You may be afraid of boarding a plane or never plan long trips because you dread the moment. But knowing that airliners have parachutes in case of an emergency would reassure you. However, this alternative is impossible. Airliners can safely carry hundreds of passengers, and in an emergency, parachutes would not be the best solution.
Why don’t airplanes carry parachutes?
A plane at high altitude – Source: spm
Why can’t airliners have parachutes on board? We’ve all wondered this. If an emergency happened on a plane, why couldn’t we use parachutes? Here’s why.
1. Not everyone knows how to use a parachute.
Paratroopers – Source: spm
Imagine yourself on a plane on a long-haul flight with over a hundred passengers. In an emergency situation, how would you take turns parachuting without any experience? With the stress, fear, and adrenaline, it’s impossible for someone who has never parachuted before to do so in a critical situation. It’s a real discipline, and all passengers on an airplane would need to be trained before practicing it or be able to perform a tandem parachute jump. Crew members would also need to be trained and accompany the passengers. A parachute evacuation protocol would be very dangerous for all passengers. However, parachutes can be used in small, low-altitude aircraft. They can prevent a plane from crashing in an extreme emergency. Airplanes are considered the safest means of transportation in the world, but accidents do occur. However, the vast majority of plane accidents occur during landing and takeoff. In this case, parachutes would be useless for passengers. These accidents would have to occur in mid-air, but these are rarer cases. Especially since it is impossible to use a parachute without prior training.
2. It is impossible to use a parachute in time in an emergency
Even experienced jumpers, it would be impossible for multiple people to parachute simultaneously under the emergency conditions of a commercial flight. In an emergency situation such as a crash or technical problem, time is of the essence. Even if all the passengers on a 200-person flight were experienced jumpers, a one-minute gap would still be required between jumps to avoid collisions between passengers. Stress and panic are human factors that will likely prevent passengers from jumping from an airplane. It’s also possible to hit the plane’s wing or one of its engines.
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