Interest to the new revolutionary safety system has grown in wake of Russian airliner crash in Egypt
“Surviving in a plane crash is possible,” claims Ukrainian aviation engineer Vladimir Tatarenko who devoted much of his life to inventing a life-saving capsule that can help thousands to survive in aviation accidents.
A life-saving capsule that can help thousands to survive in aviation accidents (video screenshot)
While working at the Antonov serial production plant, the aircraft manufacturing company in Kyiv, Tatarenko was often a member of special commissions, working on the scenes of accidents.
“Looking at these horrible scenes and knowing the statistics of crashes I came to certain conclusions. People are wrong about air disasters, because some 80% of them happen due to human error,” the inventor told in an interview to the Ukrainian e-zine AIN.UA
“While aircraft engineers all over the world are trying to make planes safer, they can do nothing about the human factor,” Tatarenko added, explaining how he came up with the idea of a rescue container.
After five-decade research Tatarenko has received a patent on the invention of the escape capsule system designed to rescue crew and passengers of a civil aircraft in case of emergency.
“For years the research community was unable to bring it to life, because engineers could not find a suitable material. But we have used carbon-fiber – a very strong and lightweight material, which proved to be suitable,” Tatarenko said.
The system envisages that the capsule with seats for passengers and crew is installed inside the aircraft’s fuselage. It could escape through the rear hatch of the aircraft within two to three seconds in case of almost all emergencies – engine failure, fire on board, technical problems triggered by bad weather conditions and other troubles.
After ejection, a high-altitude capsule, powered by two gunpowder engines designed to slow down its speed, is parachuting to the ground (video screenshot)
However, it could not save lives if the plane explodes inside or comes under a rocket attack, he added.
Though the concept seems to be a major breakthrough in aviation safety, Tatarenko doubts that the mass production of the escape capsule can come soon – operational tests and standardization of the system will take at least four years and need massive investments.
According to him, the approximate cost of the project to make an emergency escape capsule suitable for the commercial exploitation would be about USD 1 million.
Airlines have so far also shown little interest to the invention, because it would reduce a number of seats and increase fuel consumption rate.
SOURCE: USA Today
