Plane Design May Be Key in Surviving Crashes

 Posted on August 07, 2013 in Personal Injury

After the Asiana Airlines plane crash in San Francisco July 7, many people were amazed at how many passengers walked away from Flight 214. There were over 300 passengers on the flight, along with air personnel, and only two were killed in the crash. The truth of the matter is, however, that commercial flights are very safe according to research at the Massachusetts of Technology and MIT aerospace professor John Hansman who is also the director of the International Center for Air Transportation. The National Transportation Safety Board also conducted research of flight crashes between 1983 and 2000, which found about 95.7% of all plane occupants survived the crashes. Only 2,280 passengers were killed out of the 53,487 total passengers on board those planes that crashed in the 18 years included in the study. Asiana Airlines has strengthened its planes due to previous crashes, according to aviation safety experts. In an emergency, all airlines must be able to get every passenger off the plane within 90 seconds. CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, Kevin Hiatt, said that the strengthened seating and fuselage are directly related to what they have learned from past accidents. "They hit very hard, they skidded down the runway and then into the dirt and then really rotated around. It's great design characteristics that kept everything intact on that airplane so that people could actually evacuate," said Hiatt. Along with great design, Hansman added that the 90 second rule played a big part in getting so many passengers off Flight 214. Leaving behind laptops and other important belongings is a key to getting everyone off, said Hansman. The longer it takes people to get off the plane, the more likely it is that they will be caught onboard. If you find yourself injured from a plane accident, however, contact an accident attorney to help you with the next step to get the compensation that you deserve. Our DuPage County accident attorneys will help you fight your accident case today.