Sunday, April 14, 2013

Surviving a Plane Crash - hints from the sea

ABC world has a serious story  about How to Survive a Plane Crash based on
The impact of an airplane crash into the sea today on the Indonesian resort island of Bali snapped the jet into two pieces, but somehow all 108 people on board survived and had no serious injuries, according to a hospital official.  Watch the video at ABC


Now the story goes on to describe something that sounds like it should have been done by the MythBusters, but was actually done by its sister show Curiosity. Wikipedia describes the test:
On April 27, 2012, a team of scientists staged an airplane crash near Mexicali, Mexico. An unmanned Boeing 727-200, fitted with numerous cameras, crash-test dummies and other scientific instruments, was flown into the ground. The exercise was filmed for television. 
ABC describes the test as:
Discovery TV had a Boeing 727 equipped with more than a half a million dollars worth of crash test dummies, 38 specialized cameras and sensors, and a crew of incredibly daring pilots. The pilots, who'd donned parachutes, bailed out of a hatch in the back of the aircraft minutes before the huge jetliner careered into the ground in a horrific crash that tore the plane apart.
The photos from that test are at: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/plane-crash-pictures.htm  and they include this one:


Now this makes me realize that most of us do not actually watch or listen to the safety announcements on flights. This prompted Air New Zealand to put out this unique safety video

But after seeing the results of this Bali crash I think I will watch them a little more closely in the future.

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