• _lilith@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    It straps you to the seat so when the plane suddenly drops 50 feet due to turbulence your dumbass doesn’t launch into the ceiling.

    • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Yeah, and this is a much more frequent thing than crashes. I’ve been on planes multiple times when there was sudden turbulence and people without seatbelts lifted out of their seats. I don’t think any of my personal experiences resulted in someone hitting their head, but that happens. There was just video of one earlier this year.

    • SSTF@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I have observed that “very clever” people on the internet have a tendency to disregard solutions that are only partial, even if there is little to no downside to them.

      • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        “Oh yeah? Why should I be wearing a seatbelt in a car when it won’t even save me if we crash head-on into a semi truck at 100 kph?”

      • MudMan@fedia.io
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        1 month ago

        Not even partial in this case. I mean, the “turbulence sending you into the ceiling” event is fully resolved here.

        Anyway, just here looking for the common sense pedantic clarification, found it, so now here just to say good job.

      • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        If you play the SNES version of Monopoly, you can play against CPU opponents. Mind you, this is artificial intelligence coded in 1992, on a cartridge with about 16mb of storage space for the entire game. Only a fraction of that is dedicated to the AI decision process.

        If you propose a trade, I’ll give CPU $5 in exchange for $0, the CPU will respond with NO DEAL!!!

        But if you propose "I’ll give you $100 in exchange for $0, the CPU replies “IT’S A DEAL!!!”

        The CPU was holding out for a bigger handout!

        Unrelated, but if you hold the B button, and don’t release, you’ll keep looping the shaking the dice animation. They use digital photo scans of a real hand/arm…if it were disembodied. And the animation looks like he’s just jacking off.

        • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          You weren’t kidding.

          Edit: I see now you said SNES, can’t find a good animation of that one though. But I can see in the screenshots that it’s a pseudo-mocap human hand and yeah, that would be worse.

        • Albbi@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          Wow, talking about NES Monopoly on a post about airplane seatbelts.

          I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on NES Monopoly because I used to play the game and wanted to see if I held the B button. Probably did, but I’m not sure.

          Anyway, the world record speedrun of Monopoly takes advantage of the trade mechanics. Trade the CPU mortgaged properties for all of their money and they’ll lose the game because you have to pay a 10% fee on any properties traded that were mortgaged. And if you take all their money in the trade they don’t have any to pay the penalty.

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I often see that in political arguments. There’s much to be said about wasting political capital on a poor and partial solution, but as you said, people bitch even if there’s no real downside.

    • Kalkaline @leminal.space
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      1 month ago

      Yeah, it’s a similar reason your wear a helmet on a bicycle/motorcycle, if a car hits you doing 50+ MPH you’re probably done for regardless of whether you’re wearing a helmet. If you go over your handle bars face first into the pavement doing 10 MPH it keeps that injury from being catastrophic.

      • CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Amen. Both sides of my head would be just scar tissue if not for motorcycle helmets. And that’s just from sliding on the road, not hitting anything or being hit.

    • bjorney@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Or if you are on a Boeing plane and a side panel/door spontaneously flies off off you don’t get sucked out

      /s, but not really /s

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Never been on a flight never assumed I would be afraid of flying however that sounds horrific, so thanks for giving me a new fear of flying.

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Can’t really let random stuff like that with a low injury profile bother you. You’d end up fearing and respecting escalators in that case.

        Reminds me of the time the brakes gave out on the L’enfant Plaza escalator for the DC Metro after the Rally to Restore Sanity (a lot good that did). Everyone was piled on going down and it just gave up the ghost and accelerated at full speed to bring them all down in a pile.

        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W5MbQaInrjc

        For reference, the DC Metro is quite deep underground.

      • dalekcaan@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        Don’t worry, some turbulence is par for the course but dangerous turbulence is pretty rare. Also 50 feet is an exaggeration, turbulence usually feels worse than it is. Plane rides are usually smoother than driving in a car, but flying can make you sensitive to lateral motion.

    • marcos@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      And when there’s a collision on ground. And when the pilot just breaks too hard after landing.

  • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    1 month ago

    That factoid is from a decade or two ago, when clear air turbulence was a lot rarer. Nowadays, due to global warming, turbulence coming out of nowhere is more common, and on occasion results in unbelted passengers being thrown into the ceiling and severely injured.

  • textik@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    If you follow avherald.com for any length of time, you’ll learn that 1) the vast majority of aviation incidents are completely benign, and 2) the vast majority of injuries aboard airliners are caused by passengers not wearing their seatbelts. The seatbelts aren’t there for the once-a-decade crash; they’re there for the once-a-month strong turbulence event, which the airplane itself will barely even notice.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    In the event of catastrophic damage leading to explosive decompression it should keep you from being sucked out into thin air. Like if the roof tears off like that one time. Or that Boeing thing. Or that other Boeing thing. Or that other other Boeing thing.

  • Troy@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    Crash survival statistics are actually quite surprising. Like, you have higher survivability odds in the back of the plane – cause everyone in front of you is your crumple zone.

    • RegalPotoo@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Planes rarely reverse into mountains.

      And the survival statistics have a lot to do with the amount of work that has been put into making the worst case “controlled descent into terrain” scenario exceptionally rare.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Planes rarely reverse into mountains.

        And when they do, everyone acts all shocked and bewildered and ask me how I did it

    • ArtieShaw@fedia.io
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      1 month ago

      About 20 years ago I read a grim book about plane crashes. They claimed that the number 1 predictor of crash survivability on commercial craft was being a male between the ages of 20 and 50. They’re apparently much better equipped to claw and climb over the other passengers on the way out.

      Grim. I fly a lot and think about it at least every other trip.

      • WiseThat@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Well, also that being bigger means you’re less vulnerable to smoke or toxic has inhalation, which is what kills most people.

    • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      The stats of surviving in a plane are quite high.

      The stats of surviving in a plane with at least one death are very low.

      Usually, if anyone dies, everyone dies.

      • Frozengyro@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        No, people die on planes all the time. Almost 3 million people fly daily, I’m guessing people die in flight almost every day due to natural causes.

        However, I’m sure the stats with 2+ people dying, survival odds are quite low.

        • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          Honestly I wasn’t going to bother specifying this but yes obviously you’re correct. Alternatively it can be thought of as, “in a plane accident, if anyone dies, usually everyone dies”

      • Troy@lemmy.ca
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        1 month ago

        Almost certainly true of ocean landings. But I’ve spent a lot of time in bush planes (no crashes, knock on wood). I’ve had colleagues survive crashes where others have died. Perhaps it is sample bias, or something particularly about remote crashes.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Air_Flight_6560 – two of the survivors were in the back, both working for our company. After the crash: one never returned, one just quiet quit over the next year or two.

        https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yellowknife-plane-crash-kills-2-people-1.987369 – this plane crashed into our office building, killing the pilots, but the passengers all survived. I wasn’t there, but coworkers would often describe the experience inside the building.

        It happens often enough that I have two examples where I’m only one degree of separation.

        I had two colleagues survive a helicopter crash into a lake at full speed (calm day, no waves, pilot lost track of where the surface was) – one of my coworked was ejected out the front window of the helicopter (seatbelt was on). Didn’t even warrant a news story. But everyone survived this one, which may be a data point in your favour.

        I don’t have an actual source for stats. Got anything?

        • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
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          1 month ago

          Jesus Christ what kind of work do you do

          As far as source, my ass. I heard it somewhere else (talking about commercial airliners) and it passed the smell test

          • Troy@lemmy.ca
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            1 month ago

            At the time, arctic mineral exploration. However I blew out my knee and started a business with lower personal risk (equipment targeting the same market) ;)

            Free photo – me doing science in the arctic in winter (February, so the sun is up) with curious caribou checking it out

              • Troy@lemmy.ca
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                1 month ago

                Kind of. My own business will probably needs to hire a tech sometime in the next six months. Ideally someone technically inclined with a steady hand (who can be trained to solder connectors onto cables, etc.)

                Oh, the arctic exploration stuff? My old employer is Aurora Geoscience – they have a careers page. There are others like them, depending on your citizenship and location. Many of these companies will hire labourers and semi-skilled technicians who want the lifestyle. You won’t get paid a lot – but it’s kind of like the military experience without the guns and you come out knowing how to do a lot of shit. A good life experience. :)

    • Lupus@feddit.org
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      1 month ago

      Like, you have higher survivability odds in the back of the plane

      But when you’re sitting in the front during a crash the snack cart comes by one more time.

    • HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Jump seat behind pilot for helicopters, I assume due to the supporting framework from the engines and not in blade range.

      Middle of planes over the wing root - easy access to exits, crumple zone infront, not going with the tail if it hits, and strongest part of aircraft. Also right over a fuel tanks, so results vary.

      • ArtieShaw@fedia.io
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        1 month ago

        I’m sensitive to noise, and usually book late enough that the only seats available are in back. And fly at least once a month.

        Absolutely decent noise cancelling headphones are available for under $70 US last time I bought some. Mine were called Q30 or something, and they were better than my Sennheisers from 2016-ish. Worth every bit. If one can afford a ticket, one can afford this one thing to make it less awful.

      • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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        1 month ago

        Actually…nah, I’m not going there. But if you watched Lost, you know what I’m going to say.

    • WolfLink@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      Similar to a car crash, you are generally safer in your padded engineered metal box than being thrown out of it, or thrown around inside it.

      It’s like the difference between dropping a carton of eggs vs a bunch of loose eggs in a box.

    • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      So if you crack your head jumping out you are still awake enough to pull the cord, plus if you land hard you don’t smash your head on a rock.

      The super high altitude jumpers had altitude devices that would automatically deploy their chutes in the event that their air supplies failed and they passed out.