).  It could be over water/rough/remote terrain.  Then what?

6.  Parachute landings require training.  There would be immense legal liability issues.

7.  The cold and lack of air pressure above 3000 metres makes jumping impossible.  Below that you would never get many people out safely (assuming you solved all the other issues).  Most accidents occur on take-off and landing, making chutes useless.

8.  Ejection seats with automatic chutes are costly, bulky, heavy, dangerous, service intensive and modern aircraft can't be safely and economically engineered to accomodate them anyway.  Even a basic chute, multiplied by a whole aircraft full of people, is too much bulk and weight.

9.  Despite how it sounds, you are still safer inside the fuselage if something goes wrong.

Answer 11

At the speeds modern commercial aircraft fly, it is impractical to use parachutes. If you survived exiting the plane without getting sucked into an engine, the parachute would rip to shreds at opening. chance of survival = 0. It is much safer to stay in the aircraft.. chance of survival = 85%.

Answer 12

1. Using a parachute requires training. Most people are not trained and there would be no time to train them in an emergency.

2. Parachutes add weight.

3. Airliners are not designed to facilitate the opening of doors in flight.

4. Airliners fly so high in cruise that parachuting would be risky (high altitude, cold, etc.).

5. Many accidents occur near the ground, at which height parachutes are useless.

6. It takes too long to put parachutes on, and there may only be time to brace.

In short, there are a lot of reasons why parachutes are not practical for airliners.  Even in the military, ejection is often favored over jumping out with a parachute (although the ejection seat method also includes an automatic parachute), for reasons of time.

Answer 13

1. im guessing that the planes go to fast for the parachutes to open and that they would add a lot of weight.

2. They would also need a lot of paper airplanes to let everyone jump off on one.

3. It would cost too much. Even if its safe, the U.S. airline especially would not bother too, with fuel prices going sky high and almost all companies with no profit.

Answer 14

Ever notice how long it takes to get everybody off an airplane?  Imagine everybody in a panic trying to suit up and jump out.

You can count on two fingers the number of fatal accidents in the history of commercial aviation in which the victims had more than a few minutes warning.

So, there really is no practical application for parachutes in commercial aviation.

Floatation devices, on the other hand, are a US Coast Guard requirement for all occupants of a watercraft, which is what you would be in the event of an emergency landing on water.