Pilot chilling explanation for cockpit going silent if a plane is about to crash

13 March 2024 , 15:19

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Only 0.000001% of planes have gone down in the last 10 years. (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

An aviator has explained why pilots are likely to go silent in the minutes before a plane crashes.

The chances of getting killed in a plane crash are very slim. Only 0.000001% of planes have gone down in the last 10 years. The annual risk of being killed in a plane crash for the average American is about 1 in 11 million, with those odds likely significantly higher for Brits given we fly a lot less on average.

Despite this, many more people are terrified of flying than they are of other, statistically much more dangerous forms of transport. Part of the reason why is the catastrophic nature of a plane crash in the very rare event that they do happen, and arguably the way in which aircraft spiralling out of control has been cemented in popular culture through so many films.

Following the release of the film Sully - which tells the story of the 2009 emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River - the Guardian described the riveting descent scene as "simply the next logical step in the long line of movies portraying with ever greater grim authenticity the waking nightmare of a plane going down".

Liliana explained what happens when a plane goes down (Liliana Gearap)

The publication called aviation disasters a "great leveller" as all aboard, regardless of social status, tend to be impacted in the same way, but that the takeaway from plane crash films with happy endings such as Sully is "have faith in pilots". This is a sentiment echoed by Liliana Gearap, a Boeing 737 First Officer at TAROM, who spoke of the trials and tribulations of being a commercial aircraft pilot on International Women's Day. She also told the Mirror what pilots are trained to tell passengers over the intercom in the event of a crash.

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"We do so much training for all of the emergency situations, we read about all the systems, there isn't a second when in the aircraft that we think the plane will crash. That isn't an option in our mindset. We're prepared for 99.9% of emergency situations," Liliana explained.

"We prepare if there's no hydraulics or electrics, if all the engines stop, we prepare so much that there's no such situation that we give up and think 'now we make an announcement to passengers'. In any emergency the priority is to fly the plane. In a real emergency situation, our concern is to fly the plane, not talk to the passengers. I say that with all respect to the passengers."

Liliana said it is the cabin crew's job to "manage crowd control" and make sure that passengers are in the safest possible positions. While they are doing that, the pilots are busying themselves in the cockpit. We fly the aircraft. Once we know we're out of the hazard and about to land, that's when we make an announcement," Liliana added.

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Milo Boyd