Just as they have those floatation devices and oxygen masks that fall down automatically, why don’t they provide parachutes for all passengers on commercial airliners? Better still, why don’t they provide those “ejector” seats? Wouldn’t it be nice if when the pilot determines that the plane is going down, instead of anouncing the bad news on the intercom, he would say “ok! The plane is going down. Please get ready to eject!” and then push a button to open the ceiling of the plane. The passengers would have their oxygen maskes on and would press a button on the seat and whoooosh! eject out and then land slowly with a parachute. Something like those fighter pilots.
Because they still have to give people instructions on how to fasten and unfasten seatbelts.
Here are some previous GQ threads on the subject:
parachutes in commercial airliners
Commercial Airline Parachutes
Why no parachutes on airlines?
Parachutes, Airlines and Airforce One
Short answer is that in most cases they wouldn’t do any good. They aren’t worth having for the incredibly tiny chance you would be able to use one successfully.
As Ethilrist said, it’s hard enough to get people to keep their seatbelts on while in a seat. You want to add using oxygen, and most importantly, actually being in a seat to this?
How would you feel if you were stepping out of the lav when the announcement was made, and the ceiling opens up, immediately sucking you out? Kinda ruins your day. :smack:
Well, treating this as seriously as I can…
[ul][li]Ejection seats are heavy, complicated, expensive, and most of all, dangerous. In fact they are about a thousand times more dangerous than anything you’ll ever encounter in a commercial airline flight. Fighter pilots themselves are scared of them.[/li][li]Parachutes, while much cheaper, can be just as dangerous and they are totally, utterly impractical for use by hundreds of panicking passengers aboard a distressed commercial jetliner.[/li]Lastly, the only time an ejection seat/parachute is used on any aircraft is after a complete loss of control and/or structural integrity (which, again, is incredibly rare on a modern commercial jet).[/ul]
Most airline crashes occur during takeoff or landing, when you wouldn’t be high enough to bail out successfully. Only a tiny fraction of airline accidents involve planes falling out the sky mid-flight.
[QUOTE=Hail Ants]
Well, treating this as seriously as I can…
[ul][li]Ejection seats are heavy, complicated, expensive, and most of all, dangerous. In fact they are about a thousand times more dangerous than anything you’ll ever encounter in a commercial airline flight. Fighter pilots themselves are scared of them.[/ul][/li][/QUOTE]
During the war with Yugoslavia a few years ago, I kept pretty close tabs on reports of NATO jets that were shot down. There were several reports of pilots who were injured just from the force of the ejection. And they were serious injuries, like multiple broken bones and spinal injuries. Those things are nothing to fool around with.
Also, given the way they pack people into airliners, you have to consider the question of what happens to the guy sitting two inches behind you when your (rocket propelled) ejection seat fires up.
I already posted in the earlier threads, but…
Of course. The seats are made by Martin-Breaker! ;p 
[sub]Not really. They’re Martin-Baker. But you can see by the previous post how they would have gotten their nickname.[/sub]