A week of deadliest and back-to-back plane crashes has left the world, especially travellers, in terror and has raised the question of what is the safest spot in the plane.
According to CNN, looking at the pictures of the two fatal air crashes of Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 and Jeju Air flight 2216 at the end of 2024 showed that the old frequent-flyer adage is the safest place on the plane, which means sitting at the back of the plane is safer than sitting at the front.
The 29 lucky people who survived the Azeri crash were also sitting at the back of the plane.
Moreover, a Time Magazine report from 2015 combined data from the US plane crashes from 1985 to 2000, and after analysing both fatalities and survivors, they found that the back seats of the aircraft have the lowest death rate, 32%, as compared to 38% in the front third and 39% in the middle third.
Meanwhile, aviation safety experts have different views about safe spots or seats in planes.
Hassan Shahidi, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, said, “There isn't any data that shows a correlation of seating to survivability. Every accident is different.”
Cheng-Lung Wu, an associate professor, highlighted, “If we’re talking about a fatal crash, then there is almost no difference where one sits.”
Ed Galea, professor of fire safety engineering and a researcher of plane crash evacuations, warns, “There is no magic safest seat. It depends on the nature of the accident you’re in. Sometimes it’s better at the front, sometimes at the back.”
But Galea also revealed that most of the plane crashes are “survivable,” and with modern planes built to withstand impacts and slow the spread of fire, the survival chances of the passengers have risen to 90%. The only thing that makes a difference between life and death in the crashes is how fast passengers can evacuate.
