Aviation Exploratory Essay Where is really the Safest Place to Sit and

Aviation Exploratory Where is really the Safest Place to Sit and Why - Essay Example Inevitably, I believe that in the event I am on a plane that crashes, I guess it really won't matter where I'm sitting. So why does the thought always come to my mind I have to admit I have never really set out to research the topic. It seems I fly, arrive and return safely, and like probably the majority of the population, do not consider it at any other time. We all, I believe, assume that safety is present and take for granted that the likelihood that it 'will happen to me'. I know I am not alone in this question. We have all heard friends and family talk about it. The front is safest or the back or over the wings. How do people really know And for that matter is there really any place on a plane that is safe. If you are 40,000 feet in the air and the plane loses power will sitting in the front seat or the last seat really make a difference I would assume probably not. We have all heard about the terrible plane crashes with no survivors. I think that is what probably scares us the most - the sheer number of people that are killed as a result of a single accident. When reading one of those stories, inevitably, it is mentioned that flying is safer than driving. That statistically is easy enough to determine, but it still does not answer my question. The question that has baffled me though is where on the plane to sit. I allow all of the possible scenarios of what could happen to run through my mind. I have just about convinced myself that in the case of a plane at cruising altitude crashing, there is really not much hope of anyone being able to survive. However, all these theories make it apparent that people do survive crashes and the events leading up to the crash must play a part in whether one survives or not. Take offs and landings, in thinking about the question, probably would be the two main situations where your seat placement would be most critical in the event of a crash. Logic is telling me that being in the front in a crash landing is probably the most dangerous place to be, but again that most likely depends on each individual event. However, if speaking in generalities, the back sounds like the safest place to be sitting. Take-offs have me more baffled although if the plane makes it off the ground, again, the fro nt would probably be the most dangerous place to be sitting If I really intend to find the answer to the question sitting here and debating with myself is going to get me no closer to finding the answer to my question. So where do I begin The first place that comes to my mind is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The government agency that investigates all the plane crashes seems the logical place to start. I have never been to their website, and, truthfully, do not think they will have the answer to my question posted there, but reading through the pages will hopefully, give me ideas on where to look next. I have already considered the possibility of doing a general search online for airplane safety, and that is what I will do if I do not find useful information or links at the FAA site. However, the thought of such a broad search will probably leave me with millions of sites to sift through. Starting at a known, credible source makes more sense to me, and, if nothing else may shed some light on ways, at least, I can limit a general search. With that I am off to the FAA website. Hopefully, searching FAA will give me their link; and twenty seconds later it did. The first thing I did when I arrived at the FAA home page was to look at how it was set up. Several of the main pages look promising - Data and