Maybe you shouldn’t kick ’em off just before take off.
You know the drill, you’ve settled in for your flight, you’ve got your thimble of champers (if you’re in business/first) the aircraft has just pushed back from the gate and you kick off your shoes and make yourself a little more comfortable. But one expert suggests that perhaps you should keep them on, at least for take off – and then again for landing.
Take off and landings are the most dangerous part of the flight most air crashes happens during takeoff or landing.
One expert on Quora has suggested that keeping your shoes on, could, in fact, save your life in case of an emergency.
Tony Luna suggests that after a crash a lot of debris could litter your exit route and that litter could include shards of glass and scraps of metal. Not having shoes on could literally shred your feet and stop you reaching safety.
Remember that scene with Bruce Willis in Die Hard?
If you’re thinking that you could just slip them on in the case of an emergency, Tony warns that in a cabin filled with panic and chaos every second counts. He explains, “during an emergency, all sorts of debris and unpleasant ground surface will block your way towards the exit, as well as outside the aircraft.
“If your feet isn’t [sic] properly covered, you’ll have a hard time making your way to safety.
“Imagine destroying your bare feet as your run down the aisle covered with broken glass, fires and metal shards. Kinda like John Mclane in Die Hard, but worse.”
But before we all melt into worry about flying, to put an accident into perspective, in 2017 there were no major air crashes involving a passenger jet. Flying remains one of the safest ways to travel.
