Why no parachutes on airlines?

If the aircraft is out of control, an ejection seat is the only way to get out with some measure of success. Jets fly quite a bit faster than the B-17s you see in WW2 combat footage. And even then not everyone got out. With a crew of 10 trained men. Tranport aircraft carry hundreds. The battering the passengers would endure as the aircraft tumbled would render most if not all of them incapable of aerial evacuation (at least of the aircraft! :D). Even if you could make it to a hatch, the pressure differential would make it impossible to open. Depressurize first? I’ve been through an altitude chamber, and you can lose consciousness very quickly at 35,000 feet. If the emergency occurs during takeoff or landing (as they usually do) there would be neither the time nor the altitude to escape. There was a Twin Otter full of skydivers that crashed a couple of years ago here, and only one person got out. He was seated near the already open door.

If the aircraft is under control, then you’re better off staying inside of it. The crash in Suoix City was terrible, but over half of the people survived.

If the aircraft is under control but on fire, you’ll have to fight your way through toxic smoke and panicked people to get out. And assuming you’re not the only one with a parachute, there’s going to be quite a traffic jam at the hatch. With probably very little altitude anyway.

Again, aircraft are very safe. They don’t crash very often. Most crashes are survivable. If you really have to fly with a parachute, the best thing to do would be to get a pilot’s license and buy a plane with a canopy that can be jettisoned. Or a Cessna, most of which have two doors. But unless you’ve broken up (rare) or on fire (also rare), you’re better off to stay inside the plane and use your training to bring it down.

I disagree strongly myself with Dan Tana et al assessment that it would be feasible to distribute parachutes to each passengers… It doesn’t seem at all technically, economically and humanly possible.

On the other hand, attaching parachutes on the WHOLE plane seems quite possible, as detailed here:

http://www.dropzonepress.com/

and here:

http://209.238.147.86/

Note that this is already used with small planes but there doesn’t seem to be insurmontable technical difficulties to extending this system…

To put another spin (heh) on it: Let’s try to imagine a scenario where parachutes would be useful.

Right, that means a plane in slow, level, controlled flight over land, either at relatively low altitude or carefully decompressed. Actually, decompression is bullocks, because the plane can change altitude faster than we can decompress the cabin and then we won’t have to crawl over unconscious passengers. The parachutes are built into the seats and are completely automatic (like the automatic reserve chutes used by some skydivers or like paratroops). Actually, what we’re describing here is a civilian version of an airdrop.

Of course, we have low winds (because you’ll hit the ground travelling at the speed of the wind, unless you’re well-trained enough to steer your chute into the wind and flare it, and you’re not) and a clear landing area. Daylight would be nice.

But why would you want to leave this obviously controllable and well-flying aircraft ? I’ve a grand total of two static-line jumps, and leaving a perfectly good plane for a piece of silk and some strings takes some psyching up, even if you boarded the plane with that very intention.

If the pilot can fly the plane within parachuting parameters, he can probably perform a landing with fewer losses than those in the wake of a massive airdrop of panicky, unprepared & untrained civilians.

And as Johnny pointed out, if the plane is not in controlled flight, you’re not leaving it.

S. Norman

The only thing I can say to you is, “Don’t fly, if that’s how you feel.”

Maybe you can figure out why there are no seat belts on buses.

There was another thread on this here: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=26248

Yes, the Cirrus has a built-in parachute; but there is a considerable size and weight difference between a light plane and an MD-80.

Here is a story that can be related to the idea of using a parachute for an entire plane http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/10/27/crime.airindia.02/index.html

If this plane had a parachute and it wasn’t damaged in the explosion, it possibly could have saved lives. It at least would have minimalized the impact and maybe would have allowed enough time for the survivors to evacuate before the plane sank.

There are at least three major airline incidents in the recent past where the airplane seemed to be in dire trouble in the air but managed to land.
[ul]
[li]A 747 flew through the ash plume of a volcano and had all engines flame out. The plane dropped about 20,000 ft. when the pilots managed to re-start and flew home safely.[/li][li]A 767 ran out of fuel over Gimli, Alberta. The pilots glided the plane over 70 miles to a deserted airstrip (which was now being used for drag races) and made a successful emergency landing with no injuries.[/li][li]A DC-10 near Sioux City Iowa suffered a catastrophic engine explosion which severed all hydraulic lines. The pilots successfully flew the airplane to a landing using only the throttles to control the airplane. Unfortunately, the plane hit at a fairly high descent rate and cartwheeled, but over half the passengers lived.[/li][/ul]

If parachutes had been available to the passengers of these flights, they might all have tried to bail out, and the death toll would almost certainly have been higher.

Whenever somebody mentions whole-airplane parachutes, I always think the same thing: what happens if one accidentally deploys in-flight? You know it would happen sooner or later. What would the consequences be? Would it just slow the plane down, or might the pilot lose control of the aircraft? Could the stresses cause by this event tear off part of the fuselage? I doubt an accidental deployment would be trivial, and it might cause a crash that never would have happened otherwise.

The whole “if even one life is saved because of parachutes” idea fails to consider how many more lives would be LOST if there were parachutes available. Lets put it this way. Parachutes have weight. More weight means smaller payload. Smaller payload means fewer passengers per plane. Which means more planes. More planes means more accidents.

OR: Parachutes take up weight. That means higher costs. That means poor people won’t fly as often. That means they will drive for their vacation. And everyone knows that drivng is dozens of times more dangerous per mile than flying. How many people will die on the highways if we increase airline costs through parachutes? Lots. How many people will be saved if the have a parachute and the plane crashes? I doubt there would be more than one or two a decade.

I just flew last week. Ummm, even getting out to go to the bathroom is an ordeal. You have to squeeze by everyone, the hall is about 6 inches wide. Now imagine that the passengers are panicking. HOW could they bail out? Remember how long it takes to leave the plane when you land? It takes five or ten minutes! OK, maybe it would be faster since you don’t let people take their luggage. But the plane won’t be sitting still on the ground.

Look, a parachute jump would only be survivable if the plane is somewhat in control. If the plane has enough control to allow you to jump with even a minmal chance of success, you would still be much safer staying with the plane. If the plane is in control enough for you to bail out, you wouldn’t want to. If the plane is in enough trouble that you would want to bail out, you wouldn’t be able to.

This is my final $.02s worth.
Not counting commuters, I’ve probably flown more miles than anyone one this board. I’ve flown commercial props and jets as well as private props and jets. I’ve been through major wind sheer (basically stuck everyone to the ceiling), major turbulance (the whole overhead baggage carrier broke OFF injuring most of the passengers on that side of the plane, have had the 737 I was flying on struck by lightning (all the interior lights went out - if only for a few minutes),landing gear trouble in FL on a 747 not to mention just plain bad piloting in Mexico.
I have parachuted, owned 2 hang gliders, have parasailed and bungie-jumped (the most fun;)). And not once did I feel that leaving the plane in any of those incidences was a prudent thing to do. Basically, I trust that the pilot values his own ass as much as mine. And sure there are the OCCASIONAL wrecks where some people survive, but look at the stats - when a airliner crashes, people die. period.
And rare as crashes may be it would be nice to have an option when they do - especially at sea.
Look at it this way: even if everybody didn’t make it off, aren’t some lives worth saving?
And all this speculation about not being able to leave a plane unless it’s flying straight and level is just that - speculation! When I was stuck to the ceiling in that down-sheer, If I would have wanted to I definately could have made it to an exit crawling on the ceiling like Linda Blair.
Quoting safety numbers doesn’t discount that some people will die in plane crashes. Deaths that might otherwise be prevented if someone was working on a solution and not counting beans.
And I sincerly don’t mean to be rude, Johnny, but that seat cusion just ain’t gonna save your ass!

People are constantly working on solutions. I would imagine that each new model of aircraft that is designed is substantially safer than previous ones. Parachutes, for reasons mentioned here, are not a viable solution. I’m sure they’ve been given all due consideration, however.

As for bean-counting, air travel is only safe if people use it. Thus, it has to be affordable. The expenses and dangers of parachutes more than outweigh the small possibility of it saving a few lives.

Okay, let’s look at the stats. These numbers are from U.S. Civil Aviation Accident Data (As Reported by NTSB on 2/25/2000) 1999 Preliminary Data. There were 141 Air Carrier (* Includes air carrier (scheduled and unscheduled), commuter, and air taxi) accidents in 1999. Nineteen of those accidents were fatal. There were 62 total fatalities. So yes, people die in some crashes; but not as many as you think. If there were 141 accidents and 19 of them were fatal, that means that only 13% of the accidents were fatal.

How would you have opened the door?

I don’t think I ever mentioned the seat cusion.

Let me ask a question: If you feel such a need to wear a parachute, why don’t you buy a surplus T-38? You wear a parachute, it’s as fast (or faster, with a waiver) than an airliner, and you don’t have to be a slave to someone else’s schedule. Besides, they’re more fun than sitting in coach! So why don’t you do that?