How come passenger airplanes don't come with parachutes?

Question

How come passenger airplanes don't come with parachutes? They have seats that act as flotation devices and masks, but not parachutes?

Answer 1

I'm sure it has been considered at one time or another, but the practicalities are totally prohibitive.

Nobody is going to wear a chute for the duration of a flight and when you imagine how hard it can be to get your jacket off in a crowded plane, imagine trying to get and put a chute on while in an out of control aircraft.

A catestrophic aircraft failure at altitude will usually result in explosive decompression of the main cabin meaning that breathing becomes the No.1 priority - putting on a chute would be practically impossible.

Added to that the simple logistics of getting people out, cramped aisles, small number of exits etc....

The circumstances would have to be perfect to give anyone a chance of getting out even with a chute - aircraft in a controlled flight, no decompression i.e. altitude under 10,000 ft, small number of passengers, chutes either worn or very easy to locate and put on etc. etc.

For the guy who mentioned life rafts... of course there are life rafts on an airliner - the door slides are designed to function as life rafts in the event of a ditching.

Answer 2

Getting out from a jet using a parachute is hard even for those well experienced personel from the arms. High skills are needed to do that. The speed is the biggest matter against you and the doors aren´t designed to open during the flight. Even when a person get on a plane with the intension of sky diving, is hard to jump out. Can you imagine what can hapen in a emergency situation?

Answer 3

The only flights that use parachutes are the military. Private pilots dont use them because the likelyhood of needing them is highly unlikely. Planes dont just break apart and you need to jump out of them. Usually if something happens in a plane at a high enough altitude for a parachute to be of use, you can land it as a glider; no parachutes needed.

Answer 4

Considering the number of people flying on any given day, It would be quite the night mare. They would also have to carry rafts to accommodate these people, what are you going to do when you land in the water, most aircraft fly over water, rafts take up a lot of room. Special training is required to use a parachute.If you are going to use a chute, you should also have a backup chute. This would create a lot of jobs for sure. You would also be required to wear the chute during flight, getting into those tiny bathrooms would be a task.
You can bring your own chute on any aircraft now if you want! I think this would cause the rest of the passengers to worry about you!

Answer 5

Psychological and financial and practical
Parachutes connote lack of faith in the airplane's safety causing client concers.
The cost of equipping and maintaining the chutes would add HUGE costs to tickets
Can't parachute from 30,000 feet: most airplane accidents happen at too low level for a parachute to be of value, no training for people how could use it,

Answer 6

Look under the seat of an SAS jet in business class - they have everyhting except a parachute IE survival suit, food rastions, very impressive ..

Plato would say - why dont they make cars out of rubber - then everyone would survive ..

Cost
aesthetics
practicality
liklihood of injury .. same arguments against parachutes

Answer 7

I think the biggest reason is psychological. They don't want anything that even suggests the possibility of a plane going down. Also, at your average jet's cruising altitude they wouldn't do any good anyway.

Answer 8

because if they crash they want you to die so you won't sue them