[BigDog.]

Yeo, lets start a whip round 😉

[AnthonyDunn]

From the “How to survive” section on C4’s website:

“Listen to safety briefings!”

Emergency procedures vary on planes so it is crucial that passengers always listen to the safety instructions at the start of the flight and read the safety card. Research by the FAA on safety briefings has shown that the least-informed people are frequent flyers, as they assume they already know safety procedures and do not listen to the information given.

To how many BT regulars does this admonition apply I wonder?

It was interesting to learn that beyond the NASA B707 test (which was a partial failure owing to the loss of control and resulting fireball), no manufacturers have ever funded such an experiment themselves. Okay, so it’s not quite as simple as doing an aeronautical NCAP test…

I would still like to know why seats are faced forwards when even a basic understanding of structures and loads would indicate that the human body would be better off if the G-forces in a sudden deceleration were spread across the entire torso. Comments anyone?

[LuganoPirate]

Anthony, seats face forward because that’s what passengers want. You’re right about stresses and so on but incidents are so rare that people do not regard them. Further if a plane breaks up mid air, you could be hanging by the proverbials from the ceiling for the difference it would make – you’re simply going to die!

Having said that there haven been a few incidents where individuals have survived, but usually because trees cushioned their fall…

[VintageKrug]

You won’t always die, even if your aircraft partially breaks up, as this Aloha Airlines 737 demonstrates:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TqF26MJqFIs/TZio1rXLMfI/AAAAAAAAABQ/nvi_-x9nhiw/s1600/B737-200-Aloha-Hawaii.jpg

It was only the the flight attendant who tragically perished in the above incident.

Of course not all seats face forward; I prefer “facing rearward” (as that’s the phrase used in the briefing) in Club World, and on three class aircraft you get a very nice view of the engine humming away; good to keep an eye that everything’s ok 😉

The BA38 incident demonstrated, among other things, the efficacy of the Club World cabin (as well as the CAA’s seat broader seat certification regimen) in allowing everyone to survive an impact which was probably not much less than that demonstrated in this documentary.

Even though I’ve watched it a thousand times, I always make an effort to put down any reading material when the safety briefing happens, and I always look back to see how many seats there are between me and the emergency exit behind me.

I think that piece of information came out of the Manchester Air Disaster, and it’s one of the most valuable lessons, as everyone had a tendency to surge forward.

The “Nine Minutes..” book linked to above gives the back story of the commuters on a workaday shorthaul flight which was largely surviveable; the bottom line is that many people who survive the crash give up and sit there awaiting death. Some are obviously in shock.

But those with the highest chance of survival, as with so much in life, had something or someone they wanted to survive for, and that lead to some almost superhuman feats in helping themselves (and others, in some cases) to get out alive. It’s a fascinating read, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

[Tim2soza]

I always sit rearward where possible. 64 A/K

[MarcusUK]

Sitting rear facing may well enable whatever debris comes forwards, including seats and infrastructure to hit you face on, rather than from the back with a seat as protection!

So, not many people freshening up in The Arrivals Lounge then?

[MartynSinclair]

Any experiement will produce interesting data. It would be interesting to see how close the data produced by The Crash, mirrors BA38.

However, the effects of a crashed aircraft being “flown” in landing position, will vastly differ if the aircraft that falls or stalls out of the sky.

Interesting documentary, but the best advice still remains as Anthony Dunn remarks “Listen to safety briefings”

[canucklad]

vf1= ((m1-m2)/(m1+m2))(v1i)+ (2m2/(mi+m2)vi2

And thats the simplified version…….unless you’re an airplane anorak this programme didn’t really answer very many questions excepting for the brace position and the issue with tangled wires

The results of crashing an empty 727 into soft terrain in Mexico …

Fine…apart from that very little

[IanFromHKG]

VintageKrug – 12/10/2012 06:54 GMT : But those with the highest chance of survival, as with so much in life, had something or someone they wanted to survive for, and that lead to some almost superhuman feats in helping themselves (and others, in some cases) to get out alive.

As a very very junior lawyer (still a trainee in fact), my wife worked on, and attended, the inquest after the Herald of Free Enterprise tragedy. Some of the heroism on display there was extraordinary. She was particularly moved by one man, who clung onto the seat on one side of an aisle to bridge the gap with the other side of the aisle (the ferry was lying on its side) and allowed dozens of passengers to use him as a human ladder in order to climb up and out to safety, even though he lost his entire family in the tragedy. Why he didn’t get the George Cross I will never know…

[TerryMcManus24]

1C………..Yes please…….thats OK…… fill it up……

Still here so must have survived it…but didnt get my coffee…..

not flying with that airline again…harump

[Binman62]

Canucklad…I had recorded it to miss the adds and found myself fast forwrading through the endless repetition of why they were doing this. Like you found it all interesting and spectacular but beyond that not much.

Was I alone in thinking £300,000 was alot for 727?

[BigDog.]

Speaking to a CAA insider over Sunday lunch, they weren’t impressed with the program, to the extent that it was a waste of what could have been a far more worthwhile exercise.

– A pilot would have flared the landing ie Nose up, tail down to avoid exactly what happened – so much for it being much safer in the back.
– A pilot would have cut the engines just prior to the touchdown.
– A pilot, if they thought the surface was sand/water/marsh, would not have put the undercarriage down, preferring to land it on its belly.
– If the pilot was incapacitated, the plane would not have landed on such a shallow trajectory, consequences would have been far worse.

An unrealistic waste of money which did little to advance extant crash knowledge. Made interesting TV for the lay person though.

[Author]

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