Originally Posted by
space-shuttle-driver
In most military transport airplanes, passenger seats are facing backwards. Provides better crash protection, they say. Sounds plausible as you are crushed into your seat on impact, and not thrown with your face into the seat in front of you (and at the same time squashing your baby which is belted to your lap with the oh-so-important-and-safe-babybelts).
I'd assume that 95% of the general public will want to have cheaper tickets to travel on a plane with backwards facing seats. My USD 0,02 or whatever this is worth...
I never understood why airliners don't have more rear-facing seats, particularly in economy. It's only usually in business/first you find them, and thats to optimise the space each passenger has while minimising the aircraft space each seat takes up.
Deceleration after landing (or during an RTO) is usually much greater than acceleration during take-off, so more comfortable to be facing backwards for landing than forwards. Once airborne it doesn't really make a difference, I'm not sure anyone would be able to tell which way they were travelling.
Originally Posted by
Sqwak7700
As silly as it sounds, if accidents like Air Asia and Air France keep happening then sign me up. I'll take my chances with the g-forces and dangers of ejection than relying on the two muppets up front that are unable to recognize and recover a stalled aircraft.
Or maybe it would be safer to eject them muppets and let the positive stability have a go at saving those on board?
But who initiates ejection.
And at what point.
If it's automated, how much warning might flight crew have to secure themselves in the capsule/cabin. If it's pilot-initiated, again how much time might they have to make themselves safe from hitting the button to it getting jettisoned.
If it's automated, what if it happens spuriously? Or what if people aren't strapped in, could cause serious or fatal injuries.
What if crew accidentally jettison the cabin, or do so as a precaution but actually wasn't necessary.
I've seen how pissed management get when you divert a plane any they think it was unnecessary, how incandescent with rage will they get if you lose a whole aircraft!?