We've seen enough disaster films to know that you don't stand a very good chance of surviving a plane crash.
We're no experts, but it's something to do with velocity, strength-to-weight ratios, aviation fuel and the ground.
One man who does claim to be an expert is Vladimir Tatarenko, who believes his aeroplane concept would help save countless lives in the event of mid-air emergencies.
The concept would allow the main body of the plane, carrying both passengers and cargo, to detach from the rest of the craft - deploying parachutes, booster rockets and rubber landing gear to allow it to drift to safety. We're not sure what happens to the poor pilots, but then maybe he's hoping they'll be happy to go down with the ship.
The concept is similar in design to a patent granted to Airbus last year, which saw a modular cabin design proposed to speed up the rate at which passengers and cargo could be loaded into aircraft.
"The existing technology of using of Kevlar and carbon composites for fuselage, wings, flaps, spoilers, ailerons, tail will be used during the design", states Tatarenko in his video. While the additional safety equipment would increase the weight of the plane, he believes "flying without fear" would be worth the drop in fuel efficiency and performance.
Tatarenko believes the cost of running such craft could be compensated by asking passengers to pay up to 15 per cent more for their ticket.
So long as the system doesn't have an all-too-easily pressed button that sees any hapless pilots nudge it with their elbow, we're all for the idea. Are you?
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