How to Sit in the Safest Place on a Plane

As if it isn’t tough enough finding a ticket at a decent price, you need to maneuver through traffic to the airport and find parking or a shuttle. Then you have to packhorse it, checking your bags while praying that the scales for weight restrictions match yours at home, and taking The Oath about who really packed your underwear. The ultimate challenge centers on maintaining a modicum of dignity during any body cavity searches, and making your gate, dressed again, before the doors of the plane close. Through it all, you haven’t even dealt with the niggling doubt in the back of you mind: Will I arrive safely on my flight? Although plane travel is considered safer than auto, given the same distance in miles covered, there are some very real statistics that still should be heeded. And, the fewer stopovers or flight changes possible, the better the chance of safely arriving at your destination. A recent study of airline crashes helps to shed some light, and here are the results.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Rear is Generally Safer

1. Generally, the larger the plane, the better the chance of overall safety for travelers. Planes with more than 30 seats are credited by experts with fewer crashes. Single-engine vehicles account for more than 70 percent of accidents, and almost 70 percent of fatal ones.
   
   When it comes to seat locations, ignore the “experts,” and go with the hard data—there IS a safer area to be during most crashes—and it’s in the rear of the plane, says a study by Popular Mechanics of all commercial jet crashes since 1971.
   
   Sources like the FAA, Boeing and airsafe.com either don’t commit to recommendations, or say, “all seats are the same.”
   
   But, PM’s July, 2007 study says that the farther back people are seated, the greater the chance of living through a fatal crash. In fact, say the results, there is a 40 percent greater chance of survival when in the rear than within the first few rows.
   
   Based on NTSB raw data of 20 survivor/fatality crashes, four sections of the aircraft were studied for survival rates. The conclusion is that it was safer in the plane’s back in 11 of those 20 crashes.
2. Of the 20 crashes, five favored passengers seated up front, while three showed mixed interpretations, and the remaining one was inconclusive. Of the five that favored front-cabin seats, those accidents occurred between 1988 and 1992--and one had 175 survivors who sat ahead of the DC-10 wings. Another crash resulted in the only two 737-400 fatalities occurring in rows 21 and 25.
   
   Seats located behind the trailing edge of the wing are credited with the highest survival rate, at 69 percent. A fifty-six percent rate of endurance occurs at the coach section, both ahead of the wing and the over-wing area.
   
   By comparison, the first- and business-class rows provide a 49 percent subsistence.
   
   Without a doubt, the safest place to be is in a plane’s exit row, but that area’s reserved for able-bodied people who speak English. Sitting near those rows is also preferential for survival, with the rear exit row considered the best spot. Of course, a key safety component is to count the number of rows between you and the exit—just as the flight crew routinely instructs. That way, even with obstructed vision, counting rows to the exit connects survivors with a sure escape.
3. Boarding first explains why anxious travelers shove their way to the front of each debarkation line, but in addition to reaching those precious rear locations, people first on also receive unfettered access to overhead bins for carry-ons.
   
   Still, the rear tends to have more turbulence and be noisier—especially on flights where the engines are mounted to the plane’s rear instead of on the wings.
   
   Also, despite added stability in the wings area, that is where fuel tanks are often located.
   
   Window seats, long revered for view-seekers, also harbor disadvantages. Passengers have to climb from them when taking bathroom trips, and maneuver yet one more obstacle in a crash. Aisle seats, however, are prime targets; carts or people bump into them when going by. Aisle seats are also where more than 90 percent of the nearly 5,000 annual incidents of falling overhead bin items occur, sustaining head injuries.
   
   In instances of tough takeoffs and landings (long considered the most dangerous part of any plane trip), almost 60 percent of airline accidents occur. After crashes, flames, fumes and toxic chemicals pose the greatest danger for survivors, so quick escape is key.
   Airsafe.com lists the following as the safest airlines: Southwest Airlines (with no fatal crashes since its 1971 inception), America West, American Trans Air, Hawaiian Airlines, and JetBlue—all of whom have different start dates.
4. Here are how some seats are rated for safety in the following planes:
   
   The 737 jet = access the rear area.
   
   The 747 = due to the plane’s shape, fewer windows mean greater space. Rows 61 through 64 are better bets here.
   
   The 757 = seats 10A and 10F are close to the exit doors, and aren’t encumbered by seats 9A and 9F blocking an escape.
   
   MD80 = rows 21 and 22 are near emergency exits, and afford an extra eight inches of leg room as well as distance from the plane’s rear engines.

Tips & Warnings

• Of course, staying home is a surefire way to avoid aircraft crashes, but if travel you must--these expert guidelines may help!