Are airplanes safer than cars during a crash? What are their survival rate comparisons?

Question

Everyone is saying that air travel is safer than car travel, which is fine if you compare raw number of cars/airplanes, but one aspect of it I notice gets ignored, and I want to zero in on it.

1. In the event of a crash, what is the survival rate of an new airplane vs a new car?

Car's have lots of advance safety features that are designed to protect the passengers during a crash.
There are a lot of crash test done on cars to measure their affects on people.

2. What safety features are in airplanes designed to protect the passengers during a crash? And is their crash test data for it?

Answer 1

1. Aircraft Crash Protection SystemWe all are aware of the fact that many lifes are lost every year due to air craftcrash.There are number of types of air craft crashes. In sudden air crashes where theair plane crashes suddenly while flying in this type of sudden air crash it is verydifficult to save the passengers using a passive safety system. But there aremajor cases in which the air plane crashed gradually where there is adequatetime to save a crash for example crash due to lack of fuel, failed engines, failedlanding gear etc, these are cases where the air craft crashes gradually.Key points of Air Craft Crash Protection System are as under: 1) Parachute for gliding the plane when its engines are not working, or when the plane becomes out of control. 2) Two stage air bag for crash landing in land and on water 3) Roller on impact absorbing air bags 4) Detachable wings / fuel tanks to reduce the risk of fire during crash landing and explosion during crash. 5) This system helps the plane to crash land safely in critical emergency situations 6) Brake by parachute system for safe braking during crash landing with air bags.

2. 1) Parachute for gliding the plane when its engines are not working.Majority of air craft crash occurs due to engine failure or loss of control, andthe end result is the air craft struggles to remain in air or glide in the air. Withthe help of parachute the plane can be safely brought to ground level or sealevel. With the help of a giant parachute which can safely bring the aircraftdown to land and sea level. The parachute will be designed in such a mannerso that it can glide comfortably at high linear velocity. The parachute could beeasily controlled by the pilots with the principle of paragliding. The ropeswhich hold the parachute with the pane will be wounded on pulleys withmotor which can wind or unwind individual ropes of parachute independentlywith the command from pilot to control the plane with paragliding techniques.

3. 2) Two stage air bag for crash landing in land and on waterThere will a two stage air bag, the first one for absorbing the jerk of crashlanding with parachute and the second one for floating on water.1st stage air bag for absorbing impact due to landing or land or water withparachute. While crash landing the2nd stage air bag for keeping the plane floating on water

4. 3) Rollers on impact absorbing air bag.Rollers will be provided on impact absorbing air bag so that the plane can rollfor a safer landing.These rollers will help the airplane with impact absorbing airbag to slide on thesurface of land during crash landing. These rollers will also help to avoiddamage on impact absorbing air bag by land surface.

5. 4) Automatic detachable wings, (ADW).We all know that wings are the most important part of an aeroplane. But in anevent of crash landing the wings are the component which makes the plane tocrash. Due to the shear length of wings it fouls with external objects whilecrash landing and makes the entire plane to crash. Moreover fuel is also storedinside the wings of air plane which acts as a bomb in an event of crash.By “ADW” system in a event of crash landing the wings of the plane getsdetached automatically so that the fuselage can be safely brought down onland or water safely with the help of a parachute and air bags as mentioned inthis project.

6. Application of this project:This project, “Air Craft Crash protection system” can be used by domestic airlines to save many lifes travelling in it, it can be easily and cost effectively usedin chartered air planes or small air craft which carry precious lifes of manyVIP’s. This project can be used as a mandatory safety feature as we have airbag and seat belts for automobiles.

Answer 2

It depends on where and when the "crash" happens. There have been several "incidents" of planes crashing on take off or landing, but those often do not cause any fatalities. Obviously, if a plane goes down from full elevation, no one is going to survive and no safety equipment would change that. But as Roger points out, no one has died on a U.S. airline in 5 years- and very few on any other airline. You're more likely to slip in your bathtub and die, or be hit by lightening than you are to die in a plane crash.

Answer 3

Harrowing..."I Survived a Plane Crash" the story of lone survivor Annette Herfkens who spent eight days in the Vietnam jungle severely wounded and trapped in the fuselage amid the dead bodies of her fellow passengers on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Wednesday, May 28, 3 pm ET. Listen online at http://bit.ly/U4EEMd

Answer 4

1) 11 million to 1 that you'll die in a plane crash and 1 in 67 in a car.



In America 2.9 million people were injured and 42,636 people killed out of 6,420,000 auto accidents.

I'm not sure if many people have survived a plane crash.



2) Safety features are seatbelts in a plane, the brace is meant to protect your bones, the mask and lifevest useless you land in sea or need oxygen when you have crashed. That is all they have the plane is not mean't to crash and most people would die in a plane crash much less in a car.

Answer 5

I think it was Louis Armstrong who said about airlines that "they might kill you, but they ain't likely to maim you."

Answer 6

1) There has not been any fatality on <> US airline for more than 5 years.



2) There are about 25,000-30,000 deaths from vehicle accidents every year, just in the US, so that is 125,000+ dead people from cars, vs. 0 from planes in 5 years.



3) MANY people survive airplane crashes. I do not know the statistics, but a few examples:

- The crash about a year ago at SFO where the Asiana (?) airliner came in too low and hit the seawall. Some of the deaths were not necessarily from the crash, but from being struck by the rescue vehicles.

- United Airlines flight 232 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_flight_232 ) crashed in Sioux City Iowa attempting an emergency landing after an engine explosion and subsequent total hydraulic failure. Of the 296 people on board, 111 died in the accident while 185 survived.

- The "Miracle on the Hudson" where there were no fatalities:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_on_the_Hudson

- The "Gimli Glider" where, again, no one died:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_glider



There are many others where there were some fatalities, but many survivors, I just don't have the time to try to look them up.



Wikipedia says this:

"Over 95% of people in U.S. plane crashes, between 1983 and 2000, survived."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_crashes#Other_crashes_with_high_death_tolls



They do not explicitly define what is considered to be a "crash."



Obviously the accidents you hear the most about are the most catastrophic ones where everyone perishes. That is not always the case, however.

Answer 7

This is a great question. I happen to be one of those weirdos who have no fear of flying but am scared sh*tless on a busy freeway.