brilliant

the BBC ran a special on increasing survival rates for plane crashes, and had a column for readers to contribute suggestions and comments...here's my favorites

I don't see why they haven't invented some sort of system which envelopes the whole seat and protects you from fire, smoke and impact. You almost end up in some kind of baloon type contraption, with air inside, which would also float if the crash happened at sea.

and even better...

I've always assumed that the best place to sit to have a best chance of survival is somewhere near the back next to the aisle, the premise being is that the rest of the plane acts as a huge crumple zone. This assumes that the plane doesn't stall or drops tail-first out of the sky.

I know some buddies that did crash investigations for the Air Force, and I helped on one a while ago. After plane crashes, the biggest body part found is usually a thumb...physics is mean sometimes. I also found out stuff working as an EMT and road engineer...did you know that if a car hits a pedestrian at 35 miles an hour, there's only a 15% chance of survival? At higher velocity impacts (~65 mph), body parts like heads and arms pop off. So don't walk along a freeway, and don't worry about burning to death in a plane crash... Kinetic energy will sever your nerve pathways long before the sensory impulses from nerve endings can reach your brain. Then what...