THIS IS WHAT REALLY HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY IF YOU DIE IN A PLANE CRASH
By LESLIE VELIZ
History - Science
While 95% of people who crash while on a plane survive, a fatal crash causes injuries — like disintegration, dismemberment, detachment of the skin, major lacerations, and crushing — that are difficult to catalog. If decompression occurs when a plane falls apart in the air, the suction can cause bodies and seats to be ripped far from the plane, leading to remains that are found nowhere near the rest of the plane.
Since the human body is not designed to withstand high deceleration forces, the body suffers brutal injuries that cause swift death. An explosion leads to a rapid and pain-free death before the actual crash — but if the plane continues to plummet, the spine will likely break and separate the nerves from the brain, causing instant death.
A 1950 crash in London and a 2009 Air France Flight crash showed that the injuries the victims sustained caused immediate loss of consciousness or death, and the pain felt from trauma was brief. The victim likely wouldn't feel a thing or perhaps even realize what is happening — but if you crash during take-off or landing, the chances of surviving are higher than 50%.
Plenty of people — like Michelle Dussan (a 1995 plane crash victim who was 6 years old at the time) and Juliane Koepcke (another victim who survived a 1971 crash as a 17-year-old) — have lived on to share their stories. Note that choosing a middle seat in the back rows, bracing for impact, and wearing tight-fitting clothing increase the chances of surviving a plane crash.