Survivors after the plane crash. Real stories

Since the man first ascended into the air, he knew the fall. Every year the flight technique became more complicated, more perfect and safer, but the wreckage of the aircraft continues. Mass death of people in the fall of a passenger liner becomes not only a grief for inconsolable relatives of the dead, but also a national tragedy.

Survivors of the plane crash are celebrities, who are spoken and written by the media in all countries of the world. This is due to the fact that there are very few such people.

Airplane falling statistics

If we take the statistics of aircraft crashes for the entire historical period of development of passenger air travel, then we can conclude that they are extremely rare. The chance that the technology will collapse during the flight, take-off or landing is 1/8 million. This means that a person will need more than 20,000 years of daily flights on random flights to board the same unlucky one.

Engineers-developers of aircraft, insurance agents and statisticians are interested in the question, is it possible to survive in an air crash? The answer is yes, since survivors after falling from such a height can share their experience.

If you take the statistics of the identified reasons for the fall of technology, then in percentage terms it will look like this:

• When the aircraft is loading, 5% of accidents happen (most often a fire);
• At take-off - 17% of catastrophes;
• When climbing only 8% of cases;
• During the flight 6%;
• When the aircraft is reduced - 3%;
• Approach is the cause of 7% of cases;
• Landing of the aircraft - 51%.

The statistics of all recorded cases of falling liners shows that the greatest risk is present during takeoff and fall. Probably, therefore, the passengers applaud the pilots just after they have completed this stage of the flight.

Survivors after a plane crash often indicate that something "suddenly" has become wrong with the plane. In fact, meticulous extras and workers in charge of flight safety note that the reasons for the sudden breakdown of instruments or burning engines are flaws that were not revealed on the ground, so the reasons for the fall of the liners should primarily be sought there.

Causes of aircraft crashes

Sadly speaking, the main cause of all air crashes is the human factor. The machines do not spoil themselves and do not disable. The lack of proper attention in their assembly, with daily checks for a malfunction and the conscious work of pilots and controllers - all this often leads to the collapse of technology.

Is it possible to survive in a plane crash if the experts did not do their job well? And in this case, the answer is yes, because today there are cases when more than 1 person was alive.

Statistics of aircraft crashes in percentage terms is as follows:

• Pilot error is the cause of 50% of cases;
• Mistakes of the personnel serving during the flight were revealed in 7% of the tragedies;
• The influence of weather conditions is 12%;
• Malfunction of devices and the machine as a whole - 22% (something that was not properly identified before the flight);
• Terrorism and others (unidentified causes or collision in the air) - 9%.

Of the listed reasons, except for weather, everything else is people's activities. This suggests that the tragedy could be avoided, and the cases of survivors of the crash were significantly higher. If we take the statistics of the largest crashes in the last 30 years, then they are:

• DC-8 crashed in Newfoundland in 1985 on takeoff due to speed loss, killing 250 passengers;
• The fall of the Boeing 747 in 1985 in Japan was caused by poor repair, the result is 520 victims;
• IL-76, the next from Kazakhstan to Saudi Arabia collapsed in India in 1996 from a collision in the air with the "Boeing", the result - 349 dead;
• IL-76 fell in Iran in 2003 due to a strike against the ground with poor visibility, killing 275 people;
• 224 people who did not survive the Kogalymavia air crash in October 2015, filled in sad statistics: the reason is a possible terrorist attack.

This is not all the major crashes that happened between 1985 and 2015, but even from them it can be seen that their reason is most often human inattention or dishonesty. The list of survivors of air crashes would be much longer if the specialists in charge of flight safety performed their work well, and the passengers knew what to do in order to survive.

What to do when a plane crashes

It turns out that there are rules that really help people survive when a ship crashes. The most basic instructions are given by flight attendants before the flight. Unfortunately, most passengers do not listen to them, much less they can not apply in practice. Among the simplest recommendations is considered mandatory:

• Be fastened during takeoff and landing (ideally, it is better to be fastened all the flight);
• Know where the lifejackets are and how to use the oxygen mask;
• In an emergency, do not leave your place, much less try to get into the luggage compartment in order to save your things;
• Concentrate and take the correct pose before the plane collides with earth or water (bend your head to your knees, covering it with your hands).

In addition to these simple rules, there are several conclusions of specialists in emergency situations that people who survived a plane crash have intuitively applied and not suffered.

Most passengers die after the crash of the plane and its ignition, because they can not get out of it in time. To prevent this, you should know in advance:

• How to unfasten seat belts;
• The exact direction to the exit (especially if there is smoke in the cabin);
• Panic is a 100% death.

For example, George Lamson, who was still a 17-year-old in 1985, survived only because at the time of the collision of the plane he was flying with his father, his chair was thrown out of the salon. If the boy was not fastened and put his head to his knees, and after the fall he failed to quickly unfasten and run to a safe distance, he would perish, like the other 70 people.

As the cases of survivors in a plane crash show, if a person does not panic and knows what to do, then he has all chances to survive. Investigating examples of such tragedies, scientists came to the conclusion that many passengers, instead of getting out of the plane, are waiting for someone's instructions or instructions. It is important to know that in such a situation everyone is responsible for his own safety.

High-risk situations

Although it may seem that the survivors of the crash passengers - it's just lucky, in fact it is not. As shown by the data of scientists from England, who studied more than 2000 cases of rescue in such an accident, these people were helped not by a simple confluence of circumstances, but by specific knowledge and actions plus a bit of luck.

It turns out that there are high-risk areas and safer areas in airplanes, as evidenced by survival statistics:

• For example, those who sit in the first five rows in the nose of the aircraft, the chance of survival is 65%;
• He is even higher among those who sit in these rows in the extreme seats (67%), and not near the portholes (58%);
• Passengers in the tail of the aircraft have 53% survival, if they also sit in the first five rows from the emergency exit;
• People who survived the plane crash and were sitting in the middle of the salon are extremely rare.

In addition to the risk zones in the cabin, the aircraft itself plays an important role. Thus, statistics state that 73% of all air crashes fall on small planes, calculated up to 30 seats. The fatal outcome of the crash of a single-engine or small aircraft is 68%, which indicates that the chance to survive by passengers and pilots of such a transport is tantamount to a miracle.

Conclusion suggests one - you should fly a large plane of reliable companies. It is unlikely that only the right choice of vehicle and space in it will save life in an emergency situation, but the chances of survival for its passengers will be greater, and rescuers in the wreck of a large liner do not ask the question "are there survivors of the crash," but save them.

The most difficult situations

The most difficult and dangerous part of a catastrophe is the collision of an aircraft with land or water. After this happened, people have only 1.5-2 minutes to stay alive. It is at this time that you need to meet to unfasten, find a way out and jump out as far as possible.

The biggest threat to life is the fire and the carbon monoxide filling the cabin, which is confirmed by the woman who survived the plane crash. Larisa Savitskaya survived after the collision of the plane in which she was flying with her husband, with a bomber. Having received burns from the fire that started, she managed to concentrate and take the right posture in the armchair, which saved her life when she fell on him for 8 minutes from a height of 5200 m.

Its landing "softened" the branches of trees, but even surviving after such a fall, she had to endure a severe shock both from the injuries received, and from the fact that the rescuers were in no hurry to search for the fallen plane, confident that no one survived.

"Are there survivors of the plane crash people?" - this question should primarily be for those who deal with such situations. Larisa was waiting for help for two days with a fracture of the cervical spine and head trauma. She is the only one who got into the Guinness Book twice for the same event:

• The first time as surviving after falling from a height of more than 5 km;
• The second - as having received the most miserable compensation for the damage received - only 75 rubles.

No less threat to human life is the collision of the aircraft with the water surface, although most passengers naively believe that it can mitigate the fall. Such ignorance of the elementary laws of physics cost the lives of many people.

Fall into the ocean

When an airplane suffers a disaster over the ocean, the phenomenon is not rare, but the number of dead passengers remains shockingly high, although there are survivors of a plane crash on the water.

This happens for several reasons:

• Firstly, people often because of panic can not find and put on a life jacket;
• Secondly, they too early put it into action, and in the inflated condition it prevents not only to move, but also to swim out of the cabin if water has entered there;
• Thirdly, they do not know that hitting an airplane against water is equivalent to a collision with a concrete covering, and may not be buckled up to take a rescue posture.

Except when the pilot performs a forced landing on the water, a fall into the ocean is just as dangerous as on the ground, which is confirmed by the only surviving girl in the plane crash.

Bakary was 12 years old when he and his mother flew from Paris to Yemen. For no apparent reason, the plane fell into the ocean 14 km from the shore of the island of Big Komor. From the impact on the water, he was torn to pieces, and the girl fell into the water. She was lucky that on her surface were parts of the liner, one of which she waited 14 hours, until it was picked up by a nearby fishing boat.

The history of the girl has bypassed the whole world, since this is one of those examples when, perhaps, the survivors would have been more, get help on time. Overcooling and life jackets that were not worn on time killed the rest of the passengers.

This is not the last example, when the only survivor in a plane crash had to fight for life because of a lack of assistance on the ground.

The fall in the jungle

Although there are examples where the fall of the plane was mitigated by branches of trees, the number of survivors of passengers and crew was no greater. As before, an important role is played by the way a person behaves during a tragedy.

An example of this is the story of a German 17-year-old schoolgirl traveling with her mother from Lima to Pukallpa (Peru) before Christmas in 1971. In fact, it was a small flight, which became tragic due to the fact that the aircraft fell into turbulence during a thunderstorm.

From the impact of lightning, the systems of an air ship left the system, a fire broke out in the cabin. Juliana Kepke - the only survivor in a plane crash passenger during this flight. At an altitude of 6400 m, both wings broke off from the aircraft, after which the departed liner began to fall apart in parts.

The girl was saved by the fact that she was fastened and took a life-saving pose when a row of chairs with her seat "threw" overboard. During the fall of it, along with the debris from the cabin, a strong wind rotated, which led to a decrease in inclined and falling into the thick thickets of the Amazon jungle.

The consequences of the "landing" was a broken collarbone, bruises and bruises, but it was still awaited by great trials. Being 500 km from Lima, in the midst of the jungle, not knowing the road, this young woman who survived the plane crash was forced to fight for life in an unfamiliar area.

For 9 days she walked downstream, afraid to move away from it, so as not to lose the source of water. Eating fruits and plants that she recognized and could tear down, the girl went to the parking lot of fishermen, who brought her to the hospital.

If Juliana had to wait for help near the fallen plane, she would most likely have died. According to these events, the Italian television company filmed a feature film "Miracles still happen", which later saved the life of the Soviet girl Larisa Savitskaya, who was waiting for two days of rescuers.

Surviving crew members

It is quite rare to hear that the crew members survived when the plane crashed. Perhaps they are busy saving passengers or are at that moment in the most "dysfunctional" part of the plane, but this is a fact.

But there are examples when the flight attendant, who survived the plane crash, was the only one rescued. Spring Vulovich in 1972 was only 22 years old, when during the next flight from Copenhagen to Zagreb the plane of the Yugoslav airline collapsed in the air as a result of an explosion of a terrorist bomb.

This case can be attributed to the "miracle", as the Spring could survive, being in the middle of the cabin of the aircraft when falling from a height of more than 10 km. The fragment of the car in which it was, fell on snow-covered trees, which very much softened the blow.

The second "miracle" was that when she was unconscious, she was found by a peasant from a nearby village and taken to a hospital. A flight attendant who survived a plane crash when falling from such a height, was almost comatose for almost a month, and then struggled for an opportunity to move about and live a normal life for another 16 months.

Spring Vulovich became the record holder of the Guinness book as a man who made a jump without a parachute from a 10 kilometer height. It is unlikely that there will be a daredevil who, by his own will, decides to surpass her result.

The fall of Russian aircraft in Egypt

One of the most urgent topics of the autumn of 2015 was the plane crash in Egypt. Today "there are survivors" is not the most important issue in this tragedy. If in the beginning there were rumors that not all of the 224 people were dead, now it's a sad fact.

Today the public is interested in the cause of the death of the airliner, and guarantees that this will no longer happen with Russian aircraft.

Completely different versions of what happened with the Airbus A321 are outlined by Russian and foreign media. The plane departed without delay, 23 minutes after take-off, disappeared from the radars of the dispatchers for unknown reasons.

One of the versions why the survivors of a plane crash in Egypt were not found is the explosion of a bomb on board. The plane was torn in the sky, so there was practically no chance for the passengers.

The Egyptian authorities claim that the presence of a bomb in the wreckage environment of the aircraft was not found. These data were published by them after experts from the United States, Britain and Russia came to a different conclusion.

The only reason for the discrepancy between the experts' conclusions is Egypt's unwillingness to lose potential customers during the tourist season and to pay compensation to the Kogalymavia company for the crash of the aircraft in its airspace. If there were survivors in a plane crash in Egypt, they also received compensation for damage.

We should expect to which agreement both sides will come, but looking back on the history of aeronautics, it can be said that airplanes do not just fall apart in the air and do not disappear from the radar. There are no final conclusions yet, but the world community understands what caused the plane crash in Egypt today. Are there survivors, this answer is unambiguous - "no".

Positive statistics

Knowing the meticulousness of scientists in wanting to count and measure everything, one can not doubt that they also studied the question of why people do not survive in a plane crash.

The reason is really the most banal - the same human factor. If we take the statistics of changes in the causes of the drop in aircraft since 1908, it will look like this:

• At the dawn of aircraft construction from 1908 to 1929. 50% of the wreckage was caused by technical malfunctions, 30% - by weather conditions, 10% - ignition and 10% - this is pilot error;
• By the second half of the 20th century, the air fleet came up with different statistics - 24% are related to equipment, 25% - the weather is guilty, pilot error is 37%, ignition is 7%, and terrorist attacks only 5%;
• In the 21st century the statistics completely changed - 45% - the human factor is responsible, 13% - the weather, 32% - technical malfunctions, 3% fire, and 4% of the cases.

So the causes of air disasters in the air for 100 years have changed. Nevertheless, today it is the safest kind of movement, because the wreckage occurs with a probability of 0.00001%. In addition, more and more often there are facts when, when a plane crashes, not one person survives, but a significant part of passengers.

For example, 4 people survived a plane crash in Japan in 1985. 12 minutes after take-off, the airplane had a depressurization in the tail section. The pilots managed to hold the car in the air for 32 minutes, after which the board collapsed 100 kilometers from the capital of Japan. As the survivors told, there could be more rescued people, because people asked for help, but by the time rescuers arrived, they were not in a hurry, 520 people were dead. They were killed by hypothermia and wounds from falling.

Unfortunately, information about the rescued does not always correspond to the truth. So it was when they reported that 4 people survived a plane crash over Egypt. In this case, you can only sympathize with people who have found the hope of a miracle, but then again lost it.

In the Russian history of aviation, there are also examples when passengers survived the crash of a liner. So, the people who survived the Kogalymavia air crash in 2011 with the fire of an airplane that only taxied to the runway received a lucky ticket. Of the 116 passengers and 6 crew members, only three people were killed, while the Tu-154 was completely burnt.