Tatarenko Vladimir Nikolaevich
has spent three years working on the project, which would allow for an
airplane's cabin to detach at any point during mid-flight, takeoff, or
landing in case of emergency, The Independent
reported. In the event of detachment, parachutes would deploy to
deliver the cabin to a safe landing on the ground or in the water.
Nikolaevich's patented design
even includes space underneath the cabin so that passengers' luggage
will detach in the event of an emergency, too.
The inventor claims that 95%
percent of those he interviewed—although he didn't divulge how many
people he talked to— would be in favor of paying more for airplane
tickets if the detachable cabin were to become a standard feature.
Still, not everyone is completely on-board with the idea, with some people questioning the cost-effectiveness, whether the detachable cabin would compromise the structural integrity of the rest of the plane, and what happens to the pilots after the cabin detaches.
This isn't the first time a
detachable cabin has been proposed, as Airbus filed its own patent for a
similar idea in February 2013, though the company's version deals more
with convenience than safety, Wired reported.
In an announcement released
after its patent approval in November, Airbus proposed a detachable
cabin that would streamline the boarding process by having passengers at
the gate board the detached cabin, which would then be attached to the
plane before takeoff.
It may sound like science fiction, but it looks like detachable airplane cabins are indeed being seriously considered.
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