“Surviving in a plane crash is possible,” claims Ukrainian aviation engineer Vladimir Tatarenko who devoted much of his life to inventing a life-saving capsule that can help thousands to survive in aviation accidents. Engineers have revealed a radical new way to save plane passengers in the event of an emergency.The design shows an aircraft with a detachable cabin that releases in emergency situations.
During take-off, landing or flight, the redesigned cabin detaches from the plane and safely lands on the ground or water– saving everyone’s lives on board.
” People are wrong about air disasters, because some 80% of them happen due to human error,” the inventor told in an interview to the Ukrainian e-zine AIN.UA “While aircraft engineers all over the world are trying to make planes safer, they can do nothing about the human factor,” Tatarenko added, explaining how he came up with the idea of a rescue container.
After five-decade research Tatarenko has received a patent on the invention of the escape capsule system designed to rescue crew and passengers of a civil aircraft in case of emergency. ‘The existing technology of using of Kevlar and carbon composites for fuselage, wings, flaps, spoilers, ailerons, tail will be used during the design,’ Tatarenko said. ‘It allows to partly compensate the weight of parachute system.’ The idea also has rubber tubes that will not only cushion the landing, but keep the cabin afloat should the plane land on water. Parachutes are attached to the roof of the cabin that are instantly released when the cabin is detached from the plane.
The design includes a storage space that holds passengers’ luggage underneath the cabin, so there won’t be any lost luggage during the flight if it has to detach.
Some are all for the cutting-edge design, while others are skeptical and feel it’s impractical.
A few reservations pertain to the potential impact on the rest of the plane, the possibility of the detached cabin smashing into mountains or buildings and the escape plan for the pilots. One person commented: ‘This whole concept dramatically weakens the airframe because now you have joints and fittings to connect a fuselage and a body together where once you had a whole fuselage to reinforce the airframe.’
However, a questionnaire conducted by the inventor found that 95% of people would be willing to buy a more expensive ticket in order to use such a safety system. This isn’t the first design the Ukrainian engineer has produced. Last year, Tatarenko received patents for an invention with an escape capsule system that would rescue passengers on board.
The capsule would be released within seconds of the emergency situation and through a rear hatch at the tail end of the plane. Once ejected, two gunpowder engines will take control to slow down the speed and then a parachute will pop out. But, according to Tatarenko, it could not save lives if the plane explodes inside or comes under a rocket attack.