What if... a plane crashed into the Atlantic?

[wingnut143]

My partner and I were watching the C4 programme a couple of weeks ago about the plane which crashed into the Hudson River in New York in January, and he said that if a plane crashed halfway across the Atlantic, basically no-one would survive. I asked him why and he said that its so far from either the UK or America, it would take too long for help to arrive and therefore unless you could hang on for around 3-4 hours, if you were injured you would most probably die. I said surely the emergency services have a plan for this and he said I doubt it. Does anyone have any theories on this? I might never fly to America again if its true!!!

[pinkcowprint]

i al terrified of terbulance,as there are a couple of pilots in here can you reassure me that even when the stewerdesses have to sit down its still ok??would it ever make the plane lose control?a bit of reassurance would be greatly appreciated.

[Clanad]

What a unique nom de plume, pink... At any rate, I've been a commercial pilot for more years than I'd like to recall. I live here in the western U.S. and have to say that some of the worst imaginable turbulence one could encounter anywhere in the world is right next door. The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains... from northern Montana to New Mexico can produce really uncomfortable rides. However, as uncomfortable as it is to the passengers (Pax, in airline parlance) it has never been anywhere on my top 10 list of concerns.
I realize it doesn't help a whole lot, but if you could see how modern aircraft are built, it would do alot to assuage your fears. The engineering that goes into construction is near miraculous. I've several friends developed over the years that are aerodynamis engineers and, although I know very well how the aircraft work, the mathmatical equations they use for stress and tolerance are truly mystifying. All I can say is that accident statistics rarely, if ever have entries for structural failure.
The oddities that popped up now and then, such as the British built Comet of yester-year, were easily understood in light of today's accident investigations and structural analysis. Additionally, the altitudes used for the last 40 to 50 years puts the aircraft above 95% of the turbulence. Whereas we used to use the mid-30 thousand foot range, now we use up to mid-40 thousand feet (above sea level).
Much of the thunderstorm turbulence can actully be detected by radar.

Even small, private airplanes rarely have structural failure.
So, welcome aboard and keep your seat belt fastened, even when seated... low over the hips and snug. You'll do just fine!