(AP) — A pilot escaped with only minor injuries after a single-engine plane crashed nose-first into the roof of a hangar Monday at a Southern California airport, authorities said.
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Most of the survivors were sitting behind first class, towards the front of the plane. Nonetheless, a TIME investigation that looked at 35 years of aircraft accident data found the middle rear seats of an aircraft had the lowest fatality rate: 28%, compared with 44% for the middle aisle seats.
As per the officials, there is a commercial plane crash every 16.7 million flights. It means for every 1,000,000 flights, 0.06 planes crash. The aviation authorities have implemented strict safety protocols which have reduced plane crashes by roughly 5.3 % per year over the past 20 years.
During a belly landing, there is normally extensive damage to the airplane. Belly landings carry the risk that the aircraft may flip over, disintegrate, or catch fire if it lands too fast or too hard.
The idea is to get as much altitude as possible, as close to the airport as possible. So you have a relatively steep initial climb, followed by a reduction of climb angle to cruise climb and a power reduction.
Basically, turbulence is unpleasant, but you it will not cause your plane to crash: the safe-proofing for commercial flights is such you simply can't fly when it is too rough out.
Airplanes are designed to withstand rough conditions and it is rare for aircraft to incur structural damage because of turbulence. But turbulence can toss passengers and crew members around, potentially causing grave injuries.
At times like this, pilots will slow to a designated “turbulence penetration speed” to ensure high-speed buffet protection (don't ask) and prevent damage to the airframe. We can also request higher or lower altitudes, or ask for a revised routing.
It might be surprising to learn that turbulence is actually worse in the daytime. In the early morning and night time, wind speeds typically reduce, and thunderstorms clear up. Avoid turbulence and catch up on some sleep by choosing flights with an early morning or red-eye departure!
If the plane doesn't crash, the descent rate generally can't hurt you. If the plane crashes, the horizontal deceleration is likely to do far more harm than the vertical deceleration. That said, 18,000 feet per minute is pretty fast, like 180 knots, so unpressurized it could cause possibly ear & sinus damage.
The worst seats on an airplane for turbulence are the jump seats in the back of the plane, where the flight attendants sit, followed by the passenger seats towards the back of the aircraft.