Why are airplanes equipped with lifevests instead of parachutes as we mostly fly over distances of land?
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1. Most accidents happen during takeoff and landing. Not nearly enough time to send 150+ people out of an airplane in an orderly fashion.
2. The slowest a commercial airliner can safely fly is around 150 knots, or 170 mph, or 280 kph. Not very realistic to shove grandma and little Timmy out into that and expect them to live.
3. Airliners spend most of their time in cruise above 30,000′. Above 10,000′ it becomes difficult to breathe without oxygen. At 30,000′ a healthy adult has around 1-2 minutes before they pass out from lack of oxygen.
4. If you parachute out of the airplane and land in the water, or the jungle, or an alligator farm, or a swamp, or a cliff, or at night and can’t see anything, you’re pretty fucked anyways.
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