The detachable cabin (includes parachute)
 

Today is supposed to be the most depressing of the year, at least here in England. So here's some news that may amuse members of the aviation community and other interested parties.
NB most news organisations appear to be carrying the story and it's not April 1st today.
Clearly inspired by the Cirrus product a "Russian inventor" (ahem...) has proposed a parachute-equipped detachable cabin for passenger airliners. Boeing and AB are probably fighting to recruit this genius right now.
Detachable cabin invented to save lives during plane crashes | Travel | The Independent

It's a great idea. It won't add any weight at all.

Just remind me what airliner accidents this concept (should it be able developed) might be useful in?

I can think of just two...

The ability to eject your passengers could prove quite useful! :E

Do the pilots stay with the stricken remainder and crash or do they run back into the cabin and leave the fuel laden missile to crash wherever it ends up?:ugh:

Probably do more harm than good.

What would define its usage, crew judgement?

Does the flight crew stay with the aircraft or get dragged out the back too?

What happens to the CG afterwards, is the aircraft controllable or predictable in any way? Or is it just an unguided, unpredictable missile waiting to crash.

Change is usually (always) driven by commerce. If passengers will pay more for this, the airlines may adopt it as an excuse to charge more. But there is a much more profitable reason for technology like this, and that is quick turn around of SLF.
I think something like this will happen ... eventually.

Of course one could argue that a simpler technical solution would be to parachute the whole plane down a la Cirrus. But that doesnt satisfy point 2 above.

Well, since pilots are equipment anyway, I think this idea is brilliant!:E

What is new?

https://youtu.be/Ecr7u-Z1Q3Y

Will be great for the thousands of high-winged airliners out there. :O

http://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs...able-cabin.JPG

As for the assertion that "a questionnaire conducted by the inventor found that 95% the inquired would be willing to buy a more expensive ticket in order to use such a safety system", I don't believe that for a moment.

Mmm, what does this button do?? Ooppss :}

Brains thought of this concept decades ago when he designed Thunderbird 2 and that was also supersonic!

So what g forces are the passengers subjected to when the cabin is ejected into the airstream and it starts tumbling end over end?

Ejection Capsule Record
 

The safety record of ejection capsules is spotty at best:

Date

For that, and other reasons, the F111 did not stay in the inventory very long.

95% of passengers say they would pay more for safety.

99% of passengers will buy the cheapest ticket they can find and will have no idea of what aircraft type they will be flying on. Or is that 99.9%

Aside from the obvious impracticalities of such a design (I wonder if he's calculated the size of parachutes needed to softly land 50 tons :eek:), how in the world would something like this help during takeoff or landing (when most accidents occur)?

Almost too dumb for words :ugh:

Probably more accurate

Ejection capsule
 

Also the B-1A bomber had an ejection capsule- did not work well one killed
B-1B has seats.
" The first three B-1As featured an escape capsule that ejected the cockpit with all four crew members inside. The fourth B-1A was equipped with a conventional ejection seat for each crew member.[39]

On 29 August 1984, B-1A (AF Ser. No. 74-0159) stalled and crashed while performing minimum control speed tests at low altitude. The crew used the escape capsule to leave the bomber, but the parachutes deployed improperly, causing the capsule to hit nose down. The impact killed the B-1's pilot, Rockwell test pilot Doug Benefield, and seriously injured two other crew members.[160][161]

The story is obviously a joke.(As has been pointed out by some posters).
The discussion it causes is entertaining.:ok:

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...