Why commercial planes don’t have parachutes

Ever wonder why commercial planes don’t have parachutes under the seats so passengers can escape accidents — the same way boats have life jackets? Well, if you’re one of the millions of people who’ve had this idea, know that some engineers have thought about it too. And they concluded that it is not worth it because, contrary to what we are led to think by common sense, a measure like this would not help save thousands of lives.

O awesome.club loves fun facts, so he wants to share with you the reasons why there are no parachutes on commercial planes.

Skydiving is not a simple activity. It’s not about jumping, pressing a button for the parachute to open and waiting in silence until you reach the ground. The truth is that beginners often need intensive counseling to be instructed in basic matters such as:

The way to maneuver your body when you’re falling.

Preparing to exit the plane door

Keep the body stable when exposed to high altitude and strong wind.

To get an idea of ​​how things are not simple, just the theoretical part of a skydiving course — not counting the practical training — takes about 10 hours.

For obvious reasons, with the time needed to prepare for a flight, pack your bags, transfer and travel documentation, not everyone would be willing to take a skydiving course several hours before the flight. And even if instructions were given during the trip, a large number of passengers would not pay attention. In addition, all skydiving equipment can weigh up to seven kilograms and it is not cheap.

So if a plane can carry 200 people, 200 parachutes are needed. This would add an extra weight of 1,360 kg in total, which would make the aircraft use more fuel, making the flight more expensive. Another detail: let’s agree that the internal space of planes is no longer something very encouraging. Everyone who travels frequently has a story about the tightness and lack of comfort on flights. So, imagine how things would be if 200 more parachutes were placed inside. There wouldn’t even be room for the legs. Also, in case of an emergency, the time it would take someone to put on the skydiving gear would be too long; therefore, the safest thing would be that, by protocol, passengers would use it for the entire trip, which would undoubtedly be very uncomfortable.

Only trained skydivers jump from altitudes above 4500 meters and even then with supplemental oxygen. Students and pairs jump at approximately 3,000 meters, while an amateur is recommended to do so at 1,000 meters. Now imagine an inexperienced passenger jumping from the altitude of a cruise flight, over 10,000 meters — or higher than the top of Everest. With an air temperature below −60 ° C, the cold wind blow could immediately freeze the nose, mouth and even eyes; therefore, a special mask, an oxygen cylinder, a flight suit and an altimeter would be needed, which the person should know how to use in order to survive.

To jump with a parachute, the plane must be in full flight, but only 9% of fatal accidents occur in these circumstances. Most of them happen during landing or takeoff, that is, at a very low altitude, which would cause the parachute not to have enough time to open.

But even being at the necessary altitude to open, the parachutes would not be useful. Normally, the problems that cause air accidents at high altitudes are storms or strong winds, which completely discard the parachute, something that, under these circumstances, would be extremely dangerous. Not to mention, the plane would move too fast because the emergency doors weren’t designed for “free falls”, making it impossible for passengers to avoid heavy knocks on the door and walls and causing many to be thrown away before taking off. to jump.

All that being said notwithstanding, suppose for a moment that individual parachutes were placed under passenger seats—and that they weren’t huge like they are today. If the plane was in serious trouble, surely everyone would panic. And although this reaction is understandable, the truth is that, in these situations, it is necessary to remain calm. Passengers had to remove the parachute and place it with an oxygen mask (which would be connected to a cylinder) on their face, without releasing their seat belts.

Now, imagine this whole process in an emergency situation at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, in narrow seats and with the plane shaking — a more common situation in an accident. And all this under the pressure of getting ready on time or dying. Experts guarantee that many would not even be able to take the parachute.

And, if miraculously all (or almost all) passengers heard the instructions and managed to place the parachute correctly, they would still have to jump respecting a minimum time between one passenger-paratrooper and another so that there were no collisions in the air or tangles of the parachute wires. That is, it is impossible for everyone to jump at once! Do you think panicked passengers would patiently wait their turn to leave the plane?

If individual parachutes don’t work, what about one for the whole plane? Unfortunately, it’s not a good idea either. In fact, there are parachutes that can sustain small planes in the air with a maximum of 5 passengers. When an emergency arises, the pilot can pull a handle from the roof to open the parachute. But even in that case, the impact would be equivalent to a jump from a height of 4 meters for passengers, which must be very painful.

But, in the case of commercial jets, for 100, 200 passengers, the situation is even more complicated. To begin with, the aircraft must be at a high altitude to be able to open the equipment and, as we said, most accidents occur during takeoff or landing, which would not give the pilot time.

Another factor against is that, considering that a large aircraft has up to 300 tons (this is the takeoff weight of a loaded Boeing 777), the parachute must be incredibly strong and large, which would make it very heavy, involving fuel costs. higher prices and increases in ticket prices. Also, a parachute would not be enough. Many of them would be needed, located in different parts of the plane and each one would have to be the size of a football field. Doesn’t seem very realistic, does it?

What great minds don’t lack is imagination. One idea would be that, at the time of the crash, the plane would dispense with some of its heaviest parts, keeping only the passenger cabin. This idea was suggested by Gleb Kotelnikov in 1920, who proposed a mechanism with which, in the event of an accident, the wings would be cut with large blades and the cabin would be separated into several parts, which would reduce the speed of the fall. And although it is an old plan, the truth is that it is one of the most viable that we have to date. The point is that, if it were something truly executable, it would probably already have been adopted by the manufacturers.

Have you ever skydived? If not, would you dare to do it? Would you like to have one as a mandatory safety measure on flights? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section.