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Pilot Offers Advice For Surviving A Plane Crash

Simple tips can maximize survival

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 25, 2009

What can you do to maximize your chances of survival in an emergency landing, aside from boarding only flights piloted by Chesley Sullenberger, the skillful pilot who put his plane down in the Hudson?

"Keep your cool, trust your crew, and follow directions," advises Captain Stephen R. Speed, director of the airway science program at Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware.

And don't panic. 95.7 percent of people survive aircraft emergency landings, according to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

Various studies about the safest section of an aircraft during an emergency landing conflict with each other. This much is certain advice:

• Count the number of rows to the nearest exit so you can find it in a dark or smoke-filled cabin.

• Obey instructions from the flight crew and cabin crew. The cabin crew and those on the ground have been drilled and prepared for emergencies as rigorously as the pilot and co-pilot.

• The safest "Brace!" position is with your head pressed against the seat in front of you, protected by your arms, and your feet pulled back so that your lower legs are pressed against your seat.

Speed directs the Delaware State U. aviation program, which awards bachelor's degrees in airway science systems for professional pilots and airway science management for air traffic controllers, FAA career tracks, and airport administration. Graduates with an airway science systems major complete FAA requirements for private pilot, instrument flight, commercial and multi-engine, and certified pilot instructor ratings. They prepare for careers in the military and business and commercial air transport.

Delaware State is the only historically black college or university to offer this kind of training on its own fleet of aircraft. The university owns and operates 10 single-engine and twin-engine aircraft.

Speed has served 24 years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, with more than 19 years flying Navy aircraft. He is currently a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, serving in the Individual Ready Reserve. He has been a reserve officer since 1994 and served as a full-time active-duty officer from 1987-1994.

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