Flying can be a scary experience, with many people experiencing anxiety regarding air travel. Ukrainian aviation engineer, Vladimir Tatarenko, has spent over three years designing a new safety system to alleviate some of these fears.
His patented idea involves creating a detachable passenger cabin that can be released from the engine, wings, and cockpit in the event of an accident. The cabin would then deploy a parachute to bring it safely to the ground.
Tatarenko's cabin includes inflatable rubber tubes, allowing it to float on water and extra storage space for luggage. He believes that surviving a plane crash is possible. A questionnaire conducted by Tatarenko found that 95 per cent of people would be willing to pay more for such a safety system.
Despite its potential benefits, commercial airlines have yet to show much interest in the detachable cabin due to the added cost, reduced seating capacity, and increased fuel usage.
Some critics also argue that the detachable cabin could undermine the plane's structural integrity and would be useless in the case of a plane explosion or rocket attack. Additionally, the pilots would be left behind in any case.
However, it's important to note that air travel is still very safe, with just 10 accidents per million commercial jet departures in 2014, a year that saw high-profile accidents such as MH370, MH17, Air Algerie 5017, and AirAsia QZ8501.
Nonetheless, the idea of a detachable cabin is intriguing and could make air travel even safer.
While aircraft engineers around the world work to make planes safer, in an interview with Liveleak, Tatarenko argues that they cannot do anything about the human factor. His detachable cabin offers a solution to this problem, and he believes that his invention could help people feel more comfortable about flying.
Despite concerns that it would reduce the structural integrity of the plane and that it would be useless in the case of certain types of accidents, the fact remains that 95 per cent of people would be willing to pay more for a safety system that includes a detachable cabin.
Only time will tell if this new design will take off, but it's clear that the idea is worth considering for the future of air travel.
