This airplane seat is the safest in the event of a crash

February 9, 2023

By Kim Komando

Are you a nervous flyer? It’s more common than you may think. Many people are not only afraid of heights, but the thought of an airplane crashing can terrify anyone. Believe it or not, there are safer locations on a plane than others in the event of a crash.

Read on to find out which airplane seats are the safest place to be.

Airplanes are safer than cars…though it might not feel that way

Contrary to what your gut might tell you, flying is one of the safest forms of transportation. According to research by Harvard University, flying in the U.S., Europe, and Australia is significantly safer than driving a car.

According to the U.S. National Safety Council, your odds of dying in a plane crash are about one in 205,552, compared with one in 102 in a car. Unfortunately, those stats don’t calm the nerves of those who fear flying.

When booking a flight, safety in your seat location probably doesn’t come to mind. But it should! It turns out that scientists ran the numbers, and there are optimum seats if you want to increase your survival odds during a crash.

Best seats to survive a plane crash

Doug Drury, a professor at Central Queensland University, analyzed several flights that involved crashes and fatalities and came up with answers. It turns out that the aisle seats at the back of the plane are the safest, with an average 28% fatality rate if the plane crashes.

Things get more dangerous the closer you get to the front of the plane. Aisle seats over the wings have a 44% fatality rate, while all seats near the front have a 39% fatality rate.

“Being closer to the front means you’ll be impacted before those in the back, which leaves us with the last exit row. As for why the middle seats are safer than the window or aisle seats, that is, as you might expect, because of the buffer provided by having people on either side,” Drury explains to The Conversation.

Picking airplane seats based on having a better chance to survive might feel creepy. But if it helps calm your fear of flying, it’s worth a try.

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