What is the safest seat on an airplane during a crash?

There have been several high-profile plane incidents in 2024 (Picture: Getty)

Is it safer to sit at the front or the back of an airplane? A window seat or an isle one?

These are some of the questions that have resurfaced after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed into Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, after attempting to land in Russia’s southern republic of Chechnya on Wednesday.

What has since transpired is that the jet is likely to have been struck by the Russian air defence before being diverted across the Caspian Sea.

Footage shows people crawling out of the wreckage of the Embraer 190 aircraft in the moments after the disaster.

Remarkably, 29 passengers – including three children – survived the crash.

The survivability of any such event largely depends on the circumstances – and not many are brought down by missiles.

Still, it has reignited questions about whether certain seats on an airplane offer better odds.

One of the most frequently cited studies is an investigation by Time, which analysed 35 years of data from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA).

Survival rates by seat location

Studies suggest that passengers seated in the rear third of a plane tend to have higher survival rates.

In part, this is because the back is often less affected in head-on impacts.

In the Azerbaijan Airlines crash, people seated in the back of the plane are some of those who survived.

According to Time, passengers seated in the rear third had a 32% fatality rate, compared to 39% for the middle third and 38% for the front third.

Middle seats in the back had the lowest fatality rate at 28%, compared to aisle seats in the middle section, which had a fatality rate of 44%.

Proximity to emergency exits

People sat near an emergency exit are more likely to get out alive after an actual accident.

Being within seven rows of an emergency exit is a critical factor in case of fires on the plane or water landings.

Speed of evacuation can also make all the difference. Avoid seats at the very front or rear farthest from exits, as escape can be more challenging.

Risks of flying near a war zone

The Azerbaijan Airlines crash underscored the risks to civil aviation even when aircraft are flying hundreds of miles from a war zone.

It comes at a time when Ukraine has deployed drones en masse to try to hit back at Russia behind the frontlines .

Russia uses electronic jamming to confuse Ukraine’s communication and geolocation systems, which it also targets with air defence systems.

In 2020, Iranian Revolutionary Guards mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner, killing all 176 on board.

And in 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, with the loss of 298 passengers and crew, by what Dutch investigators said was a Russian BUK missile system. 

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