While air travel has become quite common these days, concerns over safety still prevent many of us from availing this cheap and convenient means of transport. With the aim of making civil aviation safer, Ukraine-based engineeer Vladimir Tatarenko has come up with an innovative concept, involving a specially-designed rescue container that could potentially help passengers survive air accidents.

A former employee at Kiev-based aircraft manufacturing company Antonov, Tatarenko spent countless hours inspecting plane crash scenes. The result of a five-decade-long research, the invention, for which he has already received a patent, is based on an escape capsule system that could rescue passengers and crew of a commercial aircraft in case of emergency. Speaking about the invention, Tatarenko said:

Looking at these horrible scenes and knowing the statistics of crashes I came to certain conclusions. People are wrong about air disasters, because some 80% of them happen due to human error. While aircraft engineers all over the world are trying to make planes safer, they can do nothing about the human factor.

As a former aviation engineer at Antonov, Tatarenko spent countless hours inspecting plane crash scenes

According to Tatarenko, the carbon-fiber capsule, containing seats for both passengers and crew, could be installed inside the airplane’s fuselage. At the time of emergency, such as during onboard fire, engine failure and technical difficulties caused by bad weather conditions and others, the lightweight container could escape through the aircraft’s rear hatch. Powered by means of advanced gunpowder engines, the capsule could then safely descend to the ground with the help of special parachutes. Tatarenko added:

For years the research community was unable to bring it to life, because engineers could not find a suitable material. But we have used carbon-fiber – a very strong and lightweight material, which proved to be suitable.

While such a system would definitely help make air travel safer, it could result in higher air fares due to decrease in seat numbers and significant increase in fuel consumption. Tatarenko believes that it could take up to four years and nearly $1 million before the escape capsule is ready for mass production.

Via: Ukraine Today