15 questions · Technology
The most reassuring number in aviation is one hardly anyone knows: the great majority of people involved in aircraft accidents survive them: across recent decades well over half, and by US investigations about 95 percent of occupants walked away. Whether you are among them is often decided in moments you can prepare for. Airliners must prove for certification that they can be evacuated in 90 seconds using only half the exits, and that is exactly what the boarding ritual everyone skips is for: counting the seat rows to the nearest exit: in a smoke-filled cabin, counting is the only navigation system left. The brace position, bent forward with the head secured, prevents the body's second impact in the seat; the hand luggage stays behind, because the trolley in the aisle costs the people behind you their 90 seconds; and in smoke you crawl low, where air and sight still live. The most dangerous vehicle remains, by a wide margin, the car and there too, knowledge saves: the seat belt is the greatest lifesaver in traffic history; in a snowstorm you stay with the vehicle, run the engine only sparingly and keep the exhaust clear of snow, or carbon monoxide seeps into the cabin. If a car plunges into water, the first seconds count while the electrics still live: belt off, side window open or smashed with the escape hammer (the laminated windscreen will not yield) children first, then out. And in a burning tunnel: engine off, leave the car, follow the green exit signs. The car is insured; you are not.
Practise for freePurFact brings every card back right before you would forget it. That's how knowledge sticks.
Yes (the great majority)
By analyses of the US accident board NTSB, about 95 percent of occupants of crashed aircraft survive. "You have no chance anyway" is statistically plain wrong and dangerous, because it breeds passivity.
Within 90 seconds
And with only half the exits usable. Those 90 seconds are why the crew shouts so uncompromisingly during an evacuation: fire and smoke grant hardly more time.
Count the rows to the nearest exit
In a dense smoke layer the exit signs vanish: whoever knows it is five seatbacks forward can feel their way blind. Note the exit behind you too.
It prevents the body's second impact
Head against the seat in front or on the knees, hands on the head, feet flat and back: the body doesn't slam into things during the deceleration. It has demonstrably saved lives in real accidents.
Low, near the floor
Hot smoke rises and gathers above; the last breathable centimetres lie at the floor. So crawl: even when every instinct screams to run upright.
None (everything stays behind)
Reaching for the trolley blocks the aisle and costs the people behind you the 90 seconds. Documents are replaced by any embassy; people are replaced by no one.
Fire, fuel or water may wait outside
The crew checks through the window whether the side is safe: a door opened towards the fire side fills the cabin with smoke. So: obey commands, even when they seem absurd.
The seat belt
The three-point belt (Volvo, 1959, patent deliberately opened to all) has saved millions of lives worldwide: no other invention in the car comes near that record.
Stay in the car
The car is windbreak, heat store and search target in one. On foot in a whiteout you lose orientation in minutes: most freezing deaths in such situations left their vehicle.
Keep the exhaust clear of snow
A buried tailpipe pushes carbon monoxide into the cabin: odourless and lethal. Run the engine only in short bursts anyway, and crack a window.
Belt off and open the side window immediately
In the first seconds the window motors usually still work and the water pressure is low. Sequence: seatbelt, window, children, out. Don't wait for the movie trick of equalising pressure.
An escape hammer or spring punch
These tools shatter side windows with one strike on the corner. Elbows and feet regularly fail against modern glass: the hammer belongs in the door pocket, not the boot.
The windscreen is laminated and won't give
Windscreens are two glass layers around a tough film: you fight them in vain. Side windows of tempered glass crumble completely at a pointed blow.
Leave it and walk to the emergency exit
Engine off, key in the ignition, follow the green exit signs. Smoke fills tunnels in minutes; whoever turns around or "quickly drives through" blocks rescue and the fleeing.
Behind the guard rail
High-vis vest on, exit on the far side, everyone behind the barrier: never stay seated in the car. Vehicles standing on the hard shoulder get rammed shockingly often.
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