According to Time Magazine,
Statistics show that the middle seats in the rear of an aircraft historically have the highest survival rates.
This is based on a study of aircraft accidents in the last 35 years.
TIME went through the Federal Aviation Administration’s CSRTG Aircraft
Accident Database looking for accidents with both fatalities and
survivors. We found 17 with seating charts that could be analyzed. The
oldest accident that fit our criteria was in 1985; the most recent was
in 2000.
The analysis found that the seats in the back third of the aircraft
had a 32% fatality rate, compared with 39% in the middle third and 38%
in the front third.
Looking at row position, we found that the middle seats in the rear
of the aircraft had the best outcomes (28% fatality rate). The
worst-faring seats were on the aisle in the middle third of the cabin
(44% fatality rate).
After a crash, survivors who are near an exit are more likely to get
out alive, according to a study published in 2008 from the University of
Greenwich which looked at emergency exit usage after an accident.
Of course, the chances of dying in an aircraft accident have less to
do with where you sit and more to do with the circumstances surrounding
the crash. If the tail of the aircraft takes the brunt of the impact,
the middle or front passengers may fare better than those in the rear.
We found that survival was random in several accidents — those who
perished were scattered irregularly between survivors. It’s for this
reason that the FAA and other airline safety experts say there is no
safest seat on the plane.
But one thing is certain: Flying is very safe, and it’s only gotten
safer in recent decades. This is especially true compared with other
means of transportation. The lifetime odds of perishing in a car are 1
in 112. As a pedestrian, the odds are 1 in 700 and on a motorbike,
they’re 1 in 900. But on a plane? The odds of dying drop to just 1 in
8,000.


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