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A couple of premium seats in a commercial airliner that have
ejection capability. The travelers would pay a hefty
premium, but would increase their odds of survival many-
fold.
Bathrooms capability would have to be integrated because I'm
sure these people would not want to risk their
investment by
standing up to go to the toilet.
Psychology vs Reality
http://www.npr.org/...-should?sc=fb&cc=fp
[DrBob, Sep 23 2010]
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Annotation:
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It's a piece of experimental economics. Are people *really*
willing to pay a high price to prevent something with tiny
probability but infinite cost? |
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Perhaps airlines could install placebo ejection
seats to test market conditions before implementing
this. The opposite has already been tested - people
are willing to fore go safety for a cheaper ticket. |
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Likewise, would people sign up for special bargain seats on flights if sitting in those seats carried with it a 1 in 100,000 chance of death? |
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//offer additional seating in the cargo compartment for a vastly reduced fare?// |
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There are a number of "airlines" in Asia that manage to achieve something very similar to this in the passenger compartment. |
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Make all the seats ejection seats. The crew/air
marshall have control of the switches. No more
terrorist worries. |
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During the Vietnam War, the US did this with captured Viet Cong. Two would go up in the helicopter, one would be ejected, and the other would become very talkative. |
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// Are people *really* willing to pay a high price to prevent something with tiny probability but infinite cost?//<r>
Oh, I think they are! <linky> |
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It would be ironic if, given a high probability of a crash and sufficient warning, other passengers took over the premium seats, killing the occupants. |
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[dishler] ...angry mob running towards you with
wielding plastic utensils and screaming "Give me your
seat now!" ... EJECT,EJECT,EJECT! Problem solved |
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Maybe not entirely, with those people piled up in your lap. |
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Even for a fit, young and highly trained pilot, having to Bang Out is a fairly traumatic and damaging experience. The sort of individual who can afford to pay the ejection seat premium would probably be killed by the experience .... ah. [+] |
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I just read the small print on my "ejection class" ticket. |
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It says I'll be ejected in the event of a mid-air disaster. But
it conspicuously fails to mention what happens thereafter. |
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That largely depends on whether you chose to invest in the "parachute supplement" prior to departure ... |
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Inflatable dinghy not included. Passenger may accelerate during descent. Seat is packed by weight, not volume; contents may "settle" on impact. |
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so in case of attack, the first-class section is used as chaff ? |
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Technically, most seats become ejection seats on
impact. Let your conscience be your guide as to
whether or not you'd charge extra for them. |
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Your words are strange to us, hu-mon. We will ask the Accounts department ... |
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MIght want to check with legal. I'm pretty sure we've
got a specific "Morality and conscience exemption
clause." |
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But isn't that the definition of "legal" ? Tautology ... |
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Finally, growing tired of the endless maundering of
the slightly intoxicated, bad-smelling boor in the seat
next to me, I quietly pressed the EJECT button on
his seat's armrest. |
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Well, that's one way of promoting yourself from co-pilot to captain, we suppose .... |
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"So there I was, a tellin' this nice person next to me
all
about my colostomy bag collection and VHHOOOSH!
he hits his ejector seat button what's located on my
arm rest. I'm pretty sure it was an accident. Awfully
nice fella. Hope he landed safely." |
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//So there I was, a tellin' this nice person next to me all about my colostomy bag// |
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Certainly the vacuum created by ejecting would pull anyone nearby into the gaping hole left in the fuselage. The "nice" passenger would find himself spinning in freezing and oxygen deficient air while still accompanied by that beastly woman, her dress drawn over her head by the air blast, with her colostomy bag now horribly revealed. Appalled, he would yank the rip cord, leaving the screeching woman to plummet down. He could then leisurely observe as the jet cartwheeled in the distance, the captain desperately trying to regain control. |
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[DrBob] Ooo! Good point. So, if people buy these for their
children, rather than for themselves, we may get a paper out
of it. |
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"Oh, how I wished [ixnaum] had thought to include
a supply of painkillers and an inflatable raft with a
20-week supply of food, water and sunblock in
every ejection seat module!" I cursed for the
thousandth time. |
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I had resolved to save the last few morsels of my
broken and partially dismembered left leg for a
sumptuous dinner this evening, after the tiger
sharks had snatched most of it from me soon after
landing. The skin on my head was now peeling off
in patches, cooked and split like the skin of a
blanched tomato, by the harsh tropical sun. |
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I tried not to imagine the 16,000 feet of water
beneath me as a bad thing but as a source of
blessed relief for my current condition. |
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