Passengers on airliners do not have parachutes...why?

a reply to: wmd_2008

It does occasionally but 9.9 times out of 10 you're right.

a reply to: Fylgje

Ejecting downward has been proven to be more dangerous than ejecting upward. You have to have at least 500 feet below you to even THINK about it.

The lower deck of the B-52 had downward ejecting seats, and almost every crew member that used them was killed in the attempt. The ones that weren't killed in the initial ejection generally died from their injuries in the hospital.

I have skydived at 15 thousand feet in nothing more than shorts and a jump suit..chilly yes.. - anything temp wise no, its roughly a 30 degree temp drop to 15000.

As far as ejection seats... its not economically possible to have them on commercial airlines..not even for the cockpit.

even with my experience I wouldn't want to rush through strapping on a chute while in a high stress situation and then jump and trust my life to having strapped it on correctly. (and that's not even touching on getting out of the plane and not meeting an immediate brutal death anyways.

This thread is starting to make my head hurt..


Edit: and nobody has even touched on the Skydiving 101 rules that your average joe would have no clue about even if we ignore what generally happens to a plane that has a hole opened in it at altitude and cruising speed.

originally posted by: FlyersFan

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

Passengers on airliners do not have parachutes...why?

I used to skydive when I was MUCH younger. It takes a day's worth of training before you can jump out of a plane, know how to use the toggles and ride the wind, and know how to land without killing yourself. Passengers don't have that kind of training. That was just the training to jump with little piper planes at 6,000 feet. Add to that the jet engines of big jet liners sucking people in and chopping them up as well as the extreme altitude without oxygen ... parachutes for passengers is impossible

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

Have to echo that - I had a pal who was compettion Skydiver and used to bring his chute on as hand luggage (days before the cheap airlines) - always got curious looks from the cabin crew. But he freely acknowledged even being an expert - that the chute was next to no use shout the plane be going down.

He also had 100s of hours training on the things - nothing any passenger would have. Here's the thing I climb as a hobby - and no one goes up with me unless they know how to safely put on a harness and all the calls and safety we put in place - how long does that take me to school a pupil ? - at least an hour - some chance if your in a crises situation - and that's just going up an indoor wall maybe 80 feet with a waist harness and safety rope!

originally posted by: Fylgje
By ejecting the pods the people escape the doomed aircraft the same way a fighter pilot ejects.

You obviously have not thought this out with any great effort. If you are ejecting a 'pod' then that pod needs to be constantly segregated from the others pods and the remainder of the aircraft so it can be jettisoned independently and individually. That means it would have to have its own pressurization or at the very least be full segregated by internal bulkheads with locking doorways.

Additionally, what would be the method of jettisoning these pods?

This is not possible.