If there is a lifesaver for every seat like a parachute, why do not use it? The most anxious people about flights may have thought about it: wouldn’t it be reassuring to have an emergency parachute in the safety equipment of each passenger?

Perhaps, if we knew how to use them and if the hundreds of people on board had any chance to deploy them neatly as they exit the aircraft. The reality is that the passenger on a commercial flight has a much better chance of surviving by remaining seated and adopting the safety arrangements already in use.

UNPREPARED. Jumping with a parachute requires coldness, the preparation necessary to maintain the right position during jumping and flying, as well as several minutes of preparation to put on the device correctly. They are all impractical conditions, due to accelerations, jolts and speed of a jet in danger.

FROM THE FRYING PAN TO THE FIRE. The risk of opening it in the cockpit, with serious consequences on the stability of the aircraft and on the safety of passengers, would be very high, not to mention that the normal emergency exits of airliners are not suitable for this type of launch: it would easily end against a wing, or against the tail (a special ramp at the rear of the cabin would be needed).

WEIGHT FACTOR. Parachutes are also heavy and expensive, would require constant maintenance and would add ballast to flights, which would become even more expensive.

IMPOSSIBLE OR ALMOST. In short, in order for a personal parachute to be of any use, it would be necessary to be in a condition of slow failure, in broad daylight and above the ground, with all the time necessary to prepare and moreover with an aircraft equipped with special exits for launches: a situation that could hardly occur.