Sad But True: The Truth About In-Flight Safety Announcements

The Economist is running a piece of semi-satire about those seemingly helpful in-flight safety announcements that is at once hysterical, depressing, disturbing, and just plain scary.

I don't want to spoil all the fun of reading the original story, but the upshot is that pretty much everything you hear during that two or three minute song and dance routine is either a lie or a wild exaggeration of the facts. (The only real exception is that you honestly should pay attention to the part about finding the emergency exits. Turns out that really makes a difference if the plane goes down.)

That aside, did you know:

• It's far safer to sit facing the rear of the plane than facing forward?
• All that stuff about "in the event of a water landing?" Turns out that's probably bunk: There's never been a "successful" water landing of a wide-bodied jet. (I was rather surprised by this claim, and additional research reveals that there have been a few instances of passenger aircraft, including a Boeing 737, which I'd consider a "wide-bodied jet," making water landings with minimal casualties. However controlled water landings are very rare, but even full-on crashing into water doesn't always result in the complete loss of everyone onboard.)
• Mobile phones don't really interfere with plane electronics but rather with networks on the ground.

Again, I don't want to suck all the fun and amusement out of reading this whole piece. Even if all its assertions aren't 100 percent accurate, it's still an eye-opening way to reconsider your in-flight safety card.

Meanwhile, British flight restrictions may be loosened beginning next weekend. Can America's War on Liquid be coming to an end as well?