Mark… it's recording now. Okay… Okay. Betty. Oh man Is that cool Does that shirt look cool Like my new punisher shirt Yeah I do like your new punisher shirt I like that too That's pretty cool… We are having a good day already Yes We are Are you looking forward to this week I am definitely looking forward to this week And why is that? We're gonna be doing a little air traveling. Little bit of traveling That's right We're gonna go do some visiting of of parents and…what your brother and some other folks So it's gonna be a heck of a lot of fun out in the southwest the beautiful, dry, dirty, hot, Southwest yes It is in the nineties and it has been for the last, probably two months there. Very hot Yeah. Traveling with you is always interesting because…you're a very well traveled person, I would say. I've done a couple flights around the world. And so… you always have…very specific ways that you pack, you dress and where you sit. And it comes from all this experience and also being prepared. And so I think today what are we gonna talk about today Matt Hey We're gonna talk about airline safety and airplane safety and…best seats in the house on air on air certain airplanes. Yeah it's gonna be a lot of fun. And…how many seconds do we have to save our lives Ninety seconds. Ninety seconds to save your life. What? That's that's crazy That's crazy so…Kristen I was gonna I was gonna ask you a question Okay A couple of questions throughout the the discussion today Alright hit me with it But one question… are you one of those…thirty to forty percent people…in the population who who are what's called the aerophobic. In fear of flying. Oh I'm a little nervous when I fly. I have a relative who's very…very aerophobic right. Yes She would prefer to drive wherever they go No matter if it takes a couple of days Exactly And so but I'm not quite that bad but I'm like, I'm nervous a little bit especially…I would say on the take off I'm nervous on the take off A little white knuck would like okay here we go. And then once we're up in there, I that engine and, and Oh yeah. Just kinda makes me kinda drift off and I've always wondered is it because of the nervousness of the take off? You know all that kind of like Coming down from the adrenaline yeah Yeah So maybe I am a little bit but yeah. Why I remember well I remember when I the first couple of flights that I took And I mean I was so purposeful in sitting back and letting… letting the power of the engines… push me back into the seat Mhmm And there's a lot of people that I think these days it's such like…it's such a boring thing For many many travelers, especially those business travelers They're just like whatever. Here we are again and I'm just gonna put on my head When we were little you didn't go on airplane all the time Or go on airplanes And so it was I was in high school before I took my first flight Oh okay And it was and it was college before it was my first kinda, you know couple flights a year kinda thing Okay And so it was it was a while before I got really serious in And then it was of course the last twenty five years where I've traveled I counted them approximately about a little more than a thousand flights over the last twenty five years So it's a lot of client that I've done A lot of fun Now that granted there's, you know millions of people out there who've probably flown more than me and understand that But I feel like I'm in a pretty good place to be able to To speak on this Speak on this topic actually Okay. Okay. So so what about this? Do you feel like if the plane goes down… No one lives. Are you one of those people? Okay I'm not one of those people because, logically…I mean we've all heard the stories of when there's survivors So I know not everybody died But it's kinda like the sole survivor story Right The only one person survived Yeah Seems like only one survived. But I I remember that one where the plane, like cartwheeled or something. And there were people that survived that And I was like, Wow did they survive that? Do you remember that one It was a long time ago. and so I I I do think that you can survive a plane accident, but I don't think they talk about. It's mainly like the headlines are when like one, like one child survived They find the kid in the pile out in the some person Yeah Yeah Must have gotten thrown from the plane or whatever and like Or or strapped in the car seat And Yeah Yeah Yeah Well so it's interesting I mean this is…This is the show that's gonna kinda answer some some burning questions that some people may have about airplane travel. I learned about it from a book that you gave me called the survivor's club by Ben Sherwood. And there's a particular chapter called… ninety seconds to save your life Yep And it's all about airplane safety, airlines stewardess what the what the flight attendants are thinking and things like that So I thought it would be a great, a great topic for one of our shows. And and just maybe dispel some of the myths that are out there and then maybe give some some practical advice for for flight. Travel. Okay So let's… you asked me the question Yeah If I'm one of those people, that thinks that everybody dies on the plane Mhmm. There was a good reason for that question… I think… people might think…you're a goner. Absolutely. Well there's two. There's two myths primarily. Okay. There's the myth of hopelessness. Right. And there's the myth of panic. Right So let's talk about the myth of hopelessness and what does that mean. Okay? So that is exactly that topic. When because you you hear about it you see it You see it on the nightly news You see it on the on the, the front page of the newspapers. Right? You see those…very dramatic and very… scary statistics like a hundred and fifty people died or a hundred and seventy…all there were no survivor big block letters right Right But you said that there was a study done. Exactly. And… You you said that it was done on the headlines of the newspaper That's right Exactly so this guy Barnett Arnold Barnett, Yeah He he performed a pretty big study intensive He's a mathematician from MIT and he did this big study and he took the front page of the New York Times and found the answer to this burning question about why people think it's so hopeless to be in an airplane crash. Right? And so page one coverage of the airplane accidents was, believe it or not fifteen hundred times greater than page one coverage of auto ax auto accidents or auto hazards Which is crazy because when you think about it you are so much more likely to I cannot auto accident and not only that six thousand times greater than cancer anything related to cancer. Yeah Which is the second leading killer in America Right Right Right Right Okay. So so what he did is after all of his study this guy's a mathematician Right He so he put the put through all these all the statistical data and he comes up with this with this number. And and it's a number called. By the way do you know what your queue number is Matt Everything can get all personal now. Plus I wouldn't dare. I wouldn't dare. No The cue number is actually it's a it's a measurement that captures what people wanna know which is what are my chances of dying… in the next flight? So the numbers called q The death risk randomly chosen flight. And he studied ten years of data and the bottom line is on your next domestic flight Now we're talking US flights Okay Okay So it could be slightly different in the US or outside the US but your…Next domestic flight your chance of being killed your q…is one in sixty million. Whoa. Exactly. You know we used to say…you had a better chance of winning the lottery No No No No No Not anymore But what's the lottery at now It's one point six billions or something like that No It's a much you know it's two hundred and ninety two million or something like that out of in one out of one Yeah Exactly One in one in two ninety two So that's but but that myth…of… oh what's the point I'm gonna die anyways is what causes people to be careless when they go on the plane They're like, Yolo. You only live one Yeah That's right So might as well start drinking Yeah Get a little drink in you Speaking of which let me get my drink. Yeah I mean And and then they like you know get comfortable, take off your shoes. They put on Go to sleep noise canceling headphones take off our shoes, undo the tie get take off their jackets they kinda disassociate with everything around them Yeah. And so then you know that's the Yeah. And and so it it essentially, if an emergency happens, it kinda sets you up for…Failure right away. But Matt. Mhmm. I do like my naps hey I'm not saying don't take a nap. Okay And you'll find as we get through this, no No problem And I could not I would not be able to deliver this message properly. If…couldn't take my naps on a plane. So we have…what's the percentage of a chance that we actually survive? This good question Good question. So the survival rate in plane crashes is… ninety five point seven percent. What? That's right. about the NTS NTSB That's the transportation safety board They did But that's only in… not the plain questions where it's like something devastating up in the air They're talking like on the ground Well hold on now Hold on Because this is out of fifty three thousand people that were involved in accidents in any airplane accident, fifty three thousand, fifty three fifty one thousand approximately fifty one thousand lived. K So that's your ninety five percent. But would they also re reviewed the survival rate of most serious accidents. And those are like fire injuries substantial damage to the aircraft. Okay K So this is pretty big Pretty big So that number probably did take a little bit A little bit of a hit Seventy six percent. Quarter three quarters of the people out there live…through the initial Through the through any accident. K So that what we're doing here is we're just dispelling that myth that it's hopeless if they're getting a if you're getting a an airplane…crash an airplane accident, you're going to die. And that's just not true The yes Vice statistically proven, ninety five percent in all accidents, but seventy six percent even in those that include fire and damage significant damage for the aircraft. So I guess when I remember in that book is that it was saying that forty percent of the people that die on car on plane accidents… They could have survived had they taken action That's exactly right We'll get into that when we start talking about that you know, the a couple of other…What I mean really ninety seconds to save your life What happens Why do we say ninety seven Why did Ben Sherwood say ninety seconds to save your life So we'll get into that in just a sec here but Okay So now that was the first one That was the myth. The myth of hopelessness right And the second one is gonna be the myth of…panic Exactly. Right So what do you think based on what you've seen in in Hollywood? What happens when an airplane crash happens? Yep. It's craziness. It's mad panic. Everybody freaks out Same thing in in you know hotel bombings or or terrorist attacks or whatever People just go crazy and they start running all different directions and would Well that's not actually true. Yeah They've actually there's act again statistical data that was done that is… that proves…over and over and over by by eyewitness account…that people don't necessarily panic in that way Now there's still probably… sure There's gonna be people who panic out there but the overwhelming response is not panic. And I wanted to share a story with you Do you wanna do you wanna read the story Yeah We're gonna read a story or you're gonna read a story of a actual survivor of a plane crash So if there's anybody out there who this is triggering for them they might wanna skip. But because it is it's intense It's pretty intense but, yeah So…Why don't you go ahead and read the story This is Jerry Shamelle Shamelle Okay. Alright It was July nineteen eighty nine and the flight was united two thirty two. Mhmm although it was indeed horrific, the beauty in this scene in my mind was it was it was really powerful to me Right He called it calm wonder Yeah. Yeah. So he was the deputy commissioner This guy this guy Jerry Shamll he was the deputy commissioner. Of the NBA's farm league And what one expects to hear in a story from the inside of a plane crash is this intense panic. Right emotional outbursts that should be taking over Right But Jerry's story is as you just put it it's calm wonder. And It's… he had this internal mantra…that he started taking or he started thinking about and that was…Forget the dead, help others. Exactly. You can see if a person's… not there. Right? And so his his goal became and other people around him's goal became to help others Right? And that's what we do when we respond is first responders to a mass…area is we triage We triage Yeah That's exactly right And you have to go through those and reach the reds and the yellows as fast as you can Yeah And and hopefully the greens will stay out of your way Or help or help Right Help You delegate Yeah Exactly So people were helping each other and there was an amazing sense of calm. And the Chimmel story concludes with them saving a little baby who was stuck in some of the wreckage. Now in this story, out of two hundred and ninety six people on board the United two thirty two There were a hundred and eighty five survivors and a hundred and eleven fatalities. That's still a lot but The most striking…detail and we'll talk about this a little bit more later but it was determined that passengers lived and died right next to each other in adjacent seats. So it was all about their response It was about how they reacted to what's going on around them. Right So most preppers understand this already, but panic… is the arch enemy of survival. So you just can't panic in the sit in this situation. So that that sudden unreasoning hysterical fear that spreads quickly can be…can be a good thing in playing crashes. And apparently against all that Hollywood have would have a think it rarely happens. They did a study of, like the the Kobe earthquakes the the, That that was in jab the that's right The blitz is during World War two, September eleventh And I don't know if you've you and I sat down and watched actually a couple of years ago When we were preparing for some of the September eleventh podcast stuff we were working on We watched some of those…those counts of what was happening And even just the videos of what was going on in the stairwells And there wasn't panic No We're helping each other They're carrying each other They're stopping and Are you okay Are you okay Yeah Okay I'm gonna make it down to this place Exactly. Yeah And they probably knew Many of them probably knew that they weren't gonna make but there's still It's just a calm panic or calm that happens there Yeah. What is the big killer? Do you think if you were to think about those two sitting next to each other one that's that's calmly going about trying to escape a burning plane, And someone else what do you think that is? Yeah So this is where, we get to this part of the story and it reminds me of another story in that same book Mhmm. And I don't wanna give it away It's really worth reading. But… it is this this phenomenon of just freezing. Yeah Yeah And just just this…this In action it's like they just… don't They call it behavioral inactivity. And there is a story in there of I think almost a lone survivor because he looked back and everybody was just frozen and refused Do you know which story I'm talking about I think I know which one you're talking about And that has wanted me since I read that And so yeah it and it's brought up here now again exactly So there's this there's this theory behind behavioral activity And I love the way this worded Behavioral inactivity behavior behavioral inactivity sorry. it's something like this Your brain sees the upside down plane or a wing on fire outside the window. And the brain tries to match this with anything currently in my in my history in my past anything Supposed to react to this How should I react to this thing This upside down plane and burning Right? You have no experience. Right Why would you You've never been in a burning plane before or training or anything of the sort And so your brain gets stuck in this loop of I can't I can't process this scene and you just sit there and and people freeze. That is it's just a natural and… scary I think reaction to something It's so weird that there's some people who don't. And then there's some people that do and boy…It sure would be helpful to find out before you're Yeah Right. Are you gonna freeze or not I think I think I do believe in the past on the podcast we've talked about this quite a bit And that's if you can train your brain to respond in difficult situations like act active shooter active assailant type of scenarios. If you can train your brain ahead of time…Not that you have to put yourself in a in an incredibly difficult situation but that's one of the reasons we go through those exercises like the, like the, the mass mass casualty events in in cert and and other training Right That's why we go through those Because we and and they put them on…people You start to recognize, okay that's what it's going to look like when a bone is sticking outside of a leg. Right And it's They have some really good melange out there Really good melange people out there. So that's that's good Yeah. Okay. Alright Yeah. So what do you think? What do you think flight attendants This is one of the things that I know I used to think about it all the time but I don't really think about it too much anymore But that's number one They're sizing you up man. No But one one of the things How are you today? Oh. How are you doing today Well this How are you doing sir? Will this person be Exactly Can they get out? I think it's I think it's a it's a skill in itself. That you can that a flight attendant can sit there and say hello in so many different ways to you. And at the same time be doing what Calculating whether or not you are going to be somebody that they can rely on to get themselves out Yeah They're profiling you Yeah They're profiling you And they do this I I read about this before, and so I said to you earlier today I wanna know what are some things that they're profiling. Like how did they go about making their assessments So I looked it up and it says apparently… they're looking at how you carry yourself. As well as your temperament, which I thought that was very smart and then they're looking at your fitness level and what you're wearing…yes Yeah. So I thought that was interesting. You kinda go into that too There's a reason why they're looking at what you're wearing. Mhmm. Yeah So they're considering if number one if you're fit to fly Yeah Right If you're gonna be a help if you're gonna like cause problems for them on the plane Right And we've seen an awful lot of videos Junk already A lot of a lot of videos on social media these days right on the people who get kicked off the plane especially during COVID with the masks and all that stuff Mhmm. but… They're also looking of course you know for some terrorist I got type activities which is kinda I think that's one of the things that back in the big times of terror and all this terrorist activities that's what people were thinking they're looking for But more importantly…what are they looking for? They're looking for whether or not that person will help them… in a disaster Can that person be counted on Yeah. Able bodied passengers Yeah Abel bodied passengers They are looking for the people who are gonna help in an emergency Yeah And there's a big reason for that Right You got… What Let's say the average flight is a hundred and fifty people. A hundred and fifty people And how many stewards How many many flight attendants Three or four. Yeah On the big planes like the seven eight seven seven seven On the smaller ones Yeah The smaller ones, to the little puddle jumpers only one And they're… yeah Anyways so so that's I mean you've got three people on average to help a hundred and fifty people out… four to six little bitty holes in the…In the fuselage right In ninety six ninety nine seconds. That's exactly right Well in ninety seconds That's like more than…That's more. Well okay So you have four exits. That's a good thing You have four exits That's why you have four or six exits Yeah They write is because they wanna get people…out as quickly as possible. Okay so there was a study though that was done on evacuation. Right Mhmm. Tell us about the study. So this was the most extensive study ever. taking place on who typically survives the airplane crash The FAA investigators they put over twenty three hundred people through simulated evacuations in actual smoking planes. And Kristen you were saying earlier I don't know anyone who would do that And I'm like yes you do I would be on that plane I would love it I would not put myself on a smoke screen That would be that would be cool. Anyway but I also would look at it as kind of an exciting thing It would be fun Like like when we do our big you know mass mass exercises so… So they even offered to pay people a couple twenty bucks or so. And and that was twice the amount of hourly ways at the time That's exactly right So it's pretty it's big dollars at the time Right It's a generous offer And considering they were volunteering this They offered that If you could be… they were only offering that a reward if you were what If you were in that top twenty five percent to get out the plane first Right So the the first quarter people that got out got that little bonus that little bonus So they're trying to incite almost Yeah The the panic I see That's exactly right To encourage people to maybe do that panic or or Yeah Push him aside Would people out of the way I'm gonna get twenty five bucks Yeah So here's some brief findings. Two things that didn't matter much. The width of the aisle didn't matter much People moved through the aisles as quickly as they could Okay But the second motivation of extra money didn't matter at all Which is yeah That's that was surprising telling It is Yeah Yeah in fact there's a lot of telling stuff that came up in this because…really what determined whether or not people got out… was the amount of inexperience or experience that they had. And so when we first read that we were thinking, oh well, well traveled. People will will naturally respond quickly and get out quickly Because they've heard it so many times they know what to do but…that wasn't the case No. No In fact sometimes they're the worst the worst offenders. Be but that's you know there's a good reason for that They feel like they already know it. So they've read the they've read the doc you know the the little card. Right You see this key? Because like, There's so many different planes. There's so many different ways to exit the doors like to open them it's like it's not the same from one plane to another okay I'm gonna defend myself here. Okay Let me do I don't always read the read the manual or the little cards. So what was it that mattered the most… What was it that mattered the most Will they be paying attention to the directions… And… Oh that's right They said they said that it was male…Mhmm And younger age Right? That got out first Younger male. The But middle age women like me Well, not like you middle age women that were large Large That's true. Dive So That that's right They're the ones who had a much more difficult time getting out And they still could get out They they got out It just took longer for them to get out Right Right Right So…Yeah So if you're a young man…Yeah Then you're more you're more likely Oh and and the interesting thing about that is if you're a…not even philanthropic you know if you're just a good person, you're gonna hopefully help people out You know Right And that's one thing especially those who are like, military or police law enforcement train those type of people they they tend to help a little bit more But of course I'm drawing a broad brush across But we're gonna hear a story. Yeah. That kinda gets into it can happen at the…door there Yeah Yeah Things that things can happen for sure For sure Okay. I think one of the things that's that is interesting is you you drew this dynamic I think between the the experienced traveler. Mhmm And the the new passenger right There's experienced travelers Like I've heard this a million times No i this is why I say Let me put my podcast on Yeah That's right That's right This is why I say I have to dip I have to defend myself Okay. Because… I have traveled on a seven thirty seven from Southwest hundreds of times. Okay I sit in the same row same seat usually And we'll get to y Single time that I can That it's the if that seat's available I will be in that seat and it's not an exit seat. Which most people go for Right. There's reasons for this Right But… the reason I want to defend myself here as a as a…constant traveler…is…I have read that thing over and over and over again. And I and because I read this book, I started again, like kind of reiterating and rereading it But there's a few things that I do every single time and there's a reason why I chose choose this seat Right? Not from a not just from a security but several others So we'll talk about that as we kinda close the showdown But…so that I I think it is true One of the things that he's that he talks about in the book is…some of the worst offenders…are the constant travelers And it's because they feel like they know it all, and they never even if they're changing planes going into a puddle jumper here They're going on a seven seven seven over there They're going on a seven thirty seven over there. It's they're completely different. And if they don't follow certain procedures, then they could put themselves into into a world of hurt if the plane had an accident for sure. Not all the doors open the same Nope They don't open the same They're not in the same place They're in different rows. If they've had a re a rebuild of the plane on the inside, then things are different on the inside So yeah a lot of different things So Matt Yes. Okay. Tell me, what's one of the most dangerous things about that plane accident? This is a good question. Thank you for asking… Nava… Edit editing editing editing out… so the question is, how long can you live without breathable air Alright So if you live by rules of three that you have taught me over the years. It would be three minutes. That's exactly right Exactly right Three minutes to live without air. Three days without water three weeks without food Right Yeah Okay So that's the rule of threes However, Now we're talking ninety seconds to save your life not three minutes ninety seconds which is only a minute and a half So you go wait a minute. What what's the difference? And what you gotta do is you gotta start to think yourself Number one breathable air. Right? Yeah And and when you're in a a burning airplane…Oh the chemicals might not be breathable It might be smoky. Right But also your heartbeat's really pumping I'm sure if you've just been in an accident and you're trying to get out your adrenaline's going you're moving you're breathing heavy, you're not breathing normally. And so that three minutes real quickly gets cut in half And so it's they say ninety seconds to save your life There's some there's some data that I'd like to throw at that or or information why in in just a couple of minutes but I'd like to read a story first if that's okay with you now. Story. Story time. Okay. They hit us with it Is this time to pull out my popcorn No No You don't have to No Because it's not that kind of story people No It not that kind of story Alright Okay So… the first class cabin was quiet and mostly empty as David Coke stretched out in seat two a. The journey from Columbus Ohio had been relaxing, and he was looking forward to a quiet evening in Santa Monica California. From his window he could see the orange sunset setting over the Pacific Ocean. Sounds nice His shoes were off His coat was folded nicely in the seat next to him. He noticed a pleasant older couple sitting across the aisle. And just after six PM the jet with eighty three passengers touched down on runway twenty four left. Coker members the familiar screech of the wheels And a few seconds later, a sudden sickening crunch A spray of sparks, and a ball of fire, lit up the window He was sure he had struck an they had struck another plane The cabin echoed with screams as flight attendants shouted Stay down Stay down Stay down. And Coke quickly unbuckled his seat belt and got ready to run for the exit, but the plane kept skidding. Around twenty seconds later what seemed like forever, it finally slammed to a stop, and another explosion shook the plane. Well, it finally slammed poops. Without a seat belt to hold him, Coke was thrown forward into the first row seat and then against the bulkhead. Oh man He shoulda stayed down Shoulda stayed buckled in. Fear swept the plane as the cabin lights went out. Coke watch passengers as they ran down the aisle toward the rear of the plane thick choking smoke filled the cabin the intercom shut off The flight attendant offered no more evacuation instructions. The passengers were on their own. I immediately got on my hands and knees attempting to find my shoes Coke remembers I believed it would be difficult escaping a burning plane in my stocking feet. Oh But he had no luck with his shoes or his coat which he had hoped to use as a mask. Crawling toward the back of the plane he searched for an exit. Coakos six foot five an imposing figure, but his size didn't matter as he's crawling on the floor and other passengers are stampeding over him Oh. After moving a few rows, I encountered a fighting frenzied mob jamming the aisles. The congestion he says suddenly made me realize that escape was probably impossible because I was the last in line to get to the rear exit. I concluded that I was probably going to die. And at that point I stood up and choking heavily on smoke, walked back toward the first class section. In the midst of chaos Coke's thoughts were clear and calm. Was not panicked nor was I terrified. He simply couldn't believe that he was fighting for his life when just a few minutes earlier, He had been reading happily and looking forward to an evening in Southern California. For a few moments, I stood there. Immobilized not knowing what to do. And I knew with absolute certainty, I was going to die. And then Coke describes an amazing sensation. He felt his mind separate from his body and rise up toward a white light. He remembers looking back at his body dying on the airplane. While his mind successfully escaped. And suddenly he continues. His brain snapped back into his body and he realized there had to be a way out. If smoke was pouring into the front of the plane, there had to be an opening in the fuselage that might also offer a way to get out. He stumbled forward toward the cockpit And when he reached the passenger door he could see a roaring fire outside… Opening the exit would have meant instant incineration. I was totally alone, but not panicked or terrified. He remembers. I turned around and stepped to the opposite wall. He was feeling faint. He guessed later that he'd only had ten to fifteen seconds of consciousness left. Because every breath of black smoke was tremendously painful. Then he saw a crack in the fuselage… He pried his fingers into it and pulled hard realizing it was the galley door. He later learned that the steward had opened it right after the crash and then had tried to shut it as he was trained to do because of fire and smoke on the other side. Coke shoved his head outside and gulped down a few breaths of air A tremendous sense of strength came over me and a wave of adrenaline shot through my body For a moment he felt as powerful as Superman he says. Nothing like clean air. Oh yeah Especially when you don't have any, Below him he could see the fire burning from the plane. Oh what the hell he thought Jumping past the flames into the onto the asphalt, ten feet below He landed hard, crawled away from the plane and when he looked back, the sight was a nightmare. He watched passengers struggling and squeezing to get through the exits. On the ground around him other survivors seemed dazed, some were confused, and silent, staring blankly. Some shook and sobbed. Some were covered head to toe and white foam injected into into the cabin by the fire crews. I considered a miracle that I escaped He said and then I came through the ordeal as well as I did… It's an incredible story. So the date was February first nineteen ninety one as US Air fourteen ninety three touchdown it collided with Sky West fifty five sixty nine, a twin engine commuter plane. Take that was waiting to take off with ten passengers and two crew. A confused and distracted air traffic controller had mistakenly cleared the seven thirty seven to land on the same runway where one minute earlier she sent the smaller plane. The US air jet hit the sky west plane at a hundred and fifty miles per hour and the two air aircraft careened across the airfield, smashed into an abandoned fire station and burst into flames, Everyone on the sky west, turbo prop died… Twenty two people on the US air jet were killed. Including eighteen who couldn't get out of the plane. When the fires were put out the charred bodies of the first Class flight attendant attendant…and ten passengers were discovered lined up in the aisle less than eight feet from the over wing exit. The official investigation concluded, quote, they most likely collapsed while waiting to climb out Unquote. This was the pile up that David Koch encountered if he had not turned around He was surely been the eleventh per passenger to perish in that aisle. Safety board investigations interviewed survivors and found a number of disturbing facts about the evacuation. A woman seated in ten f emergency row, admitted that she froze and was unable to leave her seat or open the window exit next to her. A male passenger in eleven d climbed over the seat opened the hatch and pushed the woman out of the onto the wing. A few minutes later two male passengers had an altercation about who would evacuate first. The fight lasted several seconds. Those two events significantly… hampered the evacuation. The safety board concluded. In short passengers died on US air because one woman experienced behavioral in action, blocking the exit row and the two men fought to get out of the door. By some estimates up to thirty percent of the fatalities in airplane crashes fall into the yeast preventable category… But why is it so difficult to escape? That goes back to what you were talking about. That's right. There's some there's some important stuff here Right? Ninety seconds to save your life Y ninety seconds Because you said one was the air The air is very act it It's full of smoke very quickly It sounds like Very very quickly. And then the next detail like kinda scared me So within ninety seconds the fire is likely to burn through the aluminum skin of a plane… Cabin temperature rises to about two thousand degrees. So Within ninety seconds Right And so it's like, it doesn't just go from zero to two thousand degrees That goes zero two hundred one two three four four in ninety seconds Right So it's getting hot Very hot. Very very quickly. Yeah Right And then of course quickly after that a flash fire will consume everything in the cabin because of the oxygen. It's not much time It's really not much time. How do we stay safe Matt Let's we gotta end some better Yeah Let's start talking about some more positive stuff How about that So let's There's a rule in airplane safety. Yeah And that's the plus three minus eight. Yeah I never heard this before until we read this And then you reminded me And I was like oh yeah That's why I act the way I do So that's right And I think I think some people just naturally act this way. And I I don't know why I ever did it but I almost always do. I'm paying attention during that first three minutes of the flight So you're coming up to the takeoff You take off at three minutes up. Takes about three minutes to get up to about ten thousand feet. Okay And that's that point in time where the captain says hey it's okay to take out your aptops now and blah blah Right So that's an indicator to you There there's the plus three. That's when I can take my nap That's when you can start taking your nap That's when you put in your head phones and you can start relaxing because… very rarely do accidents and airplane problems happen…during that time after the plus three, meaning take off plus three minutes. And then the minus…eight minutes That is effectively t minus eight minutes to touchdown. That's another dangerous spot That's the point in time where you start paying attention again is the t minus eight minutes until until touchdown Another indicator of that is that point in time where the captain says hey we're…eighty miles away from Atlanta at this point in time and it's a good time to start buckling things up They're trying to queue you and get you ready That's right That's right And let those who wanna survive know hey This is the time to start paying attention. Yes Right This is it Right Exactly. So so during that period of time the plus three minus eight what are some of the things we can do? Well, make sure you have shoes on That's what I keep your shoes on Right From that story definitely keep your shoes on Yeah you know we need to make sure that we have everything ready to go that the aisles clear. Right Yeah Absolutely it trays up. Have you ever seen the people sitting next to you that keep their seat or their their their under seat luggage. They keep it in the walking in the aisle where you're supposed to escape. Yeah. That's a good reason to let them know Hey you know what That's really unsafe to do that Yeah You know Can you push that up Do you mind pushing that up just but also don't drink heavily. Right Right Right Don't be inebriated Don't pop your sleeping pills before you get on the plane. don't nap right through that plus three minus minus eight Right? If you have headphones make sure you take them out so you can be paying attention Or or one of the things that they recommend You know in with the AirPods you can actually turn on the noise canceling part and then turn it off So you just switch it you know switch off the noise canceling so you can still hear your surroundings You can hear some out outside noise Yeah. One of the interesting things is we should we should understand by now that these announcements at takeoff and landing, they're not just… messages like hey Just letting you know The weather in Where do you need to close The weather in Anna is gonna be great Right Yeah Yeah Yeah No It it's to These are these are clear indicators that it's safe now. That that you've made it through, the most dangerous part of this flight is take off And then the next most dangerous It's coming right up It's coming down and it's landing Right Right It's coming up. We got you know this amount of whatever it might be Yeah Please clear your aisle awake Please This is the time to be careful and be conscious of what's going on around you Yeah Be awake Be Yeah Like you said conscious. The one of the reasons why after I read this chapter I started reading the reading the little the little pamphlet again is because I think in a way that… that helps train my mind And I think it would help other people as well It helps train my mind… what to do…and remind me what to do in emergency. So that remember that that story we told earlier that the concept of if of what would behavioral inactivity. Right If your brain sees that the airplane is upside down or that an air there's a huge fire outside the window, You don't freak out You go I just read about this. Right And I know that if there is fire out there I go toward the other one and I know how to open the door because I read it Right Right I saw the diagram so I can feel it with my hands Feel it I can conceptualize what's going on And I don't freak out I don't freeze because of that. So there are some really good tips though Can I can I share one last thing here Yeah Yeah. It we talked about it a little bit earlier and that's the fact that there are on average three flight attendants Oh right for a hundred and fifty people to get off those planes. And… one of the things that they state here is according to one study forty five percent of the flight attendants and survivable crashes, are incapacitated…Okay So they're gone. Now maybe they're just freaked out themselves and they're free frozen or they're dead They could be unconscious or they're unconscious or whatever it means So fifty percent of that three past three people on view is not going to help to you So you're on your own Passengers are on their own And so it's better to be prepared than to find yourself in a scary situation. Boy Okay so how do we get prepared? Number one, remind yourself why you are preparing yourself this way. Remember, these are your… safeguards against having that…inactive mode. Where you freeze You remind yourself. You have family friends. You have think people that are waiting for you. How would their lives change if you were all sun gone from their existence? So those are the things that are gonna kinda drive you forward into Keep that in the forefront of your mind Yeah Remind yourself at the beginning of the flight Why am I why am I just looking at this pamphlet Right. Number two be physically fit and healthy before you even get on the plane Now this can't always be done like I've traveled before with a hurt limb or something like that We we've all traveled a little bit health wise, compromised, but the you really should try to be as healthy as you can all the time for all sorts of situations but essentially few things there Right There's being fit. But also be healthy And if you're not healthy you really should be traveling Yeah You probably should at least wear a mask Right Right And and that's what I would say Yeah If you and and we have had it Okay. Mhmm You'll see. Child threw up. After we checked our bags… into the bag at the at the ticket Right At the ticket counter we checked our bags in We walked away twenty feet and a child threw up in a trash can and I was like oh my gosh. I'm about to put this child on an airplane and I know they're sick but the lights paid for the whatever getting on this light Yeah Yeah And they turned out to be okay… I don't know Maybe it was the nerves or whatever but yeah Yeah We've all done that But if you are feeling sick please wear a mask Yeah I wear a mask at the very least Yeah That would be just common courtesy Okay. But let's back up just a little bit Being physically fit, I mean they they showed it in the study Right The twenty three hundred people that they tested the the most…likely to get off the plane quicker was a physically fit fit person Yeah Manwoman doesn't matter But if that's something you can control and that's something we talk about in preparedness is keeping yourself fit and able to do things Right Right Able bodied passenger. We I don't think we should just gloss over being fit It's it's so random One of the things that I actually wrote I actually wrote in here in in our original discussion was I'm not gonna sit there and go…go do a a workout routine before when I know I gotta go on a flight No That's not the point It's keep yourself fit all the time Right And not fit Don't give up hope No No Because people still got off the plane if they just stay calm and keep their mind clear too Okay? Alright But number three that's where you need to take over because you have a whole thing on this is good stuff This is good stuff And that is find the best. Or the next best seat on the plane What makes a best seat Matt Makes a best seat Well so from a from a safety perspective it's pretty simple. The the study that they did but ultimately it didn't matter… which exit. But as long as you are within, five rows of that exit. And you know where that exit is, then you're safest. That is the safest seat within five rows of an exit Yeah Every time you get on a plane, if it's behind you, look and make sure you know where your first exit is and your second exit Always know. Now there's a there was a slight nuance to that study that was done And that was if you are a heavier set person, it might be easier to get out the back exit because then you can stand and jump out as opposed to trying to crawl out the wing over wing exit Oh interesting Oh okay Slight slight change there Okay. So bear with me just for one moment here. I'll try not to take more than two to three minutes Okay It's okay You're the traveler So now for fun I thought I would share what my what my absolute…best seat is. And I'm gonna I'm gonna pick because this is my most common and it is the most common jet That's out there That is the Boeing seven thirty seven Okay And I'm gonna choose Southwest because that just happens to be the one that I travel most on. So this is the seven thirty seven eight hundred. And I also wanna thank my friend Nate, for helping me on this and helping me understand this because it's years of training that he has undergone Not really. He's just like me He travels all the time. But here it is. So of course you wanna be within the first you know within you know five rows of an exit Right K However… Most people like that exit row, and it's just because of leg room. Okay k But…there's a lot of pressure there Right They they ask are you prepared Yeah They put all sorts of pressure on you Yeah And then you have to pay attention and then you have to do this And you have to go through the safety briefing and all this stuff You would think okay Well if I wanna be closest to the exit so I'm gonna choose the next row forward in front of the exit Right? Well not really. Because that one doesn't lean back. So if you want comfort in your seat you don't want the first row You want the second row in front of. Okay And there's another reason why you want that second row in front of the exit row. And that is because…that is the first row that gets served their drinks and snacks… You just let that secret out They split it into they split it into three groups Right And so closest to the exit, second row in front of the exit, that's the first row that they start serving. The drinks and snacks. Okay. Alright. Of course if you choose the window seat which I always do Yes You do Unless I'm traveling with my beautiful wife and she makes me sit in the middle seat You're such a baby But I love looking out and watching the watching the sky go by I've taken some really beautiful videos of sunrises and sunsets…on some of my flights just for that just because of that And you get the kind of the tip of the air tip of the wing out there with the sunrise just over the tip of the wing It's really cool. Okay Matt Do you remember that movie we watched where it was Will Farrell and Tina And Julia Luis Drive Oh Julia Luis tried That's it And he runs away Yeah Right And just abandoned his family during an Avulance coming. That was called Downhill Yeah In twenty twenty Yeah That was a great one Yeah So how would you say that place into number four Number four. Train yourself how to respond. Meaning don't abandon your wife Yeah. Again, back up to number one Why are you doing this Why are you reminding yourself of of safety things on an airplane? You know if you if you teach yourself if you're constantly and it's not like you have to obsess over it or anything like that But something as simple as reading the pamphlet Mhmm Locating your… exits on a regular basis and then paying attention to the the plus three minus eight. Those simple things can prepare you for in a much bigger way so that your mind doesn't go into that freeze And if you have kids with you Remind yourself. Me first then them Me first then them Yeah Yeah Exactly Yep Yep Okay… Number five review your exit strategies every time you board the plane Look at both the exit options count the rows between you and those exits I always do this And I always made a game with our kids Remember? I would always say to them okay how many rows of seats until you see the exit. And I I always wanted them to have that because god forbid if we were an accident, and I was incapacitated. I would wanna make sure it was in my kids' brains to count the rows and they would get And they could get out Right Yeah Yeah And I just made it a game. And if you have children with you mhmm, or elderly, just make sure. The thing know that Yeah They they even offered up make it make it like a game Yeah Right And you and you tell them hey you know this is this is a really interesting little pamphlet here Look at what look at what this is And what is this telling us here Wow This is cool Oh I wonder where the exits are Yeah It doesn't need to be scary. No It doesn't have to be scary Just knowledgeable That's right Yeah That's right K… Okay Number six I'm gonna I'm gonna throw out some technical stuff real quick. I am a technical guy so that by technical what I mean are are some of the very quick down and dirty information that that I learned in this in this chapter. Number one, avoid bulkhead seeds You don't tend to see them on very many flights these days except for international flights. More strange places that you might go they have the older airplanes that have a bulkhead That's the front row with the wall right in front of you And the the reason you avoid that is they're not built to flex…if there's if there's an accident. So if your body goes into that bulkhead, it ain't moving your body's crushing. Use the bracing position that's in the pamphlet Right It it walks you through how to get into the brace position But This was this was designed This brace position was designed so that if there's a dramatic change in force, your body doesn't when it gets jack knifed or it won't get Jack knifed, your limbs won't go flailing around while in a change of force You wanna reduce the amount of movement that your body goes through. Yeah So the two feet on the floor, your hands wrapped You your body folded down as close as you can, your head closest to the place that it might smash up against. Like the seat in front of you That is why they say in the brace position you bend over, you have your head up up close to the seat in front of you, If you can, your hands are looped under your legs. Because what that does is it locks your arms into place so that your arms don't go flailing all them Okay Okay It also makes it so if they if the plane stops quickly your head doesn't go smashing into the seat in front of you, It just bumps into the seat in front of you You got it Okay And you make it through. keep your seat belt low and tight across your hips Right That's something they say every single time and I am guilty of it of loosening up that seat whenever the flight whenever I'm mid flight But when they tell you, Keep your seat belt low and tight across your hips, especially in that minus eight period when you're getting ready to land? Important important to remember. Okay Number I would add now mhmm Just forget anything that you carried on Don't worry about purse. Yep Yeah Don't worry about a diaper bag Don't worry about any of that. Everything is replaceable… You are not replaceable that's that's absolutely right Yeah. So don't even try it Don't go back for a purse Don't go back for a phone, which I think would be the hardest for a lot of people to leave. Business people are hard to leave that laptop behind I've I've sat thinking to myself. Would I would I pick that up Would I try to carry this with me? And I'm like, okay No I won't. Yeah. Yeah It's all recoverable It is You you can Especially nowadays with stuff in the cloud Right Exactly Should we talk about clothing for just one minute Yeah. You can talk about my clothing… Well it does seem to affect ladies a little bit more. That's true Because we do wear more of the synthetic fabric I feel like than guys do Mhmm So you're right And the dress is Some ladies like to travel in high heels for some crazy reason I don't understand why you would walk through want to walk through an airport Or just sandals sandalls? Not good The thing you're trying to avoid is smoke and fire Right And if fire…hits your body, then you burn. So if you have clothing, to at least protect you to some extent You have some some layer of protection and it seems like you really wanna protect your feet if you're trying to get away Yeah If you wanna get away and your flip flops aren't gonna stay on when you go jumping into that escape…escape balloon. Nope Yeah. So yeah slide Let's get slides Sorry Not balloon Okay. Alright Although a balloon would be cool… So yeah also shorts I don't travel with shorts or with shorts on I'd usually travel with long sleeve shirts when I when I travel. I usually have a sweater and I wear jeans Yeah. Okay And then final note. Final note there's this gal, and then Sherwood goes through this in the in the kind of the wrapping up of the chapter And it's this lady that he interviews throughout the chapter for different things And one of the things she's this like ultimate expert on on travel safety. Airplane travel safety in particular And one of the things she does is to kind of… trick people into paying attention Is she kinda she when she sits down in her seat, she kinda breaks out the little pamphlet. And she goes… I wonder wow this is really interesting stuff I wonder where my closest exit is and she makes a huge deal about And she's like really loud about it And wow this is pretty interesting. And she just asks people next to her to kinda help her explain this to me What does this mean What does this mean by Yeah by what's outside I don't understand what this is saying She basically, And what happens is other people around her just naturally because they feel like… I think most people feel like okay I don't need I don't need to worry about that type of thing But they're willing to help. But they are they're willing to help her but also when they see somebody else doing it, They overcome that that what might have been a maybe I should And then they go yeah okay I'll break it out too And then you start reading it as well. So it's kind of a trick that she plays on people but it's…but it's cool I mean it's a it's a great way to kinda invite people in So that's another reason why almost every trip I take nowadays I'll break out that little pamphlet and just start at the very least act like I'm reading it. But I've you know I've read it literally by this time probably a hundred times the Sure specifically for the seven thirty seven So…yeah Good stuff. Good stuff. Well thank you Matt I feel like I'm more prepared now for our upcoming trip… Okay. Well, I think the Genex talking folks for joining in today Yep. And just until next time this is Matt Marshall. And Kristen. We're Genex talking. Sign it off. Bye.