Can your seat save you in a plane crash? Here's what experts say about the safest place on aircraft | WION Explains

On Thursday (June 12), an Air India flight, bound to London, took off from India's Ahmedabad. Just 33 seconds after take-off, the aircraft, Boeing 787, lost control and crashed into a medical college building. The crash caused a massive blast, and the initial report said no one on the plane likely survived. There were 230 passengers, 10 crew members, and two pilots on the aircraft. It crashed into the building of the BJ Medical College when the students were having their lunch. So far, out of the 242 onboard, 241 people have died. Just a single passenger named Vishwash Kumar Ramesh survived the horrifying crash. Apart from those on the aircraft, four medical students and their family members also died in the crash.

Ramesh, an Indian-origin British national, was seated on the 11A in the Boeing Dreamliner aircraft. He was seen walking to the ambulance by himself after the rescue team found him alive.

"I don't know how I came out of it alive," the 40-year-old lone survivor said.

"For a while, I thought I was about to die. But when I opened my eyes, I saw I was alive. And I opened my seat belt and got out of there. The airhostess and aunty-uncle, all died before my eyes," he added.

Since the incident, speculations started around the seat no 11A, where Ramesh was seated. Not just this, in a similar incident that happened in 1998, a Thai actor-singer who survived a deadly plane crash was seated on 11A.

So, is 11A the safest seat on an aircraft? What is the safest placement of a seat in an aircraft? Here's all we know about it.

The safest area in an aircraft?

Although it's not possible to confirm a particular seat or place that can be considered safest in an aircraft, as it depends on the type of aircraft and the severity of an accident, we can tell you what reports and experts say.

In general understanding, sitting in the middle or at the rear of an aircraft is statistically considered safe.

The National Transportation Safety Board did a study in 2017 to find the safest seat on a plane. The researchers investigated 20 plane crashed that occurred since 1971. The study found that people sitting at the back of the aircraft had a higher chance of staying alive than those in the front. Also, people sitting near the wing of the plane had a better chance of surviving a crash.

Moreover, the TIME conducted a study in 2015 around the same concern. It found that he middle seats in the back of the aircraft were those with the lowest fatality rates. It also found that the most unsafe seats were on the aisle in the middle-third of the cabin.

What the experts say

Reacting to the survival of Ramesh in the Ahmedabad Air India flight crash, Steve Wright, a former systems and software engineer in the commercial aerospace industry and a former associate professor of avionics and aircraft systems at UWE Bristol, said the accident was “atypical.”

Talking to the TIME, Wright said, "When an aircraft goes [down], it’s usually nose first, which is, of course, why seat 11a would be [among] the first to [feel the impact]."

But the Air India flight “sunk” into the ground with "the nose up.” Wright attributes Ramesh's survival to being “ironically, partly because he was at the front.”

Wright also said that the safest place inside an aircraft is near its wings. He said it is because there is more “structural support” to protect a passenger in case of an emergency.