Revolutionary ways and technologies of rescue from a falling plane

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

This topic has already been raised hundreds of times, and especially often after major accidents, when hundreds of passengers die at once. Previously, the plane knew how to plan and could land without working engines, now it is much more difficult. But on the other hand, scientific progress does not stand still. You haven't figured out how to rescue passengers from a plane in distress? Of course we remember that miracles happen, but we want something more reliable.

Let's evaluate the options …

1. Parachute capsule

Two years ago, an engineer from Kiev, Vladimir Tatarenko, posted an airplane with a rescue device on YouTube. In the video, an ordinary passenger liner suddenly begins to fall due to a fire in the engine, but people do not die - they are rescued by a capsule that catapults the entire cabin through the tail of the aircraft and then slowly descends to the ground by parachute. No one noticed the video: it did not receive a single comment or even ten thousand views. Popularity came sharply after the plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula, which killed 224 people. In the Street FX Motorsport & Graphics community, the video has amassed over 18 million views.

Tatarenko patented his system back in 2010. Most of his life he worked at the Kiev Aviation Plant and more than once was a member of the commissions to investigate accidents. “This leaves a certain imprint, you start to wonder: what is going wrong in the design of aircraft, as we would like? All characteristics are improved, the materials are more modern and durable, some systems have four degrees of protection, but in an accident this does nothing, because it is fleeting. There is only one way out - to have time to evacuate everyone,”said the inventor.

The capsule with seats for passengers and crew, according to Tatarenko's idea, should be separated from the fuselage in two to three seconds. First, a special parachute flies out of the tail section, which then pulls out the capsule itself.

Why this system is not used

First, the capsule cannot be integrated into existing Boeing and Airbus models used by most airlines. Ideally, this system requires the construction of new aircraft, which can take 10-15 years and require huge financial investments. For air carriers and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to undertake such a large-scale project, they must be confident in the reliability of the system. And now it is impossible to prove it.

“The Americans, for example, made a similar detachable cockpit on the F-111 military aircraft. But the probability of rescue by such methods was 50 to 50, maximum - 65 out of 100. This is not enough, - says Major-General, Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation Vladimir Popov. - In particular, with the installation of such a system, the plane would become five tons heavier - and how much thrust and energy reserves would be required to make everything work as it should? The research was completed. And now the military aviation has taken a clear path: the means of rescue - the catapult."

The introduction of such a capsule will lead to the fact that the plane, designed for 200-300 people, will be able to transport half as much, twice as expensive, while without a 100% guarantee of rescuing passengers in the event of a disaster.

2. Parachute for the whole aircraft

In 1975, in the United States, a descendant of Russian emigrants, Boris Popov, fell from a height of 120 meters along with a hang glider, which suddenly went out of order. It was possible to survive only thanks to many years of gymnastics: the pilot grouped himself up in time and prepared to hit the water.

A recent incident of a plane parachuting at an air show in Argentina. The pilot was not injured. August 16, 2010

Five years later, Popov opened Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS), which was engaged in the production of parachutes for small aircraft. Already in 1982, the first parachute for a light sports aircraft was released, and a year later the system for the first time saved the life of a pilot in an accident. The principle of operation is simple: the system reacts within one second to an emergency and quickly throws out a parachute, which gradually reduces the falling speed of the aircraft. and provides a relatively soft landing.

Throughout its history, BRS has sold over 29,000 parachute systems to light aircraft manufacturers Cirrus, Flight Design and Cessna. Thanks to this, as the company notes, the lives of more than 300 people were saved.

Why this system is not used on large aircraft

Due to imperfections in materials. Modern parachute fabrics are only able to withstand small aircraft with five to six passengers, and a more robust system for 12-seat aircraft is under development.

“To safely lower an airplane to the ground, one must proceed from the formula '1 pound of weight - 1 square foot of parachute cloth.' For example, to launch a Boeing 747, it will take half a million square feet of fabric, for the Airbus A320 - about six parachutes, each of which will be the size of a football field,”the inventor said in an interview with Engineering and Technology Magazine. In this case, either the maximum values of the aircraft's carrying capacity may be exceeded, or it will be necessary to radically reduce the capacity, which will bring losses to the airlines.

According to Popov, it is necessary to wait until they create a fabric that will weigh ten times less than the current ones, but at the same time will be very durable. Then the use of parachutes for large aircraft will be both safe and economically viable. According to the prognosis of the inventor, only the creation of such fabrics takes 5-10 years.

3. Sealant, protects passengers from impact

The most unusual aircraft rescue system was invented by Moldovan Alexander Balan. It does not use capsules or parachutes - the point is that in an accident and hitting the ground, the plane does not explode, and the passengers do not receive serious injuries.

A situation in which a special mixture is injected into kerosene

A mixture with a secret formula is injected into the kerosene, which turns the fuel into a solid, similar in structure to sand. Thanks to this, according to Balan, it is possible to avoid an explosion or ignition of kerosene.

The second system is a hybrid substance that is stored in special titanium capsules. Eight seconds before the expected crash, the system automatically sprays this substance, upon contact with air, its volume increases 416 times in three seconds. As a result, the foam in the form of small balls takes on a more solid form, surrounds the passenger and does not allow him to move even with a very strong push or impact. After 30 seconds, the substance becomes liquid again and frees people.

The Balan security system is being developed by ABE SA, which is based in the United States and is trying to attract investment for the final tests. Co-founder of the company Tim Anderson notes that if the plane crashes, the system is able to protect passengers from overloads of 100 g (in a crash of a Formula 1 car, overloads of 40 g are encountered).

“If the plane does not collapse in the air, the system will work optimally. Even if the engines fail, the pilot has a chance to make a relatively safe landing, not heading into the ground. In this case, our system can save the lives of passengers and alleviate injuries,”said Anderson.

Why this system is not used

Balan's invention was supported by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Anderson told Meduza, so serious experts will monitor its tests.

Doubts primarily concern medical indicators - it is not clear what passengers will breathe when they are covered with foam, whether the foam will fill the airways of passengers, and so on.

4. Just a capsule, itself destroys the plane

Another system of capsule rescue of passengers was patented by Hamid Khalidov, a former adviser to the Presidium of the Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences for Invention and Innovation. He came up with his own method and sketched it out in less than two weeks. The first thought came on March 9, 2000, when journalist Artyom Borovik died in a Yak-40 plane crash at Sheremetyevo airport. “I was so respectful of his work that I was really touched by this story, together with my son I began to think how to separate the fate of the passengers from the fate of the plane. There was inspiration, so literally on March 23rd, we went to apply for more than 10 patents in this regard,”says the inventor.

Khalidov's system is that the rescue capsules with passengers are ejected from the plane, destroying it.

In 2000, Khalidov asked the Russian government for assistance in the production of capsules, but received no response. He even met with the chief designer of the Tu-334, the serial production of which was never launched. According to the inventor, after half an hour of communication, the designer of the Tu-334, who had previously dealt with soft landing of missile systems, recognized the necessity and usefulness of the capsule method.

Why this system is not used

As the aircraft designers note, the method with the destruction of aircraft parts is too dangerous because of the explosives on board, which will be installed for the capsule to take off: detonation can occur randomly even in the event of a lightning strike. In addition, the disadvantages described in the first paragraph (lack of technology, instability of work) remain.

5. Parachute, for each passenger

This idea occurs to anyone who has ever thought about rescuing passengers from a falling plane.

Why this system is not used

First, even opening a door at a high altitude takes time. First you need to release all the air, depressurize the plane, and only then head towards the exit. If the door is fired off without depressurization, an explosive decompression will occur, which will lead to the instant death of all passengers.

Just jumping out of the plane won't work either. When flying at a speed of about 900 kilometers per hour, a person will be torn apart by the most powerful incoming air stream. That is why entire rescue mechanisms are installed on military aircraft, which include not only a parachute with an ejection seat, but also an oxygen system with air supply to the lungs, a protective helmet and separate mechanisms that are fired over the pilot to cut the incoming air flow.

Well, then the most elementary:

1. It is unlikely that a person will be able to correctly put on a parachute that he sees for the first time. That is, you also need to learn how to do it in advance. And if you have already decided to fly with a parachute, you will have to fly in it all the way.

2. The parachute takes up a lot of space even when folded. Someone, perhaps, will agree to fly without luggage in exchange for the fact that he will be provided with a parachute, but how many of these will be typed?..

3. How to teach to use? it is very difficult to put on a parachute, especially in a falling plane and in the surrounding panic.

4. How do passengers leave the plane? Of course, if the plane starts to fall, panic cannot be avoided. Imagine what state people will be in, will you be able to think soberly and use a parachute in such a situation?

5. In this case, what should the elderly and pregnant women, who are unlikely to be able to make the jump, do?

6. Well, in the end, in order to jump, you need to have a lot of courage. Many will choose to hope to the last instead of stepping into the abyss.

How to survive a plane crash on the ground?

A professor from Australia tried to answer this question, having himself been in an aircraft accident that almost cost him his life. Ed Galea was aboard a plane in 1985 that drove out of the strip and caught fire. Since then, he has dealt with the rules of self-rescue on board. During his tenure, he interviewed more than 2,000 survivors of 105 aircraft accidents. Based on their stories, he deduced a number of simple rules.

When traveling with your family, stick together. Half of all airline passengers travel in a group - most often with family members. Naturally, in an extreme situation, people try to find their loved ones. If a fire rages in the cabin, and the family is divided, then people will not be saved, but will look for each other. But in such a situation, every extra minute in the smoke greatly reduces the chances of survival. Therefore, the family, especially with children, should be together and at the same time be ready to separate. Be able to unfasten the seat belt. Before the flight, the passenger should study the seat belts and practice unbuckling them. Amazingly, in an emergency, even the ship's crew cannot always quickly get rid of them. Do not forget that aviation belts are not designed in the same way as automobile belts. Seconds spent wrestling with a belt can cost lives.

Sit closer to the aisle and count the seats to the exit. In fact, there are no more or less safe zones on the plane. Places in the tail of a liner can be fatal if a fire broke out there, so there are no general rules for choosing them. However, there are a number of tips. Firstly, taking your place, you should count and remember well the number of rows, which in which case you will have to overcome to the next two emergency exits. This knowledge will help you quickly find a way out in the dark. Moreover, you should remember the location of at least two exits, since the nearest one may be blocked or inaccessible. Secondly, the chances of survival are slightly higher for the passenger sitting closer to the aisle. The faster a person begins to move and the fewer obstacles in his path, the higher his chances of survival.

The safest way would be to sit against the direction of the plane (only military planes have this option), but this is not possible on passenger airliners.

Take the smoke protection hood. The smoke contains harmful and narcotic gases, irritants. It is enough to inhale a certain dose and you will die,”says Galea. Therefore, on any trip he takes a portable smoke hood with him. However, do not forget that you also need to be able to use it, and it should lie as close as possible. Time spent looking for and trying to open and put it on can be worth your life.

Grouping and preparation. The most important thing is to never neglect the information provided by the flight attendants before the flight. A careful study of the evacuation card can really save lives.

Grouping - a position that is recommended to be taken in an emergency situation may seem ridiculous or stupid, but it will save the passenger from the worst thing in an accident on the ground and a fire - from loss of consciousness.

In case of sudden braking or collision with a ground obstacle, an ungrouped person will certainly receive a head injury, which is likely to lead to loss of consciousness. In the event of a panic fire, no one will save an unconscious person, therefore, if you do not take care of yourself, your chances of survival are minimal.

We are not talking about a plane crash - it is almost impossible to survive in a car falling from a height of 10 thousand meters … but as history shows, it is possible. In the history of plane crashes there are names of people who managed to save their lives,

Cecilia Xichan

On August 16, 1989, the Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 plane crashed. There were 154 people on board, including the heroine of the story along with her family. The malfunction happened immediately after takeoff. The left wing of the aircraft was damaged after collision with the lighting mast and ignited. The airliner then tilted, and its undamaged wing brushed against the roof of the dealership. As a result, the plane crashed onto the highway and exploded. Its wreckage and the bodies of passengers were scattered within half a mile.

However, the firefighters who arrived at the crash site were shocked to hear the crying of children. It turned out that 4-year-old Cecilia Sichan survived after the crash of the liner. Undoubtedly, the baby received serious injuries - a fracture of the limbs, collarbone, skull and burns. But after long-term treatment, the girl recovered. The orphaned baby was raised by her uncle and aunt. In honor of an unusual event in her life, the matured Cecilia tattooed a small plane on her wrist. Despite the horror she experienced, the "lucky woman" is not afraid to travel in the air.

Larisa Savitskaya

In August 1981, 20-year-old Larisa Savitskaya and her husband Vladimir were returning home after their honeymoon. The plane en route from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Blagoveshchensk had 38 passengers. However, on its way, the An-24 collided with a bomber, because of which it fell apart. At the time of the accident, Larisa was asleep in her chair and woke up due to a severe burn.

The reason for this was the depressurization of the cabin. The girl was not taken aback and firmly pressed her whole body into the chair. Part of the vehicle, where Larisa was, fell on a birch grove. The girl lost consciousness after an 8-minute fall, but soon woke up. The picture he saw was shocking - parts of burnt bodies, plane wreckage, scattered things. Rescuers found Larisa 2 days later. They were shocked, because after such a catastrophe, usually all people die. Larisa had already prepared a grave, which, fortunately, was not needed. As a result of the fall, the young woman received serious spinal and head injuries, but after a long rehabilitation she was able to return to normal life.

Larisa also entered the Guinness Book of Records as the person who survived a fall from a 5 kilometer height and as the person who received the smallest compensation after the accident. Its amount was 75 rubles.

Alexander Sizov

September 7, 2011 has become a tragic date in the history of Russian sports. The Yak-42 plane, flying to Minsk from Yaroslavl, crashed immediately after takeoff. On board, in addition to the crew, was the Lokomotiv hockey team. Two people managed to get out of the burning wreckage of the plane. It was flight engineer Alexander Sizov and hockey player Alexander Galimov. Unfortunately, the athlete received a burn of almost the entire body and, despite the efforts of doctors, soon died. Alexander Sizov was lucky, although the man was severely injured in a plane crash.

The treatment was effective, and the flight engineer managed to get back on his feet. He did not dare to give up aviation - Alexander works as an aircraft mechanic, but he does not dare to fly an airplane after the tragedy …

Erica Delgado

In the winter of 1995, an airliner on the Bogota-Cartagena route crashed during an approach. There were 52 passengers on board, but only 9-year-old Erica Delgado managed to survive.

When the plane began to fragment, the girl was thrown out the window. Erica recalls being pushed out of the plane by her mother. This saved the baby's life. She fell into a swampy area. Erica was not as shaken by the disaster as she was by the looting of the locals. Someone tore the gold jewelry from the girl's neck and ignored the cries for help. Erica's lifeguard was a local farmer, who pulled her out of the swamp. The baby suffered a broken arm as a result of the fall.

Bahia Bakari

Six years ago, there was a disaster of a Yemeni liner en route from Paris to the Comoros. 13-year-old Bahia Bakari, unlike the other 153 people, managed to survive. The plane fell into the territorial waters of the Comoros shortly before landing.

The surviving girl does not know how it all happened, since at the time of the crash she was peacefully sleeping in a chair. The fall from a great height ended in numerous injuries, but Bahia was not taken aback. A brave girl climbed onto one of the wreckage of the plane and swam on it in the Indian Ocean. Fishermen found the "lucky woman" 14 hours after the tragedy. Bahia was sent on a special flight to a hospital in Paris. Here she was visited by the then President of the country, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Unfortunately, surviving a plane crash is the exception to the rule. The accident of an average passenger airliner takes more than a hundred lives. But, despite this, the plane is recognized as the safest mode of transport.

Vesna Vulovic

On January 26, 1972, a Yugoslav passenger plane Douglas DC-9, en route from Copenhagen to Zagreb, exploded in the air near the village of Serbska Kamenice in Czechoslovakia at an altitude of 10 160 meters. The cause of the tragedy, according to the Yugoslav authorities, was a bomb hidden aboard an airliner by Croatian Ustasha terrorists.

The plane, torn to pieces, began to fall down. In the middle section there was a 22-year-old flight attendant Vesna Vulovich. Spring was not supposed to be on that flight - she replaced her colleague and namesake - Vesna Nikolic.

The wreckage of the plane fell onto the snow-covered trees, softening the blow. But the luck for the girl was not only this - she was first discovered in an unconscious state by the local peasant Bruno Honke, who worked in a German field hospital during the war years and knew how to provide first aid.

Immediately after that, the flight attendant, the only survivor of the crash, was taken to the hospital. Vesna Vulovic spent 27 days in a coma and 16 months in a hospital bed, but still survived. In 1985, she was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the highest jump without a parachute, having received a certificate from the hands of her musical idol, a member of the famous Beatles, Paul McCartney.

Julianne Dealer Cap

On December 24, 1971, the Lockheed L-188 Electra of the Peruvian airline LANSA was caught in a vast thunderstorm area, struck by lightning and was severely affected by turbulence. The plane began to collapse in the air at an altitude of 3, 2 kilometers and fell deep into the rainforest, about 500 kilometers from the capital of the country, Lima.

17-year-old schoolgirl Julianne Kepke was strapped to one of the chairs in a row that broke off from the rest of the hull. The girl fell in the midst of the raging elements, while the piece rotated like a helicopter blade. This, as well as the fall into the dense crowns of trees, softened the blow.

After the fall, Julianne's collarbone was broken, her arm was badly scratched, her right eye was swollen from the blow, her whole body was covered with bruises and scratches. Nevertheless, the girl did not lose her ability to move. It also helped that Julianna's father was a biologist and taught her the rules of survival in the forest. The girl was able to get her food, then found a stream and went downstream. After 9 days, she herself went to the fishermen, who saved Julianne.

Based on the real story of Julianne Kepke, several feature films were shot, including "Miracles still happen" - the one that ten years later will help Larisa Savitskaya to survive in a plane crash.

Lucky Four

On August 12, 1985 in Japan, there was the largest accident in the world aviation with the participation of one aircraft in terms of the number of victims.

The Jepan Airlines Boeing 747SR flew from Tokyo to Osaka. Onboard there were 524 passengers and a crew member. 12 minutes after takeoff, during the climb of 7,500 meters, the vertical tail stabilizer broke off the aircraft, resulting in depressurization, the pressure in the cabin dropped and all hydraulic systems of the airliner failed.

The plane became uncontrollable and was virtually doomed. Nevertheless, the pilots managed to keep the airliner in the air for another 32 minutes with incredible efforts. As a result, he suffered a disaster near Mount Takamagahara, 100 kilometers from Tokyo.

The airliner crashed in a mountainous area, and rescuers managed to reach it only the next morning. They did not hope to meet the survivors.

However, the search team found four alive at once - 24-year-old flight attendant Yumi Ochiai, 34-year-old Hiroko Yoshizaki with her 8-year-old daughter Mikiko and 12-year-old Keiko Kawakami.

Rescuers found the first three on the ground, and 12-year-old Keiko - sitting in a tree. It was there that the girl was thrown at the time of the death of the liner.

The four survivors were nicknamed "The Lucky Four" in Japan. During the flight, all of them were in the tail compartment, in the area where the plane's skin was torn.

Many more people could have survived in this monstrous disaster. Keiko Kawakami later said that she heard the voice of her father and other wounded. As the doctors later established, many of the Boeing's passengers died on the ground from wounds, cold and painful shock, since the rescue teams did not try to get to the crash site at night. As a result, 520 people became victims of the crash.

So what does it do? Mankind has been flying on airplanes for many decades, but passengers still have nothing to hope for? In what direction will this topic develop, if any?