Window? Aisle? Front? Rear?
Where is the safest place to sit on an aeroplane during a crash?
The last week has been a dark one for aviation which has seen two plane crashes with fatalities and two less serious incidents.
On Christmas Day, an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 went down in Kazakhstan after it was allegedly hit by a blast from a Russian ground-to-air missile, killing 38, while tragedy struck South Korea when a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 slammed into a wall at the end of a runway, killing 179.
In the same week, a KLM 737-800 experienced a runway excursion in Oslo and a PAL Airlines DH-8 caught fire scraping along the runway following a landing gear failure.
All this has led to many asking the same question, where is the safest place to sit on an aeroplane in case of the extremely unlikely event of a plane crash?
Well, it has already been revealed with extensive research and number crunching already being done to indicate what factors make you the most likely to survive such an awful ordeal.
One of the most important factors for survival rates on planes is where you sit in the cabin with those located in the rear third of the plane having the best chance of survival.
There is plenty of logic in this with head-on impacts affecting less the rear of the aircraft because of the dispersal of energy at the front.
According to Time, passengers situated at the rear third had a 32% fatality rate, compared to 39% for the middle third and 38% for the front third.
Meanwhile, middle seats in the back had the lowest fatality rate at 28%, compared to the highest at the aisle seats in the middle section, which had a fatality rate of 44%.
Another key factor is proximity to emergency exits.
In the event where the cabin fills with fire, smoke or water, being within several rows of an exit could prove crucial in getting out alive, although all commercial planes must have a maximum time of 90 seconds for full evacuation to be certified.
Meanwhile, there are of course external factors, such as flying near to an active war zone.
War is an unforgiving place and often civilians pay the price, even flying high in the sky.
The Azerbaijan Airlines crash is understood to fall into this category, heading for Grozny in southern Russia which was fighting off Ukrainian drones at the time.
Only four years ago, Iranian Revolutionary Guards mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 on board.
Meanwhile, back in 2014, Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by Russian-backed forces in Eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board the Boeing 777-200ER.
There you have it, hopefully, despite all the terrible events in recent days, you’ll be able to fly a little more comfortably next time you step onto a flight.
And remember, flying remains the safest mode of transport in the world, so enjoy it.
