2 different plane crash survivors say they sat in seat 11A — does where you sit actually matter?

CBC

9 hours ago

Two different doomed flights, two different survivors with one thing in common: seat 11A.
Vishwashkumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India crash that killed 241 people on board and several more on the ground after the plane crashed minutes after takeoff last Thursday, has made headlines around the world.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner struck a medical college hostel in a ball of flames when it crashed into a residential area of the northwestern Indian city of Ahmedabad. Most bodies of those aboard the plane were burned beyond recognition. But police say Ramesh was seated near the emergency exit of the plane and managed to jump through it after the crash.
U.K. media have dubbed it the " miracle of seat 11A," after Ramesh's boarding pass confirmed that's where he was sitting on the flight bound for London's Gatwick Airport.
Sole survivor of Air India crash has an incredible story — but he's not unique
But Thai singer and actor James Ruangsak Loychusak, who was one of the survivors of a deadly 1998 Thai Airways plane crash, is calling it an "uncanny coincidence."
"Survivor of a plane crash in India. He sat in the same seat as me. 11A," Loychusak wrote on Facebook Friday.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, the Airbus A310 Loychusak was aboard in 1998 crashed during its approach to Surat Thani Airport, killing 101 people.
The plane crashed in heavy rain, after its third landing attempt at the airport 500 kilometres southwest of Bangkok. But 45 people survived, including Loychusak.
In a further explanation, written in Thai, Loychusak wrote that he doesn't have his ticket or boarding pass from the flight, but he said he knows his seat number based on online seating charts for his aircraft, which he shared in his post.
In a further explanation, Loychusak wrote in Thai that he doesn't have his ticket or boarding pass from the flight. As such, CBC News is unable to verify his exact seat. But he claimed to know his seat number based on online seating charts for his aircraft, which he shared online.
"That was an uncanny coincidence," he told India's The Telegraph Online Monday. "The kind that gives you goosebumps."
Just a coincidence?
After Loychusak shared his post, the story began to go viral, and some people commenting online have wondered if there's something about seat 11A that makes it safer than others.
Not according to aviation and disaster medicine experts, who tend to agree that all crashes are unique, and there are a number of random factors that could improve your chances of survival, so it's more about all those variables aligning.
"Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location," Mitchell Fox, a director at Flight Safety Foundation, a U.S.-based nonprofit, previously told Reuters.
Plus, seat 11A is located in different spots on different planes, depending on the configuration of the aircraft.
In Ramesh's case, seat 11A on the 787-8 Dreamliner was the first row in economy class, directly behind the emergency exit.
But in an Airbus A310, according to photos on the Seat Guru website and a graphic of a seating chart shared on Facebook by Loychusak, 11A is a few rows ahead of the emergency exit.
In general, sitting near an emergency exit can improve chances of evacuation, especially in survivable crashes involving fire or smoke, said Stephen Wood, an associate clinical professor at Northeastern University in Boston and an expert in disaster medicine and EMS.
However, in a high-energy impact crash, like the one in India, survivability based on seat location becomes far more complex, he told CBC News. Exit row seats are often near reinforced parts of the airframe, Wood explained. They are also adjacent to structural components like the wing span which can be sites of significant destruction.
"In this case, the fact that the survivor was seated there may have been fortuitous, but it's not a guarantee of safety in most crashes," Wood said, speaking specifically about Ramesh's experience.
"So yes, his seat may have helped, but survival likely depended on much more than that alone."
WATCH | Survivor of Air India crash walks away:
British national was sole survivor of Air India crash
3 days ago
Duration 4:43
Vishwashkumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian descent, was the only passenger who survived the crash of an Air India plane bound for London that killed at least 240 people on Thursday in Ahmedabad. Social media video appeared to show him walking away from the crash; CBC News has not independently verified the video.
Every crash is different
In short, it doesn't really matter where you sit since every accident is different, experts say.
"It all depends on the crash dynamics," Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, an aviation safety researcher at the University of North Dakota, told Live Science earlier this month.
A 2007 Popular Mechanics study of crashes since 1971 found that passengers toward the back of the plane had better survival odds.
Some experts suggest the wing section offers more stability (while also acknowledging the danger of being over the fuel tanks). A study conducted by Time magazine in 2015 concluded the middle seats in the rear of the aircraft had the highest survival probability.
Sitting next to an exit door, as Ramesh did, gives people an opportunity to be one of the first passengers to get out in the event that a plane goes down, although some exits don't function after a crash.
For instance, Ramesh has said the opposite side of the plane was crushed against a wall of the building it crashed into. This could have prevented anyone who may have survived the impact on the right side of the plane from escaping through that emergency exit.
"From a technical perspective, survival in these kinds of events is usually due to a confluence of rare but explainable factors including the aircraft's breakup pattern, impact dynamics, the survivor's position and condition and sometimes just seconds of timing," Wood told CBC News.
'Beyond seat numbers'
On Facebook Sunday, Loychusak noted that his story is "now going viral across many countries."
"But what I truly want to share goes beyond seat numbers," he said.
"I want to tell the world what this experience gave me — not just survival, but a completely new perspective on life."
The Thai Airways flight that crashed on Dec. 11, 1998, was carrying 132 passengers and 14 crew. Hundreds of rescue workers waded through a muddy swamp to pull charred bodies from the wreckage.
Loychusak survived, but endured severe injuries, including fractured ribs, spinal trauma, and brain hemorrhaging. He spent over a year in recovery, he told India's The Telegraph. Though he was a recognizable pop star, he said he had to get used to a different type of spotlight from his hospital bed.
That included families of victims asking "Why you?" Loychusak told the news site.
"I didn't have an answer then. I still don't."