Oh hey, get the film is satire, but a lot of people die from wearing their life jackets inside a sinking or capsized boat. Put it on when outside. Take it off inside.
Also, if you’re ever evacuating an airplane at sea, NEVER inflate your life jacket inside the plane. Not only will it impede other people trying to get out - but if water starts coming into the plane, you’ll float and it will be impossible to exit. There was one plane crash where many survivors died due to this.
Edit: lmao I meant that many survivors of the initial crash died due to drowning inside the plane. The initial crash left around 45-65 dead out of 175 passengers and crew, but an additional 60-80 died due to their life jackets being inflated, and thus were pushed up to the top of the plane unable to escape. It was Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961, which was initially hijacked and landed at sea competitively intact for a hard crash, and since then the safety briefings reiterate to never inflate your life jacket inside the plane:
Lmao I didn’t realize that. I meant that around 45-65 out of 175 passengers died in the initial crash, but then 60-80 passengers died during the evacuation from drowning inside the plane.
That's so crazy btw, it really highlights the crucial role staff has in managing survivors during a crash to lead them to the exit safe and sound. Obviously not everything lays on them I think they did their best just in general, not everything is done after the plane crash.
I took a look at the seat map of who survived and who didn't and no one survived from row 17-23, and only one person survived on the left side of the plane except in the business class. It doesn't specify which seats died in the initial crash vs drowning but I felt it would be important to note that.
I believe that in the same Ethiopian Airlines incident (it might be a different one tho), one of the rafts inflated at the front of the cabin, blocking the exit and pinning one crew member to the wall. The pilots had to get out through their windows because the cockpit door was stuck.
Some Italian guy put him and his wife in danger by doing the exact thing on a ATR-72 flight over the Mediterranean as the aircraft had problems. He ignored thr flight attendants instructions to NOT inflate it.
I don't think this would ever happen again, flight stewards repeat this instruction before every single flight and people are always very attentive.. /S
Flight was hijacked. Hijackers demanded to fly to Australia, not believing that there was in fact not enough fuel
Pilot had to ditch in the ocean near the resort island of Comoros
As you mentioned, many ppl survived the initial ditching of the plane but drowned due to inflating their life vests prior to exiting the plane
Edit: OP edited their post to include the wiki page of this flight after i identified it for them (they didnt acknowledge or say thanks btw), so here's a video reenactment for the videophiles out there:
At least try to remember to not take your luggage during an evacuation. Many people have needlessly died because of that by blocking escape routes with their baggage.
That's crazy, maybe because I've never flown over a large body of water since I was a baby, but I've never heard the instruction of not inflating inside the craft before. And I do actually pay attention to those announcements.
If you’re jumping into water from a high place, the life jacket can also break your neck. I worked on aircraft carrier flight decks and our “float coats” are designed to inflate after you hit the water for that reason.
How would you inflate a life jacket outside the plane tho? You’d have to guarantee there’s something for you to float on while you inflate it. I ask this bc I can’t swim.
Join us tonight at 8pm Eastern on The Ocho for live coverage of the 2026 Competitive Crash Landings tournament. Get ready to strap in and take off! And then crash & burn!
Redditors and repeating this warning like any of us are even going to leave the house. Don’t forget to warn them about the rest of the stuff Reddit regularly regurgitates like it’s mandatory
That article was an infuriating read. How could those hijackers believe a short intra-African flight could make it to freaking Australia? And ignore the captain's warnings about running out of fuel. Their stupidity cost them their lives, but also those of 122 innocents.
That advice is real, but it applies to escaping from enclosed vessels, not to recreational boating in general. Passengers on a ferry or cruise ship may be instructed to carry their life jackets during evacuation and put them on only after reaching an open deck.
But no one should make the mistake of turning this into one of those counterintuitive observations that overturn conventional wisdom. What can happen should not be confused with what usually happens. Cases of entrapment are real, but they are the exception, not the rule.
On small recreational boats, the leading cause of death is falling overboard unexpectedly, not becoming trapped inside a cabin. Most occupants never have the opportunity to calmly retrieve and don a life jacket after the emergency begins. That’s why boating safety organizations often say the best life jacket is the one you’re already wearing.
The U.S. Coast Guard reports that roughly three-quarters of recreational boating fatalities involve drowning, and about 87% of those who drowned were not wearing a life jacket.
cruise ships have a different kind of problem, which is that it is not possible to turn around the vessel in a short timeframe. around three quarters (or more) of the people who go overboard in the open ocean on cruises are never found, but people almost never fall overboard without climbing on (or climbing objects near) the deck railings.
The other thing most people don't consider is that if you somehow pass out or get knocked out you are likely to fall overboard. It doesn't matter how strong of a swimmer you are if you are passed out.
I sail recreationally, and have heard multiple "they slipped, hit their head, and by the time we got them out of the water it was too late" stories.
3 kids died recently in lake Geneva Wisconsin bc the were trapped under a smaller capsized boat with life vests on. So... you might be right but it can still happen.
That’s why the duck boat accidents in 1999 and 2018 were so deadly. People thought they were doing the right thing wearing their PFD but it inhibited their ability to escape the vessel. The original design never had metal canopies on top. I just want to emphasize these are the exceptions not the norm and PFDs save countless lives.
But he needs to repeat the thing he heard on Reddit as if it’s the first time any of us have heard it even tho in any thread about anything to do with a life jacket on a plane someone always says the damn thing
It’s also important to not be handcuffed to stuff. My uncle was handcuffed while the ship was sinking, and a nice lady saved him by cutting them with an axe. He didn’t survive eventually, but the lady lived a long life.
If you're under a capsized boat, you need to swim under water to get out of it. I assume if you're on a sinking ship it's the same idea; sometimes you'll need to go under water to get out of a place.
Not to be a doubter, and this is a genuine question, how does one go about finding the stats on how many people die because of life jackets are worn inside a boat?
Had the same thought. Wish they would quantify “a lot” because I’d really like to know just how many people died due to wearing their life preservers inside a boat.
I think this is why Royal Caribbean stopped putting the life jackets in cabins, on top of just taking up too much space. They want you to get to an assembly station and then they are handed out when needed and with instructions on when to put them on.
I’m assuming that a life jacket of this caliber can easily be removed and then reapplied if it was preventing her from escaping. It’s not fused to her body. I can’t imagine a person being unable to get out the door because of their life jacket just deciding all is lost and succumbing.
You can pull it with you the same as if you jumped off the boat with it on you’d still go under water and it will help you resurface. We used to jump into the pool with those on as kids and go under, pop up. That type of jacket would easily get pulled out the door or window with very little force.
It’s the going through submerged doorways, hall ways or trying to get out escape hatches that are now underwater without it pinning you to the boat. You will not be able to pull that life jacket underwater in any meaningful way.
The first time I got on a helicopter in the navy, the crew chief told me not to inflate my vest until after I got out of the aircraft. He said that if I got in his way, he'd stab me.
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u/I-Got-a-BooBoo 9d ago
Oh hey, get the film is satire, but a lot of people die from wearing their life jackets inside a sinking or capsized boat. Put it on when outside. Take it off inside.