Worried about where to sit on a plane? It’s safer in the back, not on the window, and closer to an exit. Do I consider where I sit on a plane? You bet I do. This is what the research says on plane safety:
- The cheap seats are the safer seats. Sit at the rear of the plane if you want to have better odds in surviving a plane crash. New York Post
- The United States General Accounting Office report on aviation safety (Advancements Being Pursued to Improve Airliner Cabin Occupant Safety and Health) indicates that floor retention— the ability of the aircraft cabin floor to remain intact and hold the passenger’s seat and restraint system during a crash—as critical to increasing the passenger’s chances of survival” but the same report says “The front part of the airplane was destroyed, including the floor; most of these seats separated from the airplane, killing or seriously injuring the occupants” and does not outrightly indicate that a safer location is farther from the cockpit. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0433.pdf
- Popular Mechanics considered 36 years’ worth of NTSB reports and seating charts and concluded it’s safer in the back of the plane.
- Greenwich University (London) Professor Ed Galea, Director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group suggests survival can depend on proximity to an exit, aisle seating, and getting off the plane within 90 seconds. University of Greenwich
- As plane crashes are classic “unpredictable events” theoretically the best location is unpredictable. However more aviation crashes have forward impact, which necessarily makes front proximity less safe. This MSN article leans on Galea’s research. MSN Travel
