Airline Once Crashed A Boeing Jet On Purpose To Learn Which Seat Is Safest During A Crash

That’s one very expensive experiment

None of us ever want to imagine our vacation ending with a terrifying crash landing, whether it’s in the ocean or against a mountain. But if the worst were to happen, it makes sense that we’d want to be sitting somewhere that gives us the best chance of surviving.

So, which seat on the plane is actually the safest during a crash? The answer really depends on the type of crash you’re dealing with.

There are all kinds of opinions floating around. Some people firmly believe that sitting at the back of the plane boosts your odds of walking away alive.

But that idea gets challenged by stories like that of British national Viswash Kumar Ramesh. He was the only person to survive a deadly Air India crash and he made it out by escaping through the emergency exit beside his seat, 11A.

So, is there really such a thing as the “safest seat” on a plane? One bold and incredibly pricey experiment carried out in 2012 set out to answer that very question.

What was the 2012 Boeing 727 crash experiment?

Back in 2012, a team made up of television networks from the US, UK, and Germany, including Channel 4 and the production company Dragonfly came together to buy a Boeing 727-200 jet.

Their goal was pretty straightforward, though dramatic: crash the plane intentionally to figure out if there’s actually a safest place to sit, and if so, where exactly that is.

To carry out the test, the plane first had to be flown from the United States down to Mexico. There, it was outfitted with crash test dummies placed in different seats throughout the cabin, plus cameras and scientific gear to track what happened inside during the crash.

How did they do it?

Besides the huge cost of getting a commercial jet and securing permission to deliberately crash it, the teams had to figure out one more key detail—how to actually get the plane in the air safely in the first place.

To solve that, a pilot took off with the plane and then parachuted out once it was airborne and heading toward the crash site.

After the pilot safely exited, a team took over and guided the jet to its destination using remote control, steering it toward a controlled crash.

The Boeing 727 then slammed into the ground at Laguna Salada, near Mexicali in Mexico. It hit at a speed of around 140 miles per hour.

What did they find?

Once the wreckage settled, the crew got to work analyzing how the crash test dummies had fared. And the findings were definitely eye-opening.

If you enjoy the luxury of sitting up in first class or business class, this might come as bad news. According to IFL Science, the dummies in the front seven rows had virtually no chance of surviving the impact.

As you move toward the center of the plane, things get a little better. Dummies seated there still took some damage broken bones and injuries—but it was survivable. Meanwhile, those seated in the very back had the highest odds of making it out with only minor bumps or no serious harm at all.

The data collected from the experiment showed that the front of the plane was hit with forces of around 12g. As you go toward the rear, those forces dropped by half, down to about 6g.

Another thing the crash proved was how important the brace position really is. The dummies that were sitting upright without bracing had terrible injuries, especially to the head and lower back areas.

Aviation expert Anne Evans spoke with USA Today and said the results lined up with what she’s always believed about air safety—that the front of the aircraft is actually the most “vulnerable.”

“My favoured location would be the middle, over the wing, or the rear of the fuselage.” she explained.

Hopefully, you’ll never need to rely on this kind of information in real life. But if you ever do, knowing where to sit just might make all the difference.