Plane crash survival no 'miracle', say experts

Bursting the bubble of Canadian officials who called the survival of all 309 people a "miracle", experts said that most passengers do escape air disasters, especially accidents on the ground.

"There is this myth out there that says if you're involved in a catastrophic aircraft accident the odds are extremely low. That's inaccurate. The odds are extremely high," said Mark Rosenker, the acting chairman of the United States National Transportation Safety Board. The board investigates aircraft accidents and has sent experts to Canada.

A US safety board analysis of 568 crashes (71 of them fatal) between 1983-2000 found that 95 per cent of passengers, or 51,000 people, survived. In a closer study of 26 notable crashes - those that included fire, serious injury or substantial damage or destruction of the plane - more than half of 2700 occupants made it out alive. In Toronto, passengers beat those odds with 100 per cent survival.

Unsurvivable crashes usually always involve mid-air explosions or open water accidents.

Charles Eastlake, a pilot and professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, also credited passengers aboard the Air France flight.

"In interviews, people seemed calm and collected. The mental attitude makes a gigantic difference in how quickly the plane gets evacuated."

- REUTERS