Stupid Question.

I know that this is probably a stupid question and that there is probably a logical answer, but i was wondering why cant airline passengers be equipped with parachutes?

 

Before addressing whether there are logical reasons for not eqipping pax with parachutes (forgetting whether or not such a question is indeed stupid) I suppose the first question should be whether a parachute would ever do a pax any good - I think that most fatalities come as a result of a takeoff or landing accident - or inadvertent flight into cumulogranite (ground covered by fog or cloud). Parachute won't cushion the abrupt stop that much mate!

Just one point of view.

 

The first thing I think about is the impossibility of leaving an airplane at speeds of 400-500 MPH or even at 100MPH. Even if you could get the doors open, you would be beaten up to shreds by the wind stream and even if you exited via a chute you would be ripped up pretty good.
That is if you left at near cruise speed. If you decide to drop in on Aunt Maude when the airplane was in an emergency situation the speed could likely would be way above cruise speed.
Weight added to the pax load wouldn't make the airline operators happy at all. I can't imagine how some of the dolts that I have sat next to would have the know- how or presence of mind to operate a parachute....or to figure out how to leave the airplane in an emergency.
There is no way to get the doors open when the airplane is pressurized. So by the time that everything was depressurized and everyone was ready to leave you would be meeting Terra Firma, who can be very abrupt when you drop in unanounced.

 

For the parachute to be of any use you would hae to depressurize the cabin and somehow safely get outside (problem described by SWITCHES above) and by then you would be unconcious anyway and unable to operate the chute - Should we insist on personal oxygen supplies to go along with those parachutes?

 

Thanks for the answers guys, i had not thought of speeds and pressure's etc, it was just one of those things i had wondered about for a while, and now i know.

 

Glad to help

Seriously - I didn't think it was a stupid question. I'm sure it has occurred to most airline passengers at one time or another.

 

Fighter pilots can do it at speed but that requires a rocket pack under each seat, protective suits and helmets. I am told fighter jocks end up an inch or two shorter after an ejection due to EXTREME G forces leaving the aircraft not to mention bloody eyeballs and other aches and pains.





"The only stupid question is the one that isn't asked"

 

Steve, keep them questions comin in by all means. Those who inquire are those who learn. Now, you look at someone like me who knows everything, you're looking at stupid. What I'm trying to say is what Spasso said, " A stupid question is one that is never asked." To add to that I say that anyone who calls you stupid for asking a question has therefore and quickly hung that sign on himself.
To add some info to bailing out of a big jet, KC-135's have an escape chute in the nose section just aft of the pilot over which is an open grill. When the crew must leave quickly, they depressurize the airplane by blowing off the entry door on the side of the nose below the grill ( called "the people strainer ") and a deflector blade about 3X8 feet automatically deploys ahead of the opening so the crew can at least clear the structure of the airplane before being hurtled back in the slipstream. I don't know if it has ever been used but I know that I wouldn't want to.
KEEP THOSE QUESTIONS COMING !

 

Lawyers.
Lawsuits.
Class action suits.
Media blitz.
Bad publicity.
and on, and on and on.....

Lessee...
......the childs size didn't fit the obese, hamburger munchin, french fry eatin, cola drinkin, miserable screamin brat..

..... The wife was issued the large size, and everyone knows she's a "petite"

..... The mother in law, wouldn't be caught dead in something so gauche!

..... Do they come in.... [ choose color]

.....325 people die in mass evacuation panic! 324 simultaneously stuck in the aircraft exit.
..... # 325, dies from strangulation. (ripcord pulled when he was halfway out of plane, and chute, wrapped around his neck, got tangled in the remaining pax stuck in doorway.)
(ever see a train unload during the rush hour? Extrapolate!)

.... I'll never jump from a perfectly good plane.... Huh??? It's Wha??
.........OUTTA MY WAY!!!!

..... Pax sues airline for insufficent emergency jump training.
Cites two broken legs, crushed hips, and new status : "Midget", as evidence.

..... Due to weighty problem Airline limits passengers to... one per plane,
in order to make room for all possible parachute sizes, types, colors, and sports logos.

..... Airline tickets, now worth more than "Hope Diamond"

Coffee, tea, Izod or NIKE?


Skyraider

 

Thanks guys, all these replies make for great reading, i had not heard about the escape chute on the KC-135 so i searched the net for a look, is this the one you mean pictured below?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That's it. The crew enters via ladder and in an emergency, exits via gravity. The grill is hinged and is lifted out of the way when someone is normally using the " chute".

 

Here's another sorry, i was watching an episode of top gear in wich Jeremy Clarkson raced a Cessna wich James May was flying, the object was to see who could get to central London first the car or plane, well the plane was catching the car untill James May said that he would land because it was getting dark and he did not have a license, if he did not have a license how was he allowed to fly in the first place??

 

You can do anything in celluloid land.....
Even Superman can fly without a license....