Machine Elf: I agree with everything you said. But to expand further on just this:
This takes us full circle back to the OP & some comments about drunks surviving car accidents better than sober people …
Aircraft accidents and car accidents are very different. Some aircraft accidents, like flying into a mountainside, are 100% unsurvivable, period. It doesn’t matter what anybody on board does; once the impact starts, its all over.
But even a pretty nasty landing accident as shown in the NASA test is fully survivable up to the point the airplane stops moving. Not only survivable, but survivable with almost no injuries. Some folks will be sitting right where the airplane breaks open or hits something solid. Those unlucky folks will be killed or gravely injured. This is often the fate of the pilots who are, after all, the first ones to arrive at the scene of the crash.
But for everybody else, the accident is actually much more gentle than a typical car accident such as an intersection T-Bone at 45 mph or drifting /swerving off the side of the freeway at 70. Injuries don’t come from speed, they come from sudden deceleration.
The purported advantages of drunks in car accidents stems entirely from them being loose & floppy & clueless & so better able to absorb high decelerations. Which are, by and large, absent in survivable aircraft accidents.
After the noise stops in a car accident, there’s not much need for a quick exit in most cases. In fact the smart thing to do is to take a few seconds to clear your head, then check yourself for injuries without moving more than necessary, *then *decide whether egressing or staying put is safer / healthier.
OTOH, in a typical takeoff / landing accident, there is a real need to be 100 yards or more away from the aircraft within the next minute or two, tops. Getting out & getting away, right now, is absolutely essential for survival.
And drunks suck at doing that.
Professionally speaking, my bottom line on aircraft accidents & passengers:
When traveling by air, the odds of participating in an accident are very, very close to zero. BUT … If you draw that short straw, remember that the vast majority of accidents are almost completely survivable. An attitude of “my time’s up” or “there’s nothing I can do” is deciding in advance to die in a situation where it’s about 98% UNneccesary. But lots of people, including people sitting near you, have that attitude now & will carry it through that moment of truth too.
Know where the exits ahead & behind you are. Pay attention during the takeoff & first 30 seconds of flight. Likewise the last minute or so of flight through slowing to taxiing speed.
When the noise & motion stops, unbuckle, move quickly to an exit that’s not full of fire outside, and get out. Join the growing crowd outside & herd them & you away from the aircraft. Prompt, resolute action is required; stunned inaction, or a mad panicky rush, is not.
Contrary to Hollywood, almost all accidents are surprise events. The long dramatic buildup with the crew trying to lower the gear or whatever while the FA’s prep the cabin & everybody, both pax & crew, barely control their fear is pretty much pure Hollywood. When we have a problem which requires that big build-up, in almost all cases we land normally. The accidents happen on what was, until a few seconds ago, a completely normal flight.
Be alert, have a plan, and you too can be interviewed by CNN. Be clueless or fatalistic & your family can have the comfort of knowing which lump is you from your dental records. Choose now which path you prefer.
