---
title: "Can you survive a plane crash?"
description: "Usually — across all US airline accidents studied, more than 95 per cent of occupants survived. What actually happens physiologically, in what order, and what moves "
url: https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/plane-crash/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Can you survive a plane crash?

**Can you survive a plane crash?: Usually — across all US airline accidents studied, more than 95 per cent of occupants survived.**

Most fatalities in survivable accidents occur during the post-impact fire, within about 90 seconds

The public image of an aircraft accident is a total loss with nobody walking away, but that is a small minority of events. A long-running review of US airline accidents found that over 95 per cent of occupants survived, and that even in the subset classified as serious — with fire, severe damage or fatalities — around three quarters survived. The reason survivability is a design discipline is that most deaths in otherwise survivable accidents come afterwards, from smoke and fire during evacuation, which is why certification requires a full aircraft to be evacuable in 90 seconds using half the exits. That is also why the safety briefing focuses on brace position, exit counting and leaving belongings behind: those are the variables an occupant actually controls. Commercial aviation fatality rates per passenger-kilometre have fallen by more than an order of magnitude since the 1970s.

## What changes the figure

- Counting rows to the nearest exit before takeoff is the intervention with evidence behind it
- The brace position reduces head and limb injury that would prevent self-evacuation
- Leaving cabin baggage behind is the difference between a 90-second evacuation and a much longer one

> Survival rates compiled from published accident investigation statistics for scheduled airline operations; general aviation figures are very different.

> Physiology, not instruction. Every figure here is a population range under particular conditions, and individual variation is large — temperature, exertion, fitness and health move all of them substantially. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

## Situations

- [How long do you have to escape a sinking car?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/sinking-car/) — Usually 30 seconds to a couple of minutes of floating — and the window is the way out, not the door.
- [Can quicksand pull you under?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/quicksand/) — No. Quicksand is roughly twice as dense as a human body, so you float — you sink to about waist depth and stop.
- [How far from a nuclear blast do you have to be to survive?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/nuclear-blast/) — It scales with yield: for a one-megaton airburst, survival is unlikely within about 5 km and likely beyond about 10-12 km.
- [How long can you survive in a hot car?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/hot-car/) — Under an hour on a warm day for a child — the interior gains about 20 °C in the first ten minutes.
- [How long does it take to drown?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/drowning/) — Under a minute to lose consciousness — and it is almost silent, which is why so many drownings happen in sight of others.
- [What happens if a lift cable snaps?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/falling-lift/) — Essentially nothing — lifts hang from multiple ropes and have a speed-triggered brake that grips the rails.
- [What height can you survive falling from?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/falling-from-height/) — Survival is common below about 6 metres and rare above 20 — but people have survived falls from thousands.
- [How likely are you to survive a shark attack?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/shark-attack/) — Very likely — of roughly 60 to 80 unprovoked bites worldwide each year, fewer than ten are fatal.
- [What happens if you fall into lava?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/falling-into-lava/) — You would not sink — lava is about three times denser than a body — but you would not survive the heat either.
- [What should you do if you are caught in a rip current?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/rip-current/) — Rips pull you out, not under. Swim parallel to the beach until you are out of the flow, then come in.
- [Could you survive inside a whale?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/inside-a-whale/) — You cannot be swallowed by almost any whale — their throats are too narrow — and a stomach offers no air.
- [How long do you have to escape a burning house?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/house-fire/) — Around three minutes from the alarm sounding in a modern furnished home.
- [Can you survive a tsunami?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/tsunami/) — Yes, by moving inland and uphill immediately — 30 centimetres of moving water can knock an adult off their feet.
- [How long can you survive in a sealed container?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/sealed-container/) — Carbon dioxide becomes dangerous long before oxygen runs out — a few hours in a cubic metre of air.

## Common questions

### Can you survive a plane crash?

Usually — across all US airline accidents studied, more than 95 per cent of occupants survived.

### What changes how long?

Counting rows to the nearest exit before takeoff is the intervention with evidence behind it The brace position reduces head and limb injury that would prevent self-evacuation Leaving cabin baggage behind is the difference between a 90-second evacuation and a much longer one

## Related pages

- [How long do you have to escape a sinking car?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/sinking-car/)
- [Can quicksand pull you under?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/quicksand/)
- [How far from a nuclear blast do you have to be to survive?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/nuclear-blast/)
- [How long can you survive in a hot car?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/hot-car/)
- [How long does it take to drown?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/drowning/)
- [What happens if a lift cable snaps?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/falling-lift/)
- [What height can you survive falling from?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/falling-from-height/)
- [How likely are you to survive a shark attack?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/shark-attack/)
- [How long can you survive without water?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/without-water/)
- [How long can you survive without food?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/without-food/)
- [How long can you survive without air?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/without-air/)
- [How long could you survive in deep space?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/deep-space/)
- [How long can you survive without sleep?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/without-sleep/)
- [Could you survive on Mars?](https://atoneplace.net/could-you-survive/mars/)

## Sources

- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)