Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Name:

E-mail:

Phone Number:

Zip Code:

Your Question:

Editor: James T. Crouse
Profession: Aviation Accident Attorney

Category: Plane Crashes

Ben Sherwood, author of The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life, has written some tips to save your life if you are ever in a plane crash. These tips come from interviews with people who have survived a plane crash and what he learned after attending the FAA's cabin evacuation course.

Here are the six tips.

1. Pay attention. The first three minutes of a flight and the last eight minutes need your attention - 80% of the incidents happen during these times. Listen to the safety briefings from the flight attendants - they could save your life.

2. Sit within 5 rows of an exit. Forget what you've heard about the front or the back being the safest part of the plane - you want to be where you can get out. Aisle seats are safer than window seats because you have more mobility and more options in a crisis.

3. You have 90 seconds to get off the plane before a fuel-fed fire can burn through to the cabin. Before takeoff, plan you exit and your backup exit - count the rows because in a fire you may not be able to see through the smoke and you may need to feel your way to an exit.

4. Leave your stuff on the plane. It's not worth your life. Every second counts so just get off the plane as quickly as you can.

5. Don't forget your traveling companions. In an emergency, people can end up in an automatic response called "behavioral inaction" where they just sit waiting for instructions. If you are aware of it, it's more likely you'll snap out of it, but before you leave the plane, remember those who came along with you. This is another reminder for yourself before you take off - who's with you and what you'll do for them in an emergency.

6. Relax. More people die of heart attacks on airplanes than in airplane crashes. So relax, knowing if you follow theses steps, you have the ability to save your life if there is an emergency.