For some, flying in a plane can be an exciting time, while for others it can be anxiety-inducing and just plain scary. However, there’s one thing all passengers have in common – they want to make it to their destination safely.
While flying is extremely safe – and plane crashes are very rare – unfortunately they do occasionally happen and, seat choice plays an important role in how safe you are if your aircraft goes down.
Doug Drury, who is the head of Aviation at Central Queensland University, told news publication The Conversation that here’s a 44 percent fatality rate for those in the aisle seats in the middle of the craft, compared with 28 percent for central seats towards the back.
The professor explained that because there’s no buffer (a person on both sides) on the aisle seats, so the passenger is more likely to be hit by debris or luggage flying out of the overhead compartments.
However, a TIME investigation that looked at 35 years of aircraft accident data found the middle rear seats of an aircraft had the lowest fatality rate: 28%, compared with 44% for the middle aisle seats.
The difference between the two results depends on how and why the aircraft goes down. Regardless, both studies agreed that passengers in first class, or seated just behind, had the highest fatality rate.
According to a study from the University of Greenwich, in the case of a fire, passengers who are seated within five seats of an emergency exit are most likely to survive. They said for passengers who are seated six or more seats away from an exit “the chances of perishing far outweigh those of surviving.”
Love Travel?
Get the latest Travel news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
In conclusion, it was found that in most cases seats toward the back of the plane had a higher survival rate than passengers in seats toward the front of the plane.
For more on this topic, follow the Travel Observer.
