Having parachutes for all plane passengers may not be pipe dream

HANGZHOU (China) — A parachute for every passenger on board an aircraft may not be a pipe dream in the near future if plans to commercialise the use of carbon aerogel — the world’s lightest material — take off.

Carbon aerogel — with a density only one-sixth of that of the air — was developed by Chinese scientists at Zhejiang University using cutting-edge nanotechnology.

It can be used to create a parachute as small and as light as a cotton shirt, said professor of polymer science and engineering Gao Chao, who led the government-funded study in creating the material. Given the elasticity of carbon aerogel, the parachute could be worn as a T-shirt during flight and could be released to form a sphere of more than 3m in diameter.

The shape taken by the parachute would significantly reduce the passenger’s speed of descent and absorb shock upon landing, he told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.

Supplying a 300-seat Boeing 777 jetliner with aerogel parachutes would add just 60kg to the aircraft, said Professor Gao, adding that he had been contacted by some manufacturers to develop a new line of clothing using carbon aerogel.

While wearing parachutes throughout a flight may offer mental relief to passengers who suffer from flight panic, Prof Gao conceded that there are many hurdles that must be overcome first.

Improvements are still needed to make carbon aerogel stronger and more lasting, although Mr Gao said he is optimistic that the technological constraints could be overcome.

Then, there is a need to train passengers on how to operate a standard parachute during an emergency — or chaos may result if a passenger were to accidentally activate a parachute during an otherwise smooth flight.

Although a parachute may be useless when a plane crashes with all its doors closed, Mr Gao said: “If the plane disintegrates in mid-air — like if it were to be hit by a missile — the parachutes would give some passengers a chance of survival.”

Mr Qi Yun, a life-saving equipment research scientist with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, said that while the new technology made providing parachutes on civilian aircraft more feasible, there are still plenty of red tape that must be overcome before the parachutes could be used for commercial planes.

“The parachute issue is a taboo topic in the civil aviation industry. Airlines have long had an unspoken agreement that parachutes should not be provided on a scheduled flight,” he told the Post.

Their concerns include the possibility of passengers, who are equipped with parachutes, requesting for the plane doors to be opened so they could leave mid-flight — which could lead to chaos if others were to follow suit.

Allowing a passenger to wear his own parachute on board the plane may also bring discomfort to others.

“I do not think an airline would allow such passengers on board as it would make other passengers without the parachute feel nervous,” Mr Qi said. AGENCIES