Can you survive in the belly of a plane?

There are serious risks associated with the extreme conditions people face if they try to travel in the undercarriage of a plane. These include being crushed when landing gear retracts, frostbite, hearing loss, tinnitus and acidosis - the build-up of acid in body fluids which can cause coma or death.



People Also Ask

Generally, the temperature in the hold is kept between 12 and 16 Celsius (54 and 61 Fahrenheit) depending on the aircraft and its cargo load. The Hold's are normally a few degrees cooler (or same) as the passenger cabin. They are the same pressure as the Passenger cabin.

MORE DETAILS

We've seen it in movies; James Bond or some other tough guy hero hanging onto the outside of plane at 30,000 feet while attempting to stop the villain's nefarious plan, but could a human being actually survive that kind of situation? The answer is no, Jason Kring of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University told popsci.com.

MORE DETAILS

And one report said a 15-year-old boy made it through a 2007 journey from Perm, Russia, to Moscow (808 miles) stowed away inside the wing of a Boeing-737, so severely frostbitten by the end that crews couldn't remove his shoes or coat. But alive.

MORE DETAILS

In the middle, at the back 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.

MORE DETAILS

Airplanes are designed so that a water landing won't cause immediate harm to passengers. Many ditching-related deaths are from drowning, not the impact. But don't let this discourage you from flying. Forced water landings are unlikely to happen, especially on a commercial flight.

MORE DETAILS

Your pet dog or cat is secured inside their IATA-compliant crate before boarding the flight. Most airlines ensure your pet boards and disembarks the aircraft on priority. The cargo hold has a special area for pets, and your pet's crate is secured in the plane in its designated space.

MORE DETAILS

Takeoff and landing are widely considered the most dangerous parts of a flight.

MORE DETAILS

The good news is that an airplane crash doesn't necessarily mean certain death. In fact, of the 568 U.S. plane crashes between 1980 and 2000, more than 90 percent of crash victims survived [source: BBC]. In the event of an air disaster, there are things you can do that can increase your odds of living.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

The inner pane basically safeguards the load from the passengers during flight. When both the outer and middle panes break, then all the pressurization in the airplane would escape leading to decompression in the passenger cabin. A plane is pressurized for passengers' comfort as it climbs to a higher altitude.

MORE DETAILS

The NTSB says that despite more people flying than ever, the accident rate for commercial flights has remained the same for the last two decades, and the survivability rate is a high 95.7 percent.

MORE DETAILS

A jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Tampa International Airport after it lost part of its wing in the air. Officials at Tampa International Airport said a Cessna Citation was at 27,000 feet near St. Petersburg when the pilot lost the left winglet and part of the wing.

MORE DETAILS

A pilot managed to land his plane safely after a section of his wing fell off during an aerobatic flight. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the right aileron - the trailing edge of a wing which controls movement - came off when the pilot performed a roll.

MORE DETAILS