Life-saving PLANE CRASH escape system is being IGNORED, says inventor

The inventor of the safety system claims airline manufacturers are ignoring his idea

AIRCRAFT manufacturers are not doing enough to protect their passengers, the inventor of a potentially life-saving escape pod has claimed.

 

A potentially revolutionary escape pod system for commercial jets is being ignored, its Russian inventor Gamil Halidov has claimed.

Mr Halidov designed the concept, which connects the passenger compartment inside the plane fuselage to a huge parachute.

In the event of an mid-air disaster – a pod would blast from the fuselage of the plane and then float safely to the ground.

 

But airline manufacturers have so far rejected the radical escape pod idea – despite agreeing the idea would save lives, its creator has claimed.

Mr Halidov believes the crash of Metrojet Flight 9268, which resulted in the death of the 224 people aboard, could result in airline manufacturers reassessing the idea.

Russian inventor Gamil Halidov first dreamt up the plane safety mechanism more than 15 years ago, back in 2000.

Mr Halidov and his engineer son built the system to protect passengers on board a plane that is minutes away from an impact.

 

His plan involves creating yet another layer within the plane that could eject itself from the aircraft once it is certain that a crash is imminent.

The capsule he designed is made out of polymer material that is not only pressurised but it is also impossible to sink or burn.

He also estimated that the additional work will weigh no more than between 2 and 4 tonnes, and will therefore not significantly affect the plane's performance or fuel consumption.

 



In the event of a crash, the inside of the aircraft can be ejected saving passengers



 

The pod has a large parachute – stopping it from plummeting 35,000ft

 

Russian inventor Gamil Halidov says the safety mechanism does not add weight to the plane

Mr Halidov was inspired to do something to help save passengers after the death of Artyom Borovik, a well-known journalist, who perished in a plane crash.

Speaking about the project, Mr Halidov said: "The aircraft designers are always improving the construction but they still don't do anything to help save passenger lives when it all goes wrong."

The final price of an upgraded aircraft would be five to seven per cent higher than the initial price, he estimated.

Aircraft builder Igor Tabachuk however has said that the scepticism over the project comes from the fact that more and more systems mean more and more things that can go wrong and therefore more problems to tackle in the first place.

 



Russian inventor Gamil Halidov first dreamt up the idea in 2000