Discovery Channel's Inside a Jet Crash

Interesting article. For me the two most surprising takeaways were that most people survive an accident, and the other was how cheap the plane was.<p>They paid $400,000 for the plane. By comparison they paid $150,000 each for each of 3 test dummies in the plane. The test dummies cost more than the plane!

The article references the Sioux City Crash, aka United Flight 232. If you've never read it, this speech by that flight's captain (Al Haynes) is spellbinding:<p><a href="http://www.clear-prop.org/aviation/haynes.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.clear-prop.org/aviation/haynes.html</a>

Interesting that they seem to be confirming previous analysis that shows that the rear of the plane is indeed the safest part of the plane.<p>&#62; flying in first class would have been fatal. Passengers in the middle of the cabin might have suffered concussions and broken ankles, while those in the rear could have walked away<p>which agrees with this analysis <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/4219452" rel="nofollow">http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/aviation/safety/4...</a> which says<p>&#62; the trend was clear: The rear cabin (seats located behind the trailing edge of the wing) had the highest average survival rate at 69 percent. The overwing section had a 56 percent survival rate, as did the coach section ahead of the wing. First/business-class sections (or in all-coach planes, the front 15 percent) had an average survival rate of just 49 percent.

Please link to the single page version:<p><a href="http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/1606749?preferredArticleViewMode=single" rel="nofollow">http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/1606749?preferredArticleV...</a>

&#62; The plane was going 140 mph at impact, which is close to regular landing speed. But the 727 was descending at 1,500 feet per minute, much faster than the 10 to 20 feet per minute of a typical airliner landing.<p>I have to imagine that they were thinking seconds instead of minutes. coming down from 35k feet would take quite a long time if that was not the case. (20'/min would take ~30 hours)

Who would've thought. Ironically, flying economy might someday save your life (if Economy Class Syndrome doesn't kill your first that is).

Great, now if I ever get to fly first class I won't be able to enjoy it.

Glad to see the advertising dollars from Honey Boo Boo went towards something useful!

The Nissan advertising before the crash video was funny.