Jumping out of a plane and parachuting isn’t as romantic and easy as one might think, and moreover, it doesn’t help save people’s lives in an accident.
Parachutes have become indispensable items on fighter planes or military aircraft as they help many pilots survive in emergency situations. But why is there so far no commercial aircraft in the world equipped with parachutes for all the passengers on board?
In short, there are many reasons for this decision by airlines, including the fact that most passengers are not trained to use parachutes, the improper design of commercial aircraft and the high cost of air travel. Fees are inflated . Not only that, even if it is equipped on commercial flights, survivability has not been improved.
There are many reasons why commercial flights are not equipped with parachutes for passengers.
If you watch enough action movies, you will find that skydiving is not difficult and does not require much practice. Even first-timers can do it without difficulty.
Indeed, it’s not that difficult, when all you need is just put on the parachute, zip the latch and jump out. TOO wrong.
For those who are new to skydiving, they almost have to strap themselves to the trainer.
Skydiving is not easy, at least it is not as easy as many people see on TV. In skydiving classes, even if new entrants will be strapped to an instructor, they are still required to undergo ” half an hour of basic instruction “.
As for those brave enough to jump out into the air alone, they still have to follow ” 4 to 5 hours of intense instruction on the ground, which includes learning the body’s movements in flight and the hand signals will be used by the instructor when flying with students .”
You must have seen skydivers who can form groups to perform beautifully together in the air. However, those activities all took place under perfect conditions and were planned in advance, and the participants had all carefully rehearsed for this.
The performances are well planned.
In addition, when leaving the plane, they all jumped out according to a predetermined plan and sequence: For example, the heavier person would jump out first. This is to prevent people from falling into each other’s parachute, which can cause the umbrella to roll up causing an accident for both. Moreover, the people who participate in this activity all go in small groups of a few people together.
Meanwhile, every commercial flight has dozens to hundreds of passengers – who have never been trained in skydiving skills, panicking when the plane crashes – there is little hope for the future. This person will follow the correct sequence to not collide with each other when rushing out into space.
All skydivers must wear protective gear.
While skydiving aircraft typically only operate at an altitude of 4.5 km to 5 km, the majority of commercial aircraft must travel at altitudes above 10 km to comply with regulations of the governing bodies. air traffic control, with a speed of nearly 1,000 km/h (5 times the speed of parachute demonstration planes).
At this altitude, skydivers also need an oxygen mask and an oxygen tank to survive the ordeal of hypoxia. As noted above, with hundreds of passengers in a state of panic when the incident occurred, it is nearly impossible to properly equip the protective gear before rushing out.
Small parachute aeroplanes and large military aircraft are all designed to jump out of planes. For example, side openings or ramps in the rear of the plane so that the parachutist can move easily and get out.
Military aircraft need a suitable ramp to parachute without injury.
Meanwhile, commercial aircraft are often large in size and do not have a suitable ramp for that. At this point, passengers jumping out of the plane can be at great risk of colliding with the fuselage or wings, and experiencing serious or even fatal injuries.
A purely statistical reason: the best time to parachute out of an airplane is while it is in motion. However, statistics show that the majority of fatal plane crashes occur during takeoff and landing – periods of time that are completely useless though.
There is also the fact that parachutes are very bulky, heavy and expensive. Each set of parachutes can weigh up to 18kg and the total weight of each flight will increase by several tons when fully equipped for passengers. Moreover, a skydiving suit with full protective gear can cost from ,000 to ,000 – airfares won’t be as cheap as they are today if airlines retrofit these suits.
The majority of plane crashes happen during takeoff and landing – periods of time that are completely useless though.
It is interesting that there have been people who did not have parachutes when they fell from the plane but still survived.
According to the Air Crashes Record Office in Geneva, between 1940 and 2008 there were 157 people who fell off a plane without a parachute but were still alive to tell their stories to us. 42 of them fell from a height of more than 3 km.
A rare case is a British pilot who was shot down in 1944 during World War II. Falling from a height of over 5km without a parachute, he was fortunate to be entangled in pine trees and soft snow, so he was almost unharmed but only sprained his leg.
His luck seemed to have run out when he was later captured by the Germans. However, it seemed that the Germans were more impressed with his near-death experience than the pilot’s nationality, so in May of that year, he was released with a certificate commemorating the historic fall.