word.

"Stiff" by Mary Roach is a great book. Everyone should read it.

I think you'd be screwed no matter what. On the other hand, I'd lose my mind waiting for 300 people to get their shit together and get the F off the plane while I'm standing and waiting way in the back. That's always drives me insane. People who wait until people ahead of them start moving to decide, "oh wait! I should get my shit out from the overhead compartment." *headdesk*

I think I'd rather be falling on top of a hundred people than a hundred people falling on top of me.

This just makes sense to me. Plus at night, I hear that is where the wild drunken parties the Flight Attendants always go to.

Unfortunately, I think Lost is on hiatus until January. :-(

Or you could just be smarter than the average bear, bring a parachute as your carry-on and request the emergency exit seat. Though that same action may also get you arrested since looking after your own safety, and being a threat to the plane are typically the same thing.

Are you kidding? Clear the way for others. The on;y clearing I'm going to be doing is clearing my pat to the emergency exit (I've heard it's better to go over seats than try to get into the aisle and follow a buch of silly lights like 300 other people.)

If I'm trapped in a burning fuselage, I'm gettin' out Costanza style: pushing old ladies and children down to get out.

Grrr.

Not actually true, but would you have overwater flights get rid of the floatation devices anyway? What if your jet rolls off the end of the runway and ends up in a lake?

Again, from Wikipedia, here's a relevant section:

Hah! That is a brilliant reply!

"Ah-ha hush that fuss...everybody move to the back of the Airbus."

Exactly - and this non-news is heavily weighted by the Dallas L-1011 crash in 1986, where the tail section broke off and stopped moving while the rest of the plane hit two 4-million gallon water tanks, exploded, and killed nearly everyone in the front two-thirds of the jet. From the Wikipedia article on the crash of Delta flight 191:

Most of the survivors of Flight 191 were located in the rear section of the aircraft which broke free from the main fuselage before the aircraft hit the water tanks.

That reminds me I hope Lost gets back on track this fall and actually finishes some of the plots they've started instead of adding new ones.

To illustrate, imagine you had a 1% chance of dying in the back and 5% in the front. You are FIVE TIMES AS LIKELY to die in the front, even though it's a "4% increase".

@ancientsociety ~ NICE!

"Safety experts say aft-facing seats are safer in a crash because rather than being thrown forward, passengers in a backward facing seat would be pressed back into their seats."
[Denver Post]

Uh - as the above poster said smoke and fire kills most if you end up surviving. I'll take a seat next to the door so IF I survive I can actually BE of assistance in an emergency, and get my ass out while clearing the way for everyone else too.

A study of 20 plane crashes, inside the US, is hardly a scientific study. 11-5 more back survive than front, this could entirely be luck. 3 tie and 1 unknown? Sure that's a good record for a football team but certainly not conclusive.

Wait. I thought the bears where manifested by Walt, after he read the comic book.

Damn bears!

I would still rather die up front than deal with the coach trash in the back. And btw, the polar bears were on the other island, they just swam across after the 'event'.

sigh

I hope this statistic (statistically significant? I don't know) gets popular, 'cause it'll mean fewer people trying to take the good seats near the front of the plane!

4 8 15 16 23 42

Back when parents used to fly separately in case of plane crashes (in the 80s and earlier) they used to also suggest parents sit over the wing or behind it if at all possible to maximize chances of survival in a crash.

We poured over reports? Poured what? Lighter fluid?

@bilge: That was a special case. IIRC, the KLM flight hit the back of the Pan Am flight. But for a "normal" crash, if the plane's headed nose first into the ground, then it sorta makes sense that people in the back have a better chance of surviving.

@notlazyjustdontcare: I always tell people who are scared of flying due to crashes that there's a MUCH greater chance of them dying in a car accident on the way to the airport. Some people calm down, some people get even more scared.

Everything I ever needed to know about a plane crash I learned from Lost.

Exactly where they store the polar bears on a transcontinental flight, is the only open Q I've got...

In the last 10 years, how many plane crashes HAD survivors. Probably 1 or 2 where simply the density of seating was roughly that of this chart. In the 2 plane crashes that had survivors, the crashes were such that this was the case.

That being said, I am surprise "Over the Wing" is as safe as it is. Even though it is a main structural strong point of the plane, I would think there are a lot of fuel lines there. Things that go boom, and spray you with flaming jet-fuel.

Dying in a plane crash is like winning the lotto. If you play the lotto 20% more, you'll still probably never win.

I still want a parachute. Even if its completely impractical and I die clutching to it while strapped into my chair, I will feel a lot better.

No, no, no....if you sit in the back, you're MORE likely to be taken by The Others