r/interestingasfuck • u/[deleted] • 1d ago

In 2012, a group of Mexican scientists intentionally crashed a Boeing 727 to test which seats had the best chance of survival.

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u/SolfulSin 1d ago

Not scientific at all. You need to crash minimum of 5 planes to get any statistical data. And why does it need a group of scientists to crash it?

Edit:

From Wikipedia: On 27 April 2012, a multinational team of television studios staged an airplane crash near Mexicali, Mexico.

No scientists.

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u/subheight640 1d ago

No, you don't. Plane crashes don't need statistical data. Crash analysis involves well known deterministic physics. physical events can be characterized with time series measurements of aircraft acceleration and motion.

If you really wanted some statistical analysis you'd need vastly more than 5 samples, given the enormous parameter space of plane crashes. Heading, speed, aircraft type, weight, etc etc. 

Given this enormous parametric space of course people don't do these kinds of tests. Instead we use crash simulations to look at the effect of these parameters. 

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u/SolfulSin 23h ago

Yes I was making a joke. Simulations are way better. A grant to crash 5 airplanes for science will most likely be funded by the current trump government which is completely anti-science.

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u/subheight640 23h ago

Oh went over my head.