Why don't they have parachutes in commercial airliners?

Question

In a plane crash EVEYONE usuallly dies, but with parachutes people would have the chance to escape, although the plane would have to slow down and lower its altitude for evacuation obviously.

I wish people would spend time, READING peoples questions properly, I already said that the plane would need to slow down, so all the people who said that exiting at a travelling plane at 500mph was impossible, have wasted their time as I already knew this. I underdstand that chutes are impractical, but its dobtful that its impossible.

Answer 1

1. At altitude, you'd freeze to death instantly upon exiting the aircraft. The temp is typically -40F to -70F. At normal cruise of 500 - 650 MPH, every bone in your body would be shattered when you hit the slipstream; most people's arms and legs would be ripped off by flailing injuries. Think of all of the crushed and frozen arms, legs, and bodies with unopened parachutes attached hitting the ground at terminal velocity -- about 125 MPH.

2. Most accidents happen during the transition period of takeoff and landing. You're too close to the ground for parachutes to be effective and there isn't enough time to get everyone out anyway.

3. There are no doors on an airliner that can be opened in flight, so there is no way to get out anyway.

4. Parachutes need to be donned before getting on the airplane. You'd need to show up 5 hours before departure to get everyone suited up. Connections would be 5 - 7 hours.

5. The bulk of the parachutes would require the airlines to remove half of the seats to make room. Add the cost of parachute riggers and staff to help passengers put them on, and airfares would quadruple at least.

6. The typical airline passenger isn't trained in the use of a parachute; it would be akin to handing a 5-year-old a loaded AK-47.

Answer 2

If you have ever travelled economy on an airliner you will know that you sometimes have to remove body parts to be able to fit into the space available, and whenever anyone stands up to go to the toilet or reach for a book, the whole cabin goes into gridlock with people playing a bizzare game twister over each other.

Imagine a situation where a nervous flyer suddenly grabbed at a parachute (which would take up the space of a seat) and started putting it on....it would be chaos and people would doubtless die even in a non emergency. Apart from that people putting a cardigan on tends to wipe out three rows, never mind a parachute.

People do survive airplane crashes and the more people in one place the more chance of survival. People in business suits plopped all over the mid atlantic would be hopeless.

Finally I know you say that the aircraft needs to slow down but the stalling speed for a large aircraft like a 747 would still be very high for a jump, never mind the fact that it would be crashing, and if it wasn't crashing I would prefer to stay in it.

For the last couple of years I have been flying around 15,000 miles a month and always take the sensible precuation when I get on the flight of knowing exactly where the drinks trolly is and having at least one more drink than I need by my seat in case of emergency.

Answer 3

It is hard enough to get out of an airliner on the ground when the plane is standing still at the gate now imagine 300 idiots that did not listen to the flight attendant's briefing trying to figure out how to use a parachute for the first time then imagine that the airplane is moving around tossing you up and down and back and front now we come to the fact that in a pressurized aircraft you can not open the doors until it is depressurized oh yeah and you are flying at 400 MPH hope you don't hit the tail on your way out. More people would die attempting to exit the aircraft than if they rode it in during an emergency landing!!!!

Answer 4

Look, sport, don't get your panties in a bunch. Most of the time, like a lot of people say here, crashes occur on takeoff or landing. Sometimes planes do run into trouble at altitude, and yes, it would seem that if they were able to slow down and lose some altitude, people could bail out. But actually getting possibly hundreds of people out of the plane and getting parachutes deployed is probably impossible, and even if they were to slow down to minmum speed and the passengers WERE able to get out, the passengers would be scattered for many miles, and quite possibly dropped into very hostile environments like oceans, snow-covered mountains, swimming pools, and war zones, or plunge into places like downtown New York where they would get hit by a cross-town bus or end up dangling off the Empire State Building. Additionally, the demographics of the passengers is an issue. You've got infants, children, senior citizens, people who are scared to death of flying and would never jump, and you've got handicapped people. Imagine all these people raining down to Earth with absolutely no jump training. And this is all assuming that the pilot has the chance to guide the plane to a safe speed and altitude. Most of the time he doesn't. The plane simply fails in midair, and usually crashes uncontrollably. The pilot doesn't have the luxury of a controlled descent. If he did, he would probably land, even if it was a hard landing. In my opinion, it would be best to stay with the plane and die that way rather than have 200 people scattered over 100 miles hanging in trees, floating in lakes and rivers, stuck on Mount Everest, or behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. It's easier for recovery crews to collect bodies that way. There. Did I read and answer your question the way you asked? I hope so. I tried my best.

Answer 5

When you are at an altitude of 37,000 ft and traveling at speeds in excess of 500mph, are YOU going to want to JUMP out? You would die.

Most crashes happen when during the landing or take-off. A parachute would be useless.

On top of that, you need training, lots of training to use a parachute properly.

It is most impracticable to have parachutes on your flight. And in most plane mishaps, not everyone dies.

Flying is still safer than taking a bath or walking to the corner store. It is a lot safer than living in a city, like Detroit or the Bronx in NY.

Answer 6

Jumping with a 'chute is a very skilled activity. Also, exiting from an airliner at cruise speed (in excess of 500mph) would result in certain death - not to mention the need for the plane to be depressurised, and the consequent requirement for everyone to have portable oxygen supply. It is totally impractical, and I cannot think of one incident/accident where 'chutes would have saved lives. I am a pilot, not a skydiver, although I have long experience of flying for skydivers.

Answer 7

You are incorrect. In many accidents most or all passengers and crew survive. You don't hear about these as much as the ones where everyone is killed.

The majority of fatal airliner crashes occur on landing or takeoff when the aircraft is too low for a bailout.

Other crashes have resulted from loss of control and the aircraft have maneuvered so violently that escape would not be possible.

Generally the aircraft protects passengers more than a parachute would.

Answer 8

Because theyre normally at a height that would stop the doors from opening. The cost of parachutes for every person would make plane journeys skyrocket. Bigger seats would be needed and trust me- they're cumbersome and a pain in the *** to wear.
Most people wouldn't have the presence of mind or training to pull the cord on the way down and e-bay would be overrun with
'parachute- used once, never opened- one small stain!'

Answer 9

Most crashes occur at take off or landing of the aircraft. There is little time and little altitude to get the many people free of the plane. I suppose in an in air emergency, but then at 30,000 feet I don't think there's enough oxygen once you're outside of the aircraft.

Answer 10

No worries man, I'm reading your question. The reason there are no parachutes are because of the not so well people in the plane like elderlies that have not done it before.