Expert reveals the deadliest seats to be sat in on a plane

When it comes to air travel, we all have our favourite places to sit on a flight - whether that be a window seat to appreciate the views, or an aisle seat for better access to the toilet, or even securing extra leg room by sitting near an emergency exit.

Though many of us don't consider what seats are statistically the safest on the plane (perhaps because the chances of dying in a plane crash are about one in 205,552, according to the US National Safety Council analysis of census data).

Now an aviation expert has given a breakdown as to what seats will give passengers the greatest chance of survival - and it's perhaps not the ones everyone snaps up.

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Doug Drury, a professor at Central Queensland University noted in The Conversation it is not always about where passengers sit on an aircraft as it depends on the circumstances of the crash itself.

That being said, Drury detailed why the middle seats in the last row are statistically the safest ones on an airplane.

The professor mentioned an investigation looking at 35 years of flight data by TIME which found the middle rear seats of an aircraft had the lowest fatality rate at 28 percent, compared to the middle aisle seats at 44 per cent.

If you're looking for a quick exit during an emergency then sitting beside an exit row will enable this (of course this is dependent on a fire not taking place in this area of the plane).

However, Drury warned that the middle isn't as safe as you would think considering that the plane fuel is stored in the wings.

While being at the front of the plane will mean you'll experience the impact first before those passengers sitting in the middle and at the back.

In terms of seat position, the middle seats are considered the safest as Drury explained how sitting in between two people (in the window and aisle seats) creates a "buffer provided by having people on either side."

So those in window and aisle seats do not have this same buffer and protection, meaning they could be hit with fragments from the crash.

Something to keep in mind, next time you're booking these holiday flights...

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