by Ashley Smith

Created on: June 01, 2009   Last Updated: June 02, 2009

This is quite bizarre to be writing this as I am listening to news of a probable plane crash on the news, a flight from Brazil to France. You can imagine what the people on board may be doing and what plans they were making if they had time to do anything. The problem being if there were trolleys in the aisles and what the passengers were doing at the time something happened. There are things you should do though just in case something does happen to you while on a flight, although an accident is incredibly un- likely it doesn't hurt to be ready just in case.

1/Pay attention to the safety briefings by the crew, on any videos and on the safety information cards that will be with the flight magazines. They may seem boring or something you think you know but they may be very useful and they may save yuor life. Some planes have slightly different emergency equipment and this equipment may have differing operations. The life jacket may work differently on one plane to another one, this difference may be crucial if you try and use it.

2/Be aware of the planes layout around you and the people around you. If you should have to leave the aircraft in a hurry then you need to know the quickest way out. make sure anyone with you agrees on this so that there is no confusion while family members go in different directions. Make sure they know where their personal equipment is and work out how to use it.

3/If you have small children make sure you know who will have responsibility for who, for example who will fit an oxygen mask if their is de-pressurization or who will fit the life vest if the plane goes down in water. The child wont understand what is happening so don't say anything to them unless something actually happens as they will simply worry.

4/Beware if you do ditch in the sea that if you can reach a lifeboat they should be equipped for survival.Also due to modern technology its highly likely that there will be rescue attempts made very quickly. If you survive a crash in the sea its highly likely that you will survive the whole attempt.

5/Above all though try and enjoy the flight without worrying that something might happen, if something happens get out of the plane as soon as you can but don't spend the time poised to run or to brace yourself. There are very few accidents involving aircraft and there are millions of miles flown each year with no trouble. Also the aircraft are designed to fly with major problems and even some will fly a long way with out any engines at all. They fly as near to land and airports as is possible. This is why for example London to Florida you hit the states over Canada and then fly down the coast. This is so as little time as possible is spent over water.

Planes are basically safe unless there is a catastrophic failure, major human error or a terrorist attack. Most major accidents are caused by some degree of human error. The crash at Tenerife that killed over 700 was human error, the error was found and the procedure was changed to stop it happening again, this happens with every accident.

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