Air bags on Planes?

[TonyMcC]

Perhaps it is because a lot of people don't like to travel facing backwards? I know a number of people who get travel sick unless they are facing the direction of travel. Humans are funny creatures, we prefer to be in a position to see trouble coming and as aircraft rarely reverse into hills.......

 

A point on airbags or parachutes. On a purely logical basis it would be better to jump without a parachute than ride the plane down. Hitting the ground in the plane at 400 mph is not survivable however terminal velocity for a free falling person is 120 mph and is possibly survivable. If over water it is definitely survivable. Terminal V is reached some 5.4 seconds after clearing the aircraft so it doesn't matter if you jump from 300 feet or 30,000 ft, the speed is the same.

 

I am trying to imagine the orderly queues of people making there way to the emergency exits as the out of control plane gyrates and who then take it in turns to launch themselves into space.

 

On a more serious note a quick chase around the Web indicates that there is a safety benefit from rear facing seats. It would seem that the survival rate of Air Stewards who sit in rear facing seats at the time of an accident is greater than that of passengers. As I have said before, I have travelled many miles in rear facing seats. Your view from a window is quite limited and moves very slowly. Most of the motion you feel is up and down and it is easy to forget that you are facing the rear of the plane. Perhaps, if the safety aspect can be confirmed, legislation should be considered. People will instinctively dislike the idea but I remember the same attitudes being held over motorcycle crash helmets and car seat belts.

[Brainteaserfan]

I'm with fafalone. They could even put them inside the water floatation devices to save space.

 

 

Also, as technology advances, they could headphones with a recording to walk you through the process. Just my thoughts.

If you are crashing, there probably isn't time to listen to the recording. But, they could put a podcast out that we could access from our mobile devices and we could listen before hand. I doubt though that many would listen to them. If you were one of a few who knew how to use one, the rest of the passengers would be clamoring for you to show them.

[ewmon]

Extemporaneous and out of the box...

 

Airbags. Air crashes differ significantly from car crashes --- typically longer times scales: longer warning period and longer crashes. So don't use the typical car airbags. Maybe airbags that inflate slowly (~a period of seconds), not "explode" open. They would have slow leaks in the direction of the person's face (through some sort of fabric/cloth) to allow people to breath during the long crashes, and they would remain open until the air supply is cut. These airbags might be purposely designed to comfortably sandwich people between the airbag and the back of the seat to prevent people from being thrown around (back and forth) during the crash.

 

Parachutes. What about a parachute for the entire airplane?