Which Is The Safest Seat On A Plane?

Air travel can appear to be risky in theoretical terms. However, data indicates that air travel is one of the safest means of transport. For every one billion miles, the death rate for air travel is just 0.07. In comparison, the death rate associated with cars is much higher at 7.28. Motorcycles are the worst with death rate of 212.57. High level of safety for aviation sector has been achieved with continuous improvements made over a period of more than a century. Factors like use of advanced technology, intensive training, and strict regulations have also helped in making air travel safe.

However, we cannot ignore the fact that planes sometimes do drop from the sky or crash-land. Aviation accidents may be few in numbers in today’s age, but they do happen. An aircraft utilizes thousands of parts and complex machinery, which increase the risk factors. Other variables like bad weather, engine failure, bird strike, and human error can also cause aviation accidents.

So, what can be done to safeguard ourselves from a potentially fatal situation? Well, if the plane falls from the sky, there are very little chances of survival. However, there could be other less severe incidents, where you can expect to walk out alive. There have been many cases where people have survived plane crash.

This has prompted researchers to look into the possibility of any link between seating position and respective fatality rate. And the findings of these studies have made some interesting discoveries. Data has been analyzed for plane crashes for more than three decades, which has helped identity the safest place to sit in an airplane. Here are the seats ranked from the most risky to the safest.

Aisle of middle one-third section – Seating charts analyzed for hundreds of plane crashes indicate a high risk for aisle seats in middle one-third section of the plane. The fatality rate for this part of the plane was found to be 44%.

Front third and middle third section – These parts of the plane have largely the same level of risk. As per researchers, the fatality rate was 39% for middle third section and 38% for front third section.

Back third section – This section of the plane was found to be among the safest options. Fatality rate of this section was at 32%.

Middle seat of rearmost tail section – This was found to be the safest place to sit in an aircraft. Associated fatality rate was the lowest at 28%.

Do these findings mean that you should now book your seats accordingly? Well, you can surely do so if they are available. But you should also remember that every plane crash is different. Just because you are sitting in the back row does not necessarily guarantee a miraculous escape. If it’s just to relieve your anxiety, then of course you can book that statistically safest seat on the plane.