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[LanceVance]

Parachuting definitely wouldn't be an option. How many people would know how to operate a parachute without training? Or if it were a parachute that opens as soon as you jump, there's always the danger of being sucked into the engine.

If an aircraft goes down, you're pretty much fucked unless you're incredibly incredibly lucky

 

[crozier]

From Malaysia..

cooperation!

This entire thing has been one, giant cluster....

 

[Warm Machine]

Parachuting definitely wouldn't be an option. How many people would know how to operate a parachute without training? Or if it were a parachute that opens as soon as you jump, there's always the danger of being sucked into the engine.

If an aircraft goes down, you're pretty much fucked unless you're incredibly incredibly lucky

Wasn't there an idea to have the wings break off a commercial plane and have a few large parachutes deploy from the top of the fuselage?

 

[HerbertFish]

What happened to sattelites being able to read The newspaper headline on my door step

 

[Falk]

http://gizmodo.com/why-don-t-commercial-airplanes-have-parachutes-for-pass-1525770574

 

[RustyNails]

Parachuting definitely wouldn't be an option. How many people would know how to operate a parachute without training? Or if it were a parachute that opens as soon as you jump, there's always the danger of being sucked into the engine.

If an aircraft goes down, you're pretty much fucked unless you're incredibly incredibly lucky

Attach chutes to the seats since people are already fastened mid air especially during turbulence. Release the lever to open the underbelly of the fuselage. Prime the chutes to open at different intervals so they dont entagle each other nearby. I know it's a mechanical challenge, but we shot chimps into space and landed on the moon dammit. Nothing is impossible.

 

[Phoenix]

I don't think commercial planes have parachutes, but I did wonder this myself.

They don't. This was discussed a lot in the early days of commercial air flight, and in fact there was a consideration of using parachutes for passengers for "air bus" travel where they would let people "get off" at certain locations. The issues were obvious (especially as we entered the jet age), with the largest being the difficulty in getting the door open , passengers not having any understanding of parachuting, and finally - the problem that you'd just be dropping them all over the place reducing their chances for survival. If you got out over the ocean, your chances are just as bad as if you stayed in the plane since you're likely to never be found and die alone from food and water deprivation.

 

[KHarvey16]

Attach chutes to the seats since people are already fastened mid air especially during turbulence. Release the lever to open the underbelly of the fuselage. Prime the chutes to open at different intervals so they dont entagle each other nearby. I know it's a mechanical challenge, but we shot chimps into space and landed on the moon dammit. Nothing is impossible.

Too high and too fast.

Also, who released those satellite images from China? The government proper or someone else?

 

[MThanded]

Attach chutes to the seats since people are already fastened mid air especially during turbulence. Release the lever to open the underbelly of the fuselage. Prime the chutes to open at different intervals so they dont entagle each other nearby. I know it's a mechanical challenge, but we shot chimps into space and landed on the moon dammit. Nothing is impossible.

Cost,weight,physics will prevent this from ever happening. Airlines are still for profit endeavors. With failure rates so low they aren't concerned enough to do this.

However, a whole plane parachute is feasible and possible. Will it become the norm? Who knows.

 

[Falk]

Attach chutes to the seats since people are already fastened mid air especially during turbulence. Release the lever to open the underbelly of the fuselage. Prime the chutes to open at different intervals so they dont entagle each other nearby. I know it's a mechanical challenge, but we shot chimps into space and landed on the moon dammit. Nothing is impossible.

I'm no aviation engineer but I can't stop laughing right now.

(no malice intended)

 

[Phoenix]

Wasn't there an idea to have the wings break off a commercial plane and have a few large parachutes deploy from the top of the fuselage?

Yes, there was that idea - then there was the practical consideration of exactly how much fabric would be required to handle an aircraft of those sizes and it was so massive a size as to be entirely impractical with todays tech and processes.

 

[Krakatoa]

Attach chutes to the seats since people are already fastened mid air especially during turbulence. Release the lever to open the underbelly of the fuselage. Prime the chutes to open at different intervals so they dont entagle each other nearby. I know it's a mechanical challenge, but we shot chimps into space and landed on the moon dammit. Nothing is impossible.

I think parachuting out of a plane at 555mph(cruising speed) might an issue here.

 

[RustyNails]

Too high and too fast.

Also, who released those satellite images from China? The government proper or someone else?

Maybe I'm stepping into science fiction territorry, but what about turning each seat into a capsule before the captain fulls the lever? Do the costs justify the ends?

 

[empty vessel]

Commercial airlines don't contain parachutes for passengers. Even if they did, any jump from commercial airline altitude is risking high speed winds, frostbite cold temperatures, aircraft traveling speeds of 200-300 mph, and a complete lack of any experience or certification for parachuting for most if not all of the passengers. There's a reason this is something that happens in movies and not real life.

I should know.

 

[Stinkles]

I should know.

DISH


Oh wait, I think I just realized who your avatar is..

 

[Simon Belmont]

Maybe I'm stepping into science fiction territorry, but what about turning each seat into a capsule before the captain fulls the lever? Do the costs justify the ends?

You are definitely stepping into science fiction territory.

 

[HoosTrax]

I tend to think that the lack of an ejection seat to get you clear of the 600mph plane is the real issue. I mean, I don't think a typical fighter pilot is necessarily a trained skydiver either.

 

[RustyNails]

I'm no aviation engineer but I can't stop laughing right now.

(no malice intended)

Hey better than people suggesting jumping out the exit doors and getting sucked into the engines.

 

[MThanded]

Maybe I'm stepping into science fiction territorry, but what about turning each seat into a capsule before the captain fulls the lever? Do the costs justify the ends?

No.

 

[Phthisis]

Maybe I'm stepping into science fiction territorry, but what about turning each seat into a capsule before the captain fulls the lever? Do the costs justify the ends?

There are so many things that could go wrong with having this insane parachute idea be controlled with a lever by the captain.

"Captain accidentally leans against parachute lever, all passengers ejected into high altitude winds on cross-country flight."

 

[syllogism]

Too high and too fast.

Also, who released those satellite images from China? The government proper or someone else?

China's State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense

 

[Phoenix]

Maybe I'm stepping into science fiction territorry, but what about turning each seat into a capsule before the captain fulls the lever? Do the costs justify the ends?

It would substantially increase the weight of the aircraft, greatly increasing the fuel consumption and subsequently exploding the cost of air travel. While it IS a solution, it falls into the "not practical" given the economics of air flight scenario that we deal with. Hell we can barely afford to cross the ocean with current fuel:weight ratios. If we increased that substantially you'd see a return to people taking cruise ships to cross the ocean

 

[KHarvey16]

Maybe I'm stepping into science fiction territorry, but what about turning each seat into a capsule before the captain fulls the lever? Do the costs justify the ends?

Nope, not justified. Think of how many accidents in all of history such a system could have proved useful.

 

[El_Presidente]

We can't even find the plane and now we have scifi ideas on how to eject an airliner…. haha goodness

 

[Cereal KiIIer]

I saw a documentary about that.

Basically, it would take so much parachutes to support an airliner that it would add so much wait that plane could not take half passengers/cargo to take off.

 

[GungHo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123

My takeaway from this is that when a plane has a tail strike, you don't just send it to the body shop and put some bondo on it. CAL611 had a similar outcome. I know it's really fucking expensive to do so, but they really need to consider retiring a plane that has had that sort of damage to it.

 

[Phoenix]

We can't even find the plane and now we have scifi ideas on how to eject an airliner…. haha goodness

Never bash the dreamer. He could be the guy who believes in it so badly that he comes up with a way to actually make it work

 

[rocketskates]

I tend to think that the lack of an ejection seat to get you clear of the 600mph plane is the real issue. I mean, I don't think a typical fighter pilot is necessarily a trained skydiver either.

They may not be the best skydivers in the world but they definitely have more training than the average person.

 

[robertsan21]

have anyone explained why they just couldnt track the Black box to find the plane? It´s bomb proof and has a locating beacon in it no?

 

[RustyNails]

We can't even find the plane and now we have scifi ideas on how to eject an airliner…. haha goodness

Why whats so funny? Others said that while it is impractical, it is a solution. Maybe it will happen 100-200 years from now. Who knows. Folks like you would be laughing at the notion of sending man into space. At least I'm thinking how to save people from crashing to fiery deaths from 30k feet. What is your solution that can not fall into science fiction?

 

[MThanded]

have anyone explained why they just couldnt track the Black box to find the plane? It´s bomb proof and has a locating beacon in it no?

You have to be close enough to the box to track it.

 

[Darren870]

have anyone explained why they just couldnt track the Black box to find the plane? It´s bomb proof and has a locating beacon in it no?

Beacon could have broken off.

Plus it took 2 years to find the Airfrance blackbox.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I should know.

:-0 the avatar was so obvious

 

[daw840]

Fucking LOL at parachutes for 300 people. That's just funny right there.

Very....VERY few planes outside of military and recreational jump planes carry parachutes.

Maybe test pilots have them....not sure

 

[Insane Metal]

Damn... finally something that appears to be concrete. I hope we have news soon. And I do believe the dude from the platform saw the plane. It could have flewn quite a few miles before crashing in the water, also, the currents are moving south/southwest, and that makes perfect sense with where the debris appears to be.

 

[Batigol]

Lets just make the planes out of the same material that's used for black boxes

 

[JonnyBrad]

What happened to sattelites being able to read The newspaper headline on my door step

The Chinese won't want to show off their full satellite spying abilities by releasing the full res images. These have likely been blurred and messed with.

The Chinese wouldn't have released them without being confident.

 

[Sectorseven]

It would substantially increase the weight of the aircraft, greatly increasing the fuel consumption and subsequently exploding the cost of air travel. While it IS a solution, it falls into the "not practical" given the economics of air flight scenario that we deal with. Hell we can barely afford to cross the ocean with current fuel:weight ratios. If we increased that substantially you'd see a return to people taking cruise ships to cross the ocean

What about vertical lift on a commercial jet? If you lost engines you could slow the descent.

I don't know if that would actually work, but it sounds cool.

 

[DigiMish]

Why whats so funny? Others said that while it is impractical, it is a solution. Maybe it will happen 100-200 years from now. Who knows. Folks like you would be laughing at the notion of sending man into space. At least I'm thinking how to save people from crashing to fiery deaths from 30k feet. What is your solution that can not fall into science fiction?

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131223-should-planes-have-parachutes

 

[PK_man]

Yes. Were talking about a plane that vanished. Oh let's act like someone surviving is impossible. How dare I.

As much as I or anyone here wish there were survivors, we got to use some common sense. A plane that size crashing into ocean with high velocity would disintegrate on impact. Even if you were to survive the impact, the resulting injuries would making it extremely difficult to survive for 4+ days in the middle of the ocean with no food and water. And no, there won't be bottles of water lying around.

 

[Dazzler]

Lets just make the planes out of the same material that's used for black boxes

seen this suggested before

not practical because of the weight

Unless you were kidding, in which case the joke is on me

 

[Tugatrix]

Lets just make the planes out of the same material that's used for black boxes

well no engine could take that plane out of the ground

 

[MThanded]

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131223-should-planes-have-parachutes

To safely bring down a big commercial airliner such as a Boeing 747 with about 500 people on board, there would have to be 21 parachutes each the size of a football field, says Popov. “It takes about a square foot (0.1sq m) of material to bring down one pound (0.5kg) of aircraft.”

got damn

 

[mightynine]

I should know.

Good show, EV. Jolly good show.

Now put the sunglasses back on.

 

[Ferrio]

Lets just make the planes out of the same material that's used for black boxes

Inside of it would look like someone made a smoothie.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

I'm no aviation engineer but I can't stop laughing right now.

(no malice intended)

This made me laugh too... Accidentally pulling the lever and ejecting half of business class during the meal service. Probably impractical given outside temperatures and lack of oxygen

 

[MThanded]

If you are at cruising altitude you better have an oxygen mask. You can get ejected then pass out.

 

[Charcoal]

Why whats so funny? Others said that while it is impractical, it is a solution. Maybe it will happen 100-200 years from now. Who knows. Folks like you would be laughing at the notion of sending man into space. At least I'm thinking how to save people from crashing to fiery deaths from 30k feet. What is your solution that can not fall into science fiction?

I hope 200 years from now we've moved on from...airplanes.

 

[N.Domixis]

I hope 200 years from now we've moved on from...airplanes.

We would have elevators that go through the earths core at that point. lol

 

[The Main Event]

Tom Haueter (former NTSB Aviation Safety) on CNN doesn't believe the satellite image is from a plane: "The object is too big, it wouldn't float like this".

Can't wait to see the results of this.