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Airline Offering Plane Crash Survival Course to Frequent Flyers
British Airways is giving their best customers a competitive edge in the event of disaster by offering a course on surviving a plane crash. Beginning next year, members of the airline's Executive Club can cash in air miles to take the four-hour safety class. From the article: "Andy Clubb, the BA manager running the course, told the Independent: 'It makes passengers safer when travelling by giving additional skills and information, it dispels all those Internet theories about the brace position, and it just gives people so much more confidence in flying.'"
how long before plane crash is the next airline fee?
No, it's not April 1st... no, the news story isn't from the Onion... oh, "cash in air miles", makes sense now.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
I'm sorry, but after reading the article, it appears that they will be charging money for information that should be, and probably already is, available to the general public.
I call shenanigans!
Salt, the Epicure's Delight...
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Along these same lines, several additional survival courses are available:
Sign up now, spaces are limited!
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
An airline with some common sense would NOT charge customers for the right to be reminded of PLANE CRASHES...
That makes it different from any other class how? There isn't a reputable school in the world (at least not a technical/practical one) that depends on some kind of "secret knowledge" in their classes. Everything is available one way or another to anyone who wants to find it.
The purpose of classes is to organize that material and teach it to you in an efficient way via a guide who can answer common questions in an immediate and interactive way. Some people do find it easier to go out and dig up the information and teach themselves, but a lot of people benefit from a classroom type scenario where they receive instruction from someone knowledgeable in the area.
Honestly i'd be much more wary of them if they promised that they had secrets to surviving a plane crash that weren't available to anyone else.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
It's with that attitude that lead people to ignore safety rules on the aircraft (wear your seatbelt while seated, put your seatbacks forward, etc.). "It may just save someone's life, but I'll be damned if I'm going to be told to raise my seat for landing!"
Don't eat the fish.
The final exam is a killer though.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
...a signed Bruce Campbell arm mounted chainsaw for mowing down passengers blocking your way to the emergency exit. Yay! You win!
First, you aren't spiraling towards the ground at thousands of feet per second. Check your math.
You wouldn't make it out the door of the plane. At a high-altitude, when you'd still have a few minutes to escape, you can't open the door due to the pressure difference. (For obvious reasons, it's completely impossible to open the door at altitude.) Once you get low enough to open the door, the air will be dense enough that the plane will almost certainly be a bit unstable and you'd have a tough time making it to the exit. On the off-chance you went through it (fighting your way through the scrum of all these people wearing ungainly heavy parachutes), the wind forces would probably snap your body in two against the door frame. If you make it out the door, you'll need to avoid the tail.
I'd be shocked, that out of an entire plane, a half-dozen made it to the ground alive.
But none of that matters... why? Because most accidents take place near takeoff, landing, and taxi, which is when parachutes would be utterly useless due to the fact you are going to hit the ground well before anybody but the pilots have time to do anything about it.
If you are going to spend a truly hideous amount of weight on safety measures (parachutes are HEAVY), there are lot better places to put it.
I got mod points but cant resist.
The airlines could start charging you for the little drop down oxygen masks. You know in the event you need it you got to pay. You could charge 5 bucks at the counter and a million dollars on the way down.
Well, in this article they did some statistics and claim that it's better to sit in the back.
This is British Airways we're talking about, not Southwest or Ryanair. BA does not charge hidden fees for everything. In-flight food and drink, a reasonable number of checked bags, etc. are all provided at no extra cost.
(The downside is that BA tickets are more expensive up-front. You pays your money and you takes your choice: put up with sleazy nickel-and-diming scumbags, or pay a premium to receive premium service?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brace_position
Loaded with 3rd party links as well.
Seriously, has no one heard of Google or Wikipedia around here? This has already been done for you. You simply have to bother to look it up...
Instructor at a physiological flight training course (i.e. "chamber ride") suggests carry one of those large bags for roasting turkeys in the oven, keep it folded inside your jacket pocket. After a rough landing (no, not one that plows in at hundreds mph), pull it over your head and tighten string. Bag should have enough breathing air but it will shield against toxic smoke and much of the heat. In the event of a cabin fire it will mostly be smoke that collapses other passengers, this bag over your head will give you considerable protection for you to quickly egress.
I agree with other comments that parachutes are not useful. Many crashes happen at takeoff and landing (too low for opening). If you bail at high altitude (and will pass out few seconds later at 30K), most likely land in rough terrain (can you survive it?) or in open ocean (will only live for 10 minutes in north atlantic). Probably need ejection seat (not practical for 200+ seats) though you may get an air or leg torn off at punch out. If aircraft goes into a wild spin or dive, you will feel a second or two of weightless then will be slammed and held against fuselage wall unable to move due to g-forces (many airmen could not escape from a falling B-17).
Step One: Make it so the airplane doesn't crash! (there aint no step 2)
mfwright@batnet.com
in Canada we have the choice to pay a premium for the sleazy nickel-and-diming and not paying a premium and getting the twice the nickel-and-diming.
Jehovah be praised, Oracle was not selected
Plane flying somewhere above the Atlantic. Experiencing turbulences, and suddenly one of the enginess goes off. Stewardess gets the mic and says: Ladies and gentelmen, we are experiencing some minor problems, but please stay calm. OK, now please take your passports, everybody has them? Thats fine, now roll it... WHAT??? Asked some dude. Just roll it, replied the lady. And now stick it deep into your anus... Whatta hell! Yelled another guy, Hows that suppose to help us! Stewardess with angelic calm on her face says: it will help to identify the bodies after we crash. Thank you for your attention.
At the platinum level, a special culinary course is offered on the best way to cook and eat coach survivors, should you be stranded on a desert island.
Are you sure you didn't get that backwards? Your numbers don't pass the smell test, how would being closer to the point of initial impact increase your odds of survival?
In a survivable crash the front of the plane isn't closest to the point of impact because at aircraft speeds a head-on crash will be fatal to everyone. A survivable crash is one where the plane is at least mostly in a normal landing position: parallel to the ground. In this case, every seat is close to the point of impact and its the various structural elements of the plane that help your odds such as the wing and tail support structures. But since the plane will be moving forward and the fuel is in the wings, it seems to me that the people in the tail have the worst odds because all the fuel (fire/smoke) will be blown back on them.
Most crash survivors are killed by burns and smoke inhalation.
Most crash survivors aren't killed.
~Idarubicin