Is seat 11A the safest seat on a plane?
The survival of a passenger who escaped through an exit door seconds after an Air India flight crashed killing everyone else on board has prompted speculation over whether the seat he was in, seat 11A, is the safest.
Aviation experts say it is not so straightforward because aircraft vary widely in seat configurations, crashes are unique and survival often hinges on a complex interplay of factors.
"Each accident is different, and it is impossible to predict survivability based on seat location," said Mitchell Fox, a director at Flight Safety Foundation, a US-based nonprofit.
The sole survivor, Viswash kumar Ramesh, a British national of Indian origin, said his 11A seat was near an emergency exit on the London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed in Ahmedabad and he managed to walk out.
Sitting next to an exit door might help you survive an accident, but it will always be 11A because aircraft can have dozens of different configurations.
"In this particular instance, because the passenger was sitting adjacent to the emergency exit, this was obviously the safest seat on the day," said Ron Bartsch, Chairman at Sydney-based Av Law Aviation Consulting.
"But it's not always 11A, it's just 11A on this configuration of the Boeing 787," he added.
A 2007 Popular Mechanics study of crashes since 1971 found that passengers towards the back of the plane had better survival odds.
Some experts suggest the wing section offers more stability.
Sitting next to an exit door, like Mr Ramesh, gives you an opportunity to be one of the first out of the plane, although some exits do not function after a crash.
The opposite side of the plane was blocked by the wall of a building it crashed into in Ahmedabad.
In January of last year, a panel missing several bolts blew off the side of a Boeing 737 MAX mid-flight, creating a gaping hole and damaging the adjacent seat.
Fortunately, no one was seated there at the time, and the incident resulted in no fatalities.
Sitting by the aisle might offer you a speedier escape but it increases the likelihood of being hit in the head by luggage falling out of the overhead bins, which is a much more common occurrence than major crashes.
Safety briefings
Paying attention to the safety briefing at the start of your flight - often dismissed as routine - is likely the best way to improve your chances of survival, experts say.
Disciplined compliance with cabin crew evacuation advice, including leaving bags behind, was a key factor in saving the lives of all 379 passengers and crew aboard a Japan Airlines flight in January last year.
The Airbus A350 aircraft had collided with a Coast Guard plane at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, killing five of the six crewmembers on the smaller aircraft.
Safety briefings typically cover critical instructions such as how to fasten your seatbelt securely, adopt the correct brace position and plan your evacuation route.
A common tip is to count the number of rows between your seat and the nearest exit, which is vital knowledge if the cabin fills with smoke and visibility is low.
Despite disasters such as the Air India crash, plane designs have evolved to increase the likelihood of passengers walking away from a rare plane accident, Mr Fox said.
These include floor path lighting, fire detection and extinguishers, less flammable cabin materials and improved access to emergency exits.
"There have been remarkable advancements in airplane cabin design that have improved the survivability of accidents on or near the ground," Mr Fox said.
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Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Irish Times
Poppies symbolise the fleeting, bittersweet beauty of summer gardens
If ever there was a flower that symbolises the fleeting, bittersweet beauty of the garden in summer, then it's surely the poppy, with its gossamer-thin petals and delicate, slender stems. But do you know your short-lived, sun-loving annual poppy species, including many that are suitable for poorer, free-draining soils, from longer-lived biennial, perennial and shrubby kinds, including some that will only flourish in cool, damp, humus-rich, woodland conditions? If you're lucky, you may have come across the very rare, yellow-horned poppy, Glaucium flavum (a particular favourite of the late British artist and gardener Derek Jarman), a wild biennial or short-lived perennial species sometimes found growing in shingly beaches along sheltered Irish coastlines. Much more common is the annual wild field poppy or corn poppy, Papaver rhoeas, whose vermilion blooms light up road verges and waste ground at this time of year. Each ephemeral flower lasts just three to four days, but then another quickly takes its place, resulting in a long-lasting display over several months. READ MORE For those who dislike red, consider the cultivated forms of this sun-loving, hardy annual, commonly known as the Shirley poppy, which are also available to gardeners, with both double and single flowers in soft shades of pink, apricot, white, peach and sooty purple. An enduring favourite is Papaver rhoeas 'Amazing Grey', famed for its silver-purple blooms. To enjoy it as a cut-flower indoors, simply sear the end of each stem with a lighter or candle or plunge the tips into boiling water for 7-10 seconds before quickly placing them in cold water. [ Slow Flower power is all about the local and the seasonal Opens in new window ] Easily raised from seed in autumn or early spring, the conventional advice is to direct-sow these into the ground where you want the plants to flower. But I've had much greater success with module-raised seedlings transplanted into the garden in very late spring and early summer. Just make sure to do this while they're still small. The annual/short-lived perennial poppy species commonly known as the Californian poppy, Eschscholzia californica, similarly loves a warm, sunny spot. But it usefully combines this with a remarkable ability to thrive in the poorest and stoniest of soils, making it a great choice for drought-prone gardens where it will also often self-seed. Typically known for its flame-orange flowers which appear throughout summer, many new varieties with blooms in shades of peach, pink, coral, cream, buttercup and apricot have been introduced in recent years and are easily raised from seed. Examples include the 'Thai Silk' series, especially 'Thai Silk Apricot Chiffon' with its luminously beautiful, deep apricot flowers. The Californian poppy, Eschscholzia californica, loves a warm, sunny spot By comparison, growing the outlandishly beautiful but famously capricious Icelandic poppy is a challenge for even seasoned gardeners. Best known as Papaver nudicaule, but recently renamed as Oreomecon nudicaulis, this late spring/early summer-flowering species loathes intense heat, preferring cool, bright conditions. Technically a perennial, it's best treated as a biennial raised from seed sowed in late spring and then planted out in autumn to flower the following year. Getting its tiny seeds to successfully germinate and then preventing them from damping-off can be fiendishly difficult, a challenge made more aggravating by the fact that seed of the most desirable strain – the Colibri poppy, originally bred for the cut-flower trade – is also mind-wateringly expensive. Icelandic poppy: Outlandishly beautiful but famously capricious But for those who succeed, the reward is giant poppy flowers in shades of peach, watermelon-pink, gold and brilliant orange, which emerge like tropical butterflies out of giant sculptural flower pods. Equally famous for its disdain of anything other than ideal growing conditions, the exquisite Himalayan poppy (Meconopsis baileyi; M 'Lingholm'; M 'Slieve Donard') is also that rarest of things in nature, which is blue-flowering. To grow it well – indeed, to grow it at all – you must give this summer-flowering perennial a cool, damp but free-draining, humus rich, neutral to slightly acid soil and edge-of-woodland growing conditions where its delicate blooms are protected from harsh winds and strong sunlight. For this reason, it's generally only found growing in parts of the country where rainfall levels are high and summers rarely get too hot. Himalayan blue poppy Only when it's entirely happy will it then self-seed, the caveat here being that you must grow a non-sterile variety for it to do so. Yet such is the glorious sight of it flowering en masse that many gardeners still go to extraordinary lengths to encourage this aristocratic poppy to establish. But nothing could be further from the case when it comes to the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, a hardy, sun-loving annual species so promiscuous that once introduced, it's likely to self-seed itself about the place with happy abandon. It can even arrive unannounced, its tiny seeds hitching a lift in the soil of a potted plant or brought on the soles of muddy gardening boots. In my own garden, an unnamed variety with shocking-pink, double flowers did just this a few years ago, producing tall, large, violently colourful blooms so entirely out of place that it's as if a flock of noisy flamingos had descended without warning into the cool, damp green of an Irish landscape. Somehow, I just don't have the heart to pull the numerous seedlings out, excusing them on account of the large, long-lasting, ornamental seed-heads that eventually follow. But my favourite will always be the altogether subtler, plum-coloured Papaver 'Lauren's Grape'. Pink opium poppies Other abundantly self-seeding members of the poppy family eminently suitable for an Irish garden include the shade-loving Welsh poppy, Meconopsis cambricum, a late spring to early autumn flowering perennial species with an endearing way of insinuating itself into shady cracks in paving, steps and stone walls. A woodland plant at home in cool, damp, moderately rich but free-draining soils, the pretty flowers come in shades of orange, soft coral and bright yellow. Among the loveliest is the pale apricot-coloured Meconopsis cambricum var. aurantiacum. 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Flower of a California tree poppy, Romneya coulteri, whose genus and species names celebrate Irishmen Thomas Coulter and Thomas Romney Robinson Introduced into cultivation in the late 19th century, it first flowered in the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin in 1877. Typically requiring a sunny, sheltered spot and famously difficult to establish, it can unfortunately become too much of a good thing when it finally does, often sending out suckers that appear metres away from the parent plant. Still, such is its undeniable charm in full bloom that few gardeners can resist it. This week in the garden Deadhead, deadhead, deadhead … Heavy rain and hail showers in recent weeks have damaged the flowers of many plants. To encourage them to recover and start producing new blooms, use a sharp secateurs or snippers to cut them away, making sure not to accidentally remove any newly emerging flower buds. Mulch around the base of newly planted shrubs and trees to lock in moisture while soils are still wet after heavy rainfall. Suitable materials include fresh grass clippings, home-made compost, well-rotted garden manure and seaweed. Dates for dour diary Tullynally Castle & Gardens Plant Fair – Castlepollard, Co Westmeath. Saturday, June 21st. With stalls by many of the country's leading nurseries. Fruitlawn Garden Open Day – Abbeyleix, Co Laois. Sunday, June 22nd. With plant sales and refreshments. Delgany and District Horticultural Society Rose Show – St Patrick's National School, Greystones, Co Wicklow, Saturday, June 28th. All entries welcome, email by Thursday, June 25th.
Irish Times
12 hours ago
- Irish Times
Venice Architecture Biennale 2025: Ireland presents an elegantly complex take on a richly simple idea
Can architecture save the world? Exploring the national pavilions in the Giardini of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale , you might be forgiven for wondering why the world isn't saved already. Plant trees! Recycle building materials! Reconnect with the Earth! Make aesthetic gestures in reparation for colonialism! That's us sorted, so. In truth, a strange atmosphere hangs over the Giardini, and it is an unusual space at the best of times. The individual national pavilions speak of an era when empire still seemed (to some) like a reasonable idea, and often their architecture is a too-obvious giveaway of aspirations to certain kinds of glory. For every elegant Nordic pavilion, designed by Sverre Fehn and completed in 1962, there's an uber-neoclassical edifice screaming the will to power, Germany, Britain and the United States being cases in point. Taken as a whole, and with a couple of notable exceptions, it's a little like being in a theme park of the ironies of nationalistic pride. Architecture tends to last longer than governments, although the deleterious effects of the worst examples of both can linger far longer than one would like. This year Britain and the US have softened their edifices, with hanging strands of clay and beads for Britain, and a huge latticed timber porch for the US. READ MORE There is a certain degree of uncomfortable satire in the latter, as the presentation, entitled An Architecture of Generosity, is all about a spirit of openness and welcome that doesn't exactly chime with the actions of the current leaders of that country. One thing is for sure: the apocalypse will be Instagrammable. Germany's pavilion, Stresstest, takes on climate change with input from an extensive list of architects and artists, centring on huge wraparound digital display of hot city images, flanked by a space reflecting back your own body heat, and another shaded with cool trees. 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Picoplanktonics at the Canadian pavilion at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 Hungary is fun, as Márton Pintér, its curator, takes a look at all the other things trained architects end up doing instead of architecture, while also sharing narratives of the steady attrition through compromise that ultimately demolishes their utopian dreams. The main pavilion in the Giardini is closed for renovation, so the Arsenale houses the bulk of this year's curated exhibition, and bulky it is. From an arch of elephant-dung bricks to bioengineered trees, and from jaunty robots to exhaling rocks, the halls of the vast venue are abuzz, and overstuffed. It is as if Carlo Ratti, the biennale's curator, of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, just couldn't say no. Or perhaps he was high on saying yes. In either case, it just doesn't work, and the overall effect is irritating rather than enlightening. Visitors interact with the Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective exhibit. Photograph: Andrea Avezzù Installation view of the Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective exhibit. Photograph: Andrea Avezzù, courtesy La Biennale di Venezia 'To face a burning world, architecture must harness all the intelligence around us,' Ratti, who is an engineer as well as an architect, says. Instead we are surrounded by an impossible cacophony. Entitled 'Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective' it features odes to AI and robots everywhere. One mimics the actions of visitors banging a drum. Another carves at wood alongside a pair of artists from Bhutan in national dress. AI also helpfully summarises the frequently verbose wall texts alongside each installation; it is amusing to see where even AI chokes on the jargon. Some of the most interesting and most moving pavilions, including Ireland's, are in the adjacent spaces at the Arsenale. A team from Peru explores the man-made reed islands on Lake Titicaca, where human ingenuity thrives only because it has evolved in harmony with nature. The Lebanese pavilion, The Land Remembers, is quietly devastating, as Edouard Souhaid, Shereen Doummar, Elias Tamer and Lynn Chamoun of Collective for Architecture Lebanon look at the impacts of ecocide, following the bombing of their country with white phosphorus by Israeli forces. They also explore the resilience of plants, and their capacity for healing and regrowth. Then there are the flashy projects that underline so much that is wrong with the world of architecture and design. A space-age gateway to a row of Porsche-designed water bikes by the star architect Norman Foster is all aesthetics over old ideas; similarly, the New York practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro bizarrely won a Golden Lion for its Canal Cafe. The 'cafe' is part water-purification plant, part espresso bar at a quieter end of the Arsenale; the jury's citation praised it for its 'demonstration of how the city of Venice can be a laboratory to speculate how to live on the water, while offering a contribution to the public space of Venice'. Again, the only new thing it seems to present is the aestheticisation of something that has been going on in many parts of the world for years. Admittedly, there is a slightly twisted delight in the sight of well-heeled biennale visitors lining up for the delicious frisson of drinking formerly filthy water. Gateway to Venice's Waterways by Norman Foster with Porsche. Photograph: Marco Zorzanello Nearby, one of the most moving elements of the Italian pavilion, which explores the country's relationship to the sea, is an old film of children happily and (presumably) safely swimming in Venice's canals. After all this, Ireland's pavilion, in its now regular space towards the quieter reaches of the Arsenale, comes as a welcome respite. It has been created by a team led by the Cork-based firm Cotter & Naessens , whose other projects include Dún Laoghaire's Lexicon Library, Limerick's Grainstore and some exceptionally elegant private housing that makes remarkable use of light. At Venice a timber structure encloses a circular space with a wraparound internal bench. The diameter of the space makes you want to stay, sit and talk. Inside Assembly, at the Venice Bienalle. Photograph: Cotter & Naessens Architects Assembly celebrates Ireland's citizens' assemblies, whichhave come together to debate issues from marriage equality to biodiversity loss. 'Could citizens' assemblies be realised at different scales?' the architects ask, imagining villages, cities and towns with their own social chambers, where people can meet to discuss, disagree and maybe even (whisper it) come up with something new, without resorting to cancellation, rage and online abuse? The idea is richly simple, although it is also elegantly complex in its execution. Leaning on the idea of architecture as an enabler rather than souped-up saviour, Louise Cotter points out how making civic architecture is (or, rather, should be) about making spaces to gather. 'This,' she says, 'brings it down to the level of community.' 'The need to assemble is fundamental,' Luke Naessens, who curated the pavilion with Cotter, says. 'But the right to assemble is under pressure.' The pavilion itself was put together from beech wood by Alan Meredith, two trees having fortuitously fallen in a storm at precisely the right time. It is visually completed with a carpet designed by Liam Naessens and created by Ceadogán Rugmakers . Adding a further layer, the whole thing is soundtracked by the composer David Stalling, with ambient noises, including birdsong and the sounds of the making of the pavilion itself at the exterior, and spoken word, including a poem by Michelle Delea, and voices from those who participated in citizens' assemblies inside. 'To start with, people were diffident about coming in because of the carpet,' Cotter says, 'but as it got dirty they lost their inhibitions.' It's a seemingly throwaway remark that hits at a deeper truth about the way environment can both invite and inhibit. Through their researches, the team explored places where people gather and communicate, from church choirs to cattle marts. 'Originally we had a kind of passageway with seats on either side, but that was a more hierarchical and confrontational space,' Cotter says. 'So it had to be round.' Size matters, too, as their researches demonstrated a sweet spot of distance that allows for connection and intimacy without intimidation. Stalling's composition is designed as what he describes as 'an intimate form of musical dialogue'. Together they have got it entirely right, as experience proves that this is a space in which it is lovely to linger and that, in so doing, conversations with strangers ensue. 'Thinking about assembly as a process really inflected our design,' Naessens says. 'While we were working on independent parts we would come together, and something someone else was doing might shift the direction. There's a reflexive element to it.' Architecture as Trees, Trees as Architecture at the Venice Biennale. Photograph: Marco Zorzanello The Lebanese pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 Their explorations continually underlined the idea of how much the human element matters. As Cotter remarks, 'buildings like cathedrals or train stations come alive when filled with people, [but] the pandemic completely inverted our sense of what a place of assembly is'. Thinking about this, and about how smartphones have added to the changes in how we meet and interact, a project such as Assembly becomes even more interesting for the quiet ideas it ignites. Many brilliant solutions to our social woes have been previously proposed in Irish pavilions past, such as the excellent Suburban to SuperRural, curated by FKL Architects in 2006; and Free Market , put together by Jeffrey Bolhuis, Jo Anne Butler, Miriam Delaney, Tara Kennedy, Laurence Lord and Orla Murphy in 2018. Each presented cogent and practical ideas, with some inspiring leaps of the imagination to spice things up. In the former, dull suburbs were re-created as biodiverse places in which people, and nature, could thrive; in the latter, the dying market towns of Ireland gained a new lease of life as remarkable places to live and work. Yet what has changed? The national pavilions at successive Venice architecture biennales are, in the main, supported by their respective governments – in Ireland by funding from Culture Ireland and the Arts Council . But do governments take notice? Then time passes and things stay the same or, as is the case with the environment, declines. What if the biennale could do something good? Imagine if we did adopt the social-housing covenants of Austria or build with carbon-dioxide-sucking bricks. 'The biennale does matter,' Naessens says. 'The process of working alongside people from Oman, Morocco – it's valuable. It's random which pavilions are next to each other in the Arsenale, but the conversations that come through are really generative, especially when we're looking at things like climate change, which are global.' As I leave the Arsenale the crowds are thinning out. A man is tipping out a melancholy version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on a steel drum, as opposite him the mimic robot has given up, and hangs forlornly in space. The queue to ask questions of an AI robot with a surreally smoothed-out face has vanished but, given my chance, I can't think of anything to say. 'Does any of this matter?' I try. 'Ahh, that is a big question,' replies the robot, and leaves it at that. The 19th Venice International Architecture Exhibition runs until November 23rd. Assembly will tour Ireland, including to Cork Midsummer Festival, in 2026
Irish Examiner
16 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Air India Flight 182: Cork photographer recalls taking iconic image of 1985 bombing tragedy
One of the most poignant photographs ever printed on the front page of this publication was that of the lines of dead bodies in the temporary morgue set up in Cork for the victims of Air India flight 182. A bomb placed on board the flight by militants exploded off the Kerry/West Cork coast on June 23, 1985, with the plane plunging into the Atlantic. Forty years on, photographer Denis Minihane can still recall second by second the lead-up to snapping that iconic photograph, which also showed a group of medics gathered in the background of the image. Now retired after spending 47 years as a press photographer, the then 26-year-old snapper had been looking forward to a busy afternoon shooting sports photos in Thurles for two Munster hurling games. HISTORY HUB If you are interested in this article then no doubt you will enjoy exploring the various history collections and content in our history hub. Check it out HERE and happy reading But when news broke of the horror air disaster off the west Cork coast, Denis' day took a different turn. He was not to know it as he returned from Thurles to the offices of the Cork Examiner on Academy Street in Cork city centre but his image would become synonymous with the tragedy unfolding in the sea off West Cork. Denis's image from the temporary mortuary set up in the then Cork Regional Hospital was syndicated across the world, and was featured in the New York magazine, Life, which was very influential at the time. Former Irish Examiner photographer Denis Minihane's picture of the remains of victims from the Air India Flight 182 air disaster on June 23, 1985, in a temporary morgue at Cork Regional Hospital (now Cork University Hospital). The world exclusive photograph taken through a window was published in newspapers and magazines all over the world including LIFE magazine and won a news picture of the year award the following year. Photo: Denis Minihane Looking back, the Skibbereen-born photographer said: 'It was the most significant photograph I took in my career really. Sadly it was one of a disaster. Such is life.' Denis retired last year and recalls entering the photographic trade after seeing his father Michael work as a photographer with the then Cork Examiner. After his Leaving Certificate, Denis entered the dark room in the Cork Examiner in October 1976, not knowing that one of the most iconic images of Irish press photography history would his. He recalls: 'On the morning of the 23rd of June 1985, I was marked to go to Thurles to cover two Munster hurling championship games and the 11 o'clock news came on on RTÉ Radio 1 and it said that Air India flight 182 had gone down off the Irish coast. "So we came back to Cork and parked the car and came into the office and it was rather difficult to get into the photographic department because it was packed with photographers who had arrived in Cork from different countries around the world.' He says of himself that he was just a 'young fella' at the time, aged 26. Forty years on, photographer Denis Minihane can still recall second by second the lead-up to snapping that iconic photograph. Picture: Chani Anderson He continues: 'I went out and attended the press conference (at the Regional Hospital) and there was a huge gathering of photographers and camera crews at it. I managed, through enquiries, to find out where the remains of the people taken from the wreckage were being kept and it was a temporary morgue that was set up in the gymnasium. "I got as far as the door and I obviously was not able to get any further so I went around the back of the building and I could see that there was a very high window. "But it was just down to my level so I could just about see in and didn't know if I could get a photograph or not because there was a very high thick net curtain, full length, inside the window, down on to the window sill. "So I could barely see into the room. I was by the window for quite a while and it was getting late in the evening. It must have been 10.30pm, may be 10.30/11 o'clock at night and I saw someone coming towards the window with a ladder and I move, I step back around the side of the building. I thought I had been seen but obviously I hadn't because what it was was that somebody had gone up and opened the window to let some air in to the building. Seeing his chance, Denis decided to have another attempt at seeing into the mortuary and recalls: 'That's how I had a gap of maybe two inches to get the photograph through and I managed to get a few frames.' But even then, he didn't know if his attempt was successful, in a time when photography took more patience than today. He explains: 'In those days, you had to come back to the office and process so I didn't know whether I had a photograph or not and it was a nervous seven or eight minutes developing the film – an anxious wait. Anxious also because it was also an upsetting scene that I had seen. It was a poignant scene.' He recalls seeing the images develop and night editor Liam Moher writing the caption for his now famous image, which included the words 'world exclusive picture'. He says: 'I just didn't understand the significance of it I suppose. It was over my head. I had done what I had done because it was my job and he had asked me to go and do it but I didn't realise how significant the picture was going to be in the following days and years afterwards.' He is mindful of the pain and suffering of the families and friends of those who were lost in the Air India disaster. He continues: Looking back at the photograph now, it evokes memories of that awfully sad day and my heart still goes out to the families and friends of all those people who died so tragically in that awful disaster when the bomb exploded off the Irish coast. The flight was due to stop over in London's Heathrow before travelling to India for stops in Delhi and Mumbai. Passengers were primarily from Canada, but others on board came from India and Britain, as well as other countries. More than 80 of them were children. Two men accused of murder and conspiracy relating to the crash were found not guilty in March 2005. It was alleged that the bombing was plotted by Sikh extremists in Canada as revenge on India for its storming of Sikhism's Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984. Read More A selection of images chosen by the Irish Examiner picture desk
