Which would you rather have underneath your plane seat: a parachute or a flotation device?

Well I would have a parachute under my seat, but my seat would be the flotation device.

@xxporkxsodaxx, Great answer! I was going to say, the parachute and the seat I was sitting on as well! lol

I’m not certain there would be enough time between a causing event (engine blows, a bomb, structure failure, or ?) and the crash to get a parachute on securely, but I agree with you: I’ll take my chances with a parachute,

If you crash and your inside the plane there’s a good chance your dead. That being said I would go for the parachute. That and it’s cooler.

Most passenger jet planes travel at too high an altitude and too fast a velocity for the average “jumper” to successfully escape and deploy a chute, even with experience. You don’t see recreational parachute jumpers jump out of jet planes now, do you? And that stunt that Schwarzenegger pulled in that spy movie, plain smoke and mirrors…Military jet pilots who eject in almost every case will lose consciousness in this rapid decompression and acceleration, as the body and brain can’t handle the stress; their chutes (in their seats) are set to auto-deploy if they make it to that altitude with vitals intact.

As for the floatation device option, even if a plane was able to make a controlled, minimal speed landing on water, you’re still talking an impact velocity exceeding 200–250 miles per hour; strapped to your seat with an ordinary lap belt, what do you think the chances of surviving an impact crash at that speed would be? Most crash test dummies test at speeds below 50 miles per hour, with a very high probability of critical injuries when speeds exceed that (without additional restraint such as an airbag).

If I were in that scenario, I would want to “pleasantly” lose consciousness well before impact; perhaps a dose of something ‘special’ that has a rapid-release response may be in order. Sorry to be a killjoy to your question/discussion.

P.S. as for the surviving and shark situation, check out the movie Open Water.

I think they don’t bother with the parachutes because you usually aren’t able to exit the plane at the proper altitude to even deploy your parachute…

I wanna float! I think pilots are directed to crash into bodies of water whenever possible…

@ SndFreq: I want the something SPECIAL too! LOL Sorry if I reiterated some of your points. ;)

@margery-yeah, you’ll float alright; have you ever seen freshly dropped fish food dropped in an aquarium? haha

LOL… I know I know… GIVE ME THE SPECIAL STUFF!!!

parachute, please.

I’d say a flotation device (but not a life jacket, a boat thing), and maybe some sturdy rope, so that I could turn the inflatable boat into a parachute if need be!

Jets crash land in water at extreme speeds, excess of 300mph. I’d prefer the parachute. But its not going to be easy getting out of a jet traveling up to 500mph at 20,000ft.

There must be a reason that they provide life jackets and not parachutes.

Probably because life jackets are cheaper. If neither will work, it’s just a p.r. thing.

Parachute, definitley