3 ms·

I heard a story about a guy, who was one of the few survivors in a crash. His explanation was that he had his waist belt very tight. On his way out he saw a lot

• alamortsubite 2y ago
  It would depend on the mechanics of the crash, but sure. Safety belts are inelastic, so any shock and subsequent deceleration experienced by the body at the end of the belt's slack will be absorbed by tissue and skeleton. This is also why climbers use "dynamic" (elastic) ropes (when climbing, not necessarily for rappelling). Even a very short fall on a static line could be fatal.
• chx 2y ago
  This is extremely unlikely for several reasons. 1. There hasn't been a crash involving a commercial flight with few survivors in living memory. Either you get something like MH370 where everyone perishes or you get Asiana in SF which had three fatalities. 2. Absolutely baloney about the belt, the worst you can get is a bruise.
  • filleduchaos 2y ago
    Confidently asserting that there hasn't been a crash involving a commercial flight with few survivors in living memory and your examples are all post-2010 flights is...certainly something. There are plenty of people much older than 20-30 years still kicking. And you can get a hell of a lot more than a bruise from a seatbelt due to the magnitude of the forces involved in a plane crash, especially one that [allegedly] killed almost everyone else. Seat belt syndrome is a well-known thing. The GP's story may or may not be true but your points for it being "extremely unlikely" don't hold water at all.
• garaetjjte 2y ago
  This is called "submarining" and it's a factor in seat shape design. It's also one of the reasons why car seatbelts have pretensioners.