Press your knees together and rest your head against the seat in front — Aviation experts: The brace position can save your life during an emergency landing

▲ Illustration of the brace position (Image / Screenshot fromThe Daily Telegraph)

By Rita

What is thebrace position?It’s a posture recommended for passengers during an emergency landing on land or water to reduce injuries from impact. —Press your feet and knees together, keep your feet firmly on the floor, and rest your head against a surface that might be impacted, usually the seat in front.

According toa report by the UK's Daily Telegraph,although many have different opinions about the “brace position” — some believe it only protects passengers’ “teeth” for identification after a crash, while others argue it increases the likelihood of death by possibly breaking the neck — Steve Allright, Head of Flight Training at British Airways, states that the brace positions currently used by many airlines have indeed saved countless lives. “Flying is one of the safest modes of transport, and although the chance of using the brace position is very low, it is a globally recognized safety technique.”

“The most recent update to the brace position in the UK was based on cabin research following the 1989 British Midland Airways crash. That accident resulted in 47 fatalities and 74 serious injuries among the 126 passengers on board. In 1993, the airline released a new brace position, which was the result of research conducted by the University of Nottingham and HW Structures Consultants.”

On this website, Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority cited another incident: a twin-engine plane carrying 16 passengers crashed, with all passengers asleep — the sole survivor had been awake and adopted the brace position. Similarly, no one was injured in the US Airways Flight 1549 emergency landing on the Hudson River, also attributed to passengers using the brace position.

The Discovery Channel once explored this topic by conducting plane crash experiments using dummies and sensors, proving that the brace position does increase passengers’ chances of survival. More recently, a Channel 4 program in the UK carried out an experiment where a passenger plane was deliberately crashed in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert. Three dummies were placed inside the cabin in different positions: the first in the brace position and wearing a seatbelt, the second only wearing a seatbelt, and the third in neither. Experts concluded that the first dummy survived the impact, the second survived but likely suffered severe head injuries, and the third would have died.

The correct brace position is to press your feet and knees together, keeping your feet firmly on the floor, or to cross your arms under your knees to prevent lower leg and thigh injuries. “Passengers should bend forward as much as possible, rest their head against the seat in front, and place their hands on the back of their head. Palms should overlap with fingers not interlocked, elbows tucked in, and the head as low as possible below the seat. This position prevents arms from flailing and fingers from getting injured, and also protects the head from being struck by moving objects.”