2 different plane crash survivors say they are sitting in seat 11a – is it really important that you sit there?
Two different destined flights, two different survivors, have one thing in common: seat 11a.
Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the only survivor of the Indian Air crash, made headlines around the world after crashing a few minutes after taking off last Thursday, killing more people and killing them on the ground.
Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner hit a hotel in a medical school in a flame ball when it hits a residential area in the northwestern Indian city of Ahmedabad. Most of the bodies on the plane were burned. But police said Ramesh was sitting near the plane’s emergency exit and managed to skip it after the accident.
The boarding pass at Ramesh confirmed that this was where he sat on his flight to London Gatwick Airport, which British media called “the miracle of seat 11a”.
But Thai singer and actor James Ruangsak Loychusak was one of the survivors of the deadly Thai Airways plane crash in 1998, which he called “an incredible coincidence.”
“The survivor of an airplane crash in India. He was in the same seat,” Loychusak wrote on Facebook Friday.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, Airbus A310 Loychusak crashed in 1998 while heading to Surattani Airport, killing 101 people.
The plane crashed in heavy rain after its third landing attempt 500 kilometers southwest of Bangkok. But 45 people survived, including Loychusak.
Loychusak wrote in another explanation written in Thai that he did not have an on-flight ticket or boarding pass, but said he knew about the online seat chart based on the plane, and he shared his seat in the post.
In a further explanation, Loychusak wrote in Thai that he had no tickets or boarding in the air. Therefore, CBC News cannot verify his exact seat. But he claims that he knows his seat based on the seat chart of the plane online that he shares online.
He told the Telegraph in India on Monday. “That kind of chicken skin for you.”
Just a coincidence?
The story began to spread after Loychusak shared his post, and some people who commented online wondered if there was something about the Seat 11A safer than others.
According to aviation and disaster medicine experts, they tend to agree that all collapses are unique and there are many random factors that can improve your chances of survival, so it’s more about consistency of all these variables.
“Every accident is different and it is impossible to predict viability based on seat location,” Mitchell Fox, director of the U.S.-based nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation, previously told Reuters.
In addition, according to the configuration of the aircraft, the seat 11a is located on different spots on different aircraft.
As far as Ramesh is concerned, the 11A seat at the 787-8 Dreamliner is the first row in economy class, right behind the emergency exit.
However, according to photos on the Seat Guru website, in the Airbus A310, and in the graphics of the seat map shared by Loychusak on Facebook, the 11A is a few rows before the emergency exit.
Sitting near an emergency exit near an emergency exit can improve the chance of evacuation, especially in crashes involving fire or smoke, said Stephen Wood, an associate clinical professor at Northeastern University in Boston.
He told CBC News that survivability based on seat position became more complicated, like a high-energy impact accident in India. Wood explained that the exit seats are usually located near the reinforced part of the fuselage. They also adjoin structural components such as wing spans, which can be severely damaged parts.
“The fact that survivors are sitting there in this case may be accidental, but that's not a guarantee of most crashes,” Wood said.
“So, yes, his seat might help, but survival might depend a lot on that.”
Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British Indian descendant, was the only passenger who survived the crash of a London airplane, which killed at least 240 people in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Social media videos seem to indicate that he left the crash. CBC News has not independently verified the video.
Every crash is different
In short, it doesn’t matter where you sit because every accident is different, experts say.
“It all depends on the motivation for the collapse,” Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, an aviation safety researcher at the University of North Dakota, told live science earlier this month.
Since 1971, an epidemic mechanics study of a 2007 crash found that passengers at the rear of the aircraft had better survival rates.
Some experts believe that the wing section provides greater stability (and also acknowledges the danger of driving the fuel tank). A 2015 study by Time Magazine concluded that the middle seat at the rear of the aircraft had the highest survival rate.
Sitting next to the exit door like Ramesh gives people the chance to be one of the first passengers to descent of the plane, although some exits don't work after the crash.
Ramesh, for example, said the other side of the plane was pressed against the walls of the crashed building. This may prevent anyone who may hit the right side of the plane from escaping through the emergency exit.
“From a technical point of view, survival in such events is often due to the fusion of rare but explainable factors, including the breakup pattern of the aircraft, affecting dynamics, the location and status of the survivors, and sometimes just timing,” Wood told CBC News.
“Beyond the number of seats”
On Facebook Sunday, Loychusak noted that his story “is popular now in many countries.”
“But what I really want to share is beyond the number of seats,” he said.
“I want to tell the world what this experience has given me – not only survival, but a whole new perspective on life.”
The Thai Airways flight that crashed on December 11, 1998 carried 132 passengers and 14 crew members. Hundreds of rescue workers wade into the muddy swamp, pulling charred bodies out of the wreckage.
Loychusak survived but suffered severe injuries including rib fractures, spinal trauma and cerebral hemorrhage. He told the Telegram of India that it took him more than a year to recover. Although he is a recognizable pop star, he says he has to get used to the other spotlights of hospital beds.
These include victims’ families asking “Why?” Loychusak told the news site.
“I had no answer at that time. I still didn't.”
