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Brace Yourself
Amanda Witt
Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana
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Have you ever flown on an airplane? Well, if you have, has it ever crossed your
mind as to what would happen if the plane were to crash? Would you know what to do?
Would you know how to position your body so you’d be safe and survive? The majority
of all airlines across the world would require a person to assume the brace position.
According to the Macmillan Dictionary, the brace position is “a position for an
emergency landing of a plane, where the passenger sits bent forward with their hands
behind their head” (brace position, Macmillan Dictionary, September 22, 2012).
However, conspiracy theorists say otherwise. Conspiracy theorists believe that the
brace position actually kills a person when a plane is descending. It is cheaper for the
airlines to pay for a wrongful death rather than a lifetime of injuries. In the Myth Busters
Collection 1 Episode 7: Killer Brace Position, Jamie and Adam test out this theory about
the brace position for themselves.
Kari is the one who informs Jamie and Adam about this conspiracy theory.
Jamie, Adam, and Kari come up with a list of questions they want answered while
experimenting.

Is the brace position intended to save you or kill you?

Can any position save you?

Is there a difference between sitting normal in the airplane seat rather than
assuming the brace position?

What about first class, are you any safer when you spend the extra money?

What about the backwards facing seats that the flight attendants have to sit in?
Before the testing begins Kari and Tory go and gather supplies at a local air flight
factory. They buy three types of airline seats: economy, first-class, and flight attendant.
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Kari and Tory also go and gather dummies for the experiment; one of the dummies is
named Buster. Since Buster is just a stunt dummy his neck is not flexible like humans.
To modify the flexibility of the neck of Buster, Adam and Jamie had to add springs to his
neck. The springs in his neck will test the about of deflection measured in the
experiments. Tory draws up an experiment to begin building the testing equipment.
The seats are mounted on an angled board that is pointed in a downward angle. A
crane holds the board with the seats attached and it is dropped at a downward angle
(Myth Busters, Killer Brace Position).
A series of five tests are investigated by the Myth Busters crew. The first test
has Buster and his family in coach seating. The dummies are placed in an up-right
position. The seats are dropped from fifteen feet at a rate of thirty-five feet per second.
After the dummies have been dropped to the ground, one can see that all of the seats
are demolished. Some of Buster’s family has broken legs, but there were no deaths
recorded. Buster’s chest withheld the amount of force when he was dropped from the
crane. Buster’s neck also upheld the force of the crash and if he were a real person; he
only would have walked away from the crash with a minor headache (Myth Busters,
Killer Brace Position).
The second test was also in coach, but Buster and his family assumed the brace
position. The brace position in the economy class has the people rest their heads on
the back of the seats in front of them with their hands holding onto the seats. As Buster
and his family were dropped from the crane, nothing was triggered by the results from
the chest force or the neck. Buster and his family did not have any neck injuries, but a
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few broken femurs were a result of this second test (Myth Busters, Killer Brace
Position).
The third test had Buster and his family in first class with them assuming the
brace position. The brace position in first class has people’s heads between their legs
as if they were about to bend over and grab their ankles. After the seats were dropped,
all of the first class seats stayed in place and didn’t move. However, Buster’s legs
shattered on impact. If Buster did not have any neck or chest injuries from the crash, he
wouldn’t be able to walk away from the wreck if his legs were severely broken. Adam
and Jamie came to the conclusion that maybe first class and more leg room might not
be worth the extra penny (Myth Busters, Killer Brace Position).
The forth test had Buster positioned in a flight attendant’s seat. If you have never
been in an airplane, you wouldn’t know that the flight attendants seats are positioned
facing backwards. As Buster was dropped there was almost no change in his neck
position. No deflection of the neck resulted and Buster’s head was completely
cushioned by the seat head rest. As a result of the forth test, humans can withstand a
much higher gravitational force by sitting backwards (Myth Busters, Killer Brace
Position).
The last and final test done by the Myth Busters crew was with real life dummies.
Adam, Kari, and Tory all sat in coach seats while being lifted five feet above the ground.
As they were dropped, all of them didn’t seem to have a neck injuries or chest injuries.
However, all of their knees hit the seats in front of them and some were cut on their
shins. Kari hit her elbow and Adam’s glasses broke. Other than some minor cuts and
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bruises Kari, Adam, and Tory were all fine and walked away from the experiment (Myth
Busters, Killer Brace Position).
At the conclusion of the experiment Adam, Jamie, and Kari all concluded their
results. The Myth Busters crew said the brace position was better than an un-braced
position in coach. However, overall first class seating was safer than the economy
seating all together. The safest of them all was the flight attendant’s seat because it
withheld the most gravitational force. There was also zero neck deflection when Buster
sat in the flight attendant’s seat. The Myth Busters crew officially busted the conspiracy
theory (Myth Busters, Killer Brace Position).
To me scientific inquiry is where someone asks questions and comes up with
their own results or answer. Personally, the Myth Busters crew experimented while
using inquiry. The crew began with a big idea or myth to solve. They gathered supplies
and used what they already knew to start an experiment and test their thinking. The
crew had to make little adjustments to measure the amount of deflection on a human’s
neck. Overall, the experiment they used worked really well. The results of the
investigation answered all of their questions that they wanted answered. There
experiment was very successful while using all of the steps of inquiry.
Throughout the investigation of the brace position, two scientific concepts stood
out. Gravitational forces and the angle of deflection were two terms that were used
from beginning to end. A gravitational force is the force of attraction between all
masses within the universe (gravitational force, Farlex clipart collection, September 22,
2012). An angle of deflection is how far the neck bends backwards. I have used both of
these terms or have heard of them before watching this episode of Myth Busters.
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Gravitational force was used in my high school biology class and the angle of deflection
was also used in high school in my physics class. In high school, my physics class took
a trip to King’s Island Amusement Park. We spent the day riding rides and recording
information about terms we knew. We connected what we were doing at the park with
what we already knew from being in physics class. One roller coaster ride took off at
fast speed and reached 120 miles per hour within six seconds. We measured how
much our neck flew backwards, or our angle of deflection, after the ride was over. It
was a neat experience and I learned more at King’s Island that day than I did in the
actual classroom.
During the Myth Busters episode, many questions came to my mind.

If airplane seats had seatbelts like they do in cars, would the results be the
same?

If a young child was in an airplane seat would he or she survive?

What if people sat Indian style in the seat before the plane crashed?
o Would it save their legs from being broken?

If the plane were to crash into something instead of falling straight down, would
the results be the same?

Would whiplash occur if a plane crashed into something?
o Would the angle of deflection be worse or improve?

If the angle was at a different degree what would happen?
o Would there be less of an injury to ones legs?

Does which seat you are sitting in (window seat, middle seat, aisle seat) matter?

Would the size of the plane have an effect?
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The next step to further my own investigation about the questions I came up with during
the Myth Busters episode I looked up online. WikiHow stated that the brace position is
still used to save lives when a plane is descending. The person on the plane is
supposed to put their head between their legs while the plane is dropping (How to
survive a plane crash, WikiHow). I also asked a teacher that I work with what she
thought of my questions. Krista noted that if airplanes did have car seatbelts, there
would be more of a survival rate in plane crashes (K. Gray, personal communication,
September 22, 2012). She also said the size of the plane would have an effect on a
gravitational force. The smaller the plane the less likely the plane will withhold a larger
gravitational force (K. Gray, personal communication, September 22, 2012). I also
asked my mom, Joyce, about what she thought about my questions because she
travels for work and is always on an airplane. My mom liked my question about car
seatbelts in airplanes. She thought airplanes should have a more supportive safety
restraint rather than just a lap belt (J. Witt, personal communication, September 22,
2012). My mom said if a plane were to crash and a child would be on board, the force
of the impact alone would damage and may even kill the young child. Children that
young would not be able to withhold a strong gravitational force, especially from a plane
crash (J. Witt, personal communication, September 22, 2012). She thinks if a plane
were to crash it wouldn’t matter which seat you are sitting in, but the size of the plane
would have a greater effect of survival ratings. My mom also said some people such as
herself wouldn’t be flexible enough to sit Indian style in a small plane seat, so therefore
that would rule her out of that question. A case of severe whiplash (maybe even death
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depending on what the plane came into contact with) would occur if a plane were to
crash straight into something (J. Witt, personal communication, September 22, 2012).
As a result, one would want to assume the brace position when sitting in coach.
However, paying the extra penny for the ‘better’ seats in first class may not even be
worth it. Yes there is more room, but if the plane were to crash your legs will crash too.
If you are a flight attendant, most likely you would have to buckle up with no injuries to
worry about. Debris would be flying toward you, but your injuries would be slim to none.
It is important to be cautious if something were to go wrong when flying in an airplane.
Just remember to brace yourself for the worst.
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Bibliography
brace position - definition of brace position by Macmillan Dictionary. (n.d.). Macmillan
Dictionary and Thesaurus: Free English Dictionary Online. Retrieved September 22,
2012, from http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/brace-position
gravitational force. (n.d.) WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. (2003-2008). Retrieved
September 22, 2012, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gravitational+force
Gray, K., personal communication, September 22, 2012
How to survive a plane crash: 11 steps - wikiHow. (n.d.). wikiHow – How
to do anything. Retrieved September 22, 2012, from
http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-a-Plane-Crash
Myth Busters- Collection 1: Ep. 7 Killer Brace Position. (n.d.). Netflix. Retrieved
September 22, 2012, from
http://movies.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70113231&trkid=3325854#MovieId
Witt, J., personal communication, September 22, 2012