What’s the Safest Seat on an Airplane?

Air travel has entered an especially fraught place in the public consciousness lately, mostly due to a recent spate of incidents in which Boeing planes have caught fire, lost a wheel during takeoff, or sprung a hole mid-flight. These high-profile mishaps have given flying a bad name and made countless passengers ponder which seats on a plane are safest and which are the most dangerous.

Despite all the recent consternation, it’s important to remember that airline travel is remarkably safe. Packing into a full commercial flight may not always be the most comfortable or relaxing experience, but compared to just about any other methods it is one of the least deadly means of transit ever created. Airplane crashes are so rare that getting worked up about which seat is the safest one to plop your butt into is likely going to cause you more ...