For those that fly frequently, you probably already have a favorite place to sit on the airplane. Some prefer the aisle while some the window. Some people head straight to the back, others insist on the front and still others want the emergency exit row. Most people have a reason for where they prefer to sit. Those that like the window seats love the view from 10,000 feet up and relish watching the plane ascend into the clouds. Those that prefer the aisle seat aren’t so keen on being reminded of how high up they are and may also like the freedom of being on the aisle for bathroom breaks.
If you ask people why they prefer the front, middle or back of the plane, you will also hear concrete reasons as a rule for picking one section over the other. Those that grab the seats in the front of the plane will usually state practical reasons – the people in the front of the plane are the first people off when the plane lands and they don’t have to spend that extra ten minutes waiting for the rest of the plane to exit. Those who choose the middle of the plane near the emergency exits will usually tell you that they pick those seats for exactly that reason – they are nearest to the emergency exits in the event an emergency exit is necessary. The back section devotees will tell you that they pick the back seats because it is the safest place to sit on the plane and gives you the best chance of survival in the event of a crash. So is the back of the plane really the safest place to sit?
As with almost all statistics, there is no uniform agreement on the answer to that question, but anecdotal evidence does appear to suggest that the back of the airplane may be the safest place to sit. One recent study done by Popular Mechanics looked at National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) data for commercial jet crashes since 1971. The study included 20 major plane accidents that had survivors as well as fatalities. The conclusion of that particular study was that rear passengers had a 40% better chance of surviving an airplane crash than other passengers. Of the 20 accidents, in only five accidents did the front seat passengers come out better. Eleven of the twenty accidents had the rear seat passengers clearly faring better than other passengers. The remaining four accidents were inconclusive or they were not able to tell where people were sitting at the time of the accident. In contrast to that study, a Greenwich University study found that your best chance of getting out alive from a burning aircraft was to be in an aisle seat within five rows of the emergency exit. This conclusion makes sense – if you need to exit the airplane, those closest to the exit doors will get out first. It appears as though the back may be the better place to be to survive the impact of the crash, but sitting near the exit door helps in the event that evacuating the aircraft becomes necessary once the plane is down. While regulations require that all passengers be able to exit the plane within 90 seconds with half of the exits blocked, people simply don’t react in a calm and predictable manner in a true emergency. In a true emergency, when a plane is on fire, those farthest away from an exit are clearly less likely to be able to get out in time.
If you have been involved in an airplane accident or are the family member of someone that has and would like to know what legal options you may have to recover compensation for injuries you or your family have suffered, please contact California aviation attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates at 1-800-300-0001 or online at www.ledgerlaw.com
