best place to sit on the plane

[Jeff California]

I have heard it is best to sit over the wing.. If so, why is first class in front? Does the rear really get more turbulence?

[Disney fan]

Jeff,
I had to sit in the back of a 757 earlier on in the year and I watched the front appear to be stable whilst the back swayed, not very pleasant!

Lynda

[Screwey]

surely all of the plane will experience movement - just at different times if the pilot tries to keep the nose level - if the wings were a "pivot point" then there would be less movement feeling over the wings than say front or back of the aircraft.

But due to turbulence and other factors this is not always the case - but if you think about it - most of the time the wings are the "pivot point" of the aircraft because primarily these are what keeps the plane in the air along with some forward motion. :type

[Debbie]

Jeff

The smoothest ride is typically in front of or over the wing.

I've actually "tested" this theory a couple of times, as recently as a couple of weeks ago during some pretty good bumps. I was in front of the wing, where it seemed only slightly choppy, but went to the lav in the way back, and it was very, very noticeably bouncy.:jump

I understand that the thingy sensor that signals the plane to correct itself when it's bouncy is actually in the front of the plane under the first few rows.

It's always in the way-back that you'll feel the most "action".

Take a ride on a bus, and sit in the front for the first half, and the way-back for the second half. Same difference!

Debbie

[icesk8er31]

Jeff,

I choose seats by type of plane, but I do always try to sit near the front because I can also attest that the ride is better up there. I don't notice the up and down turb being much worse in the back, but I do notice the side to side turb (yaw I think it's called) being worse in the back of the plane. Also, if you have a rear engine plane (ERJ, CRJ, MD80) it's almost always better to have seats near the front...if you end up in the very back the noise is pretty bad AND sometimes there are seats whose views are blocked by the engines.

All the best,

Ice

[WillFlyToDisney2]

I always try to sit over the wing. I love the stability and the exit rows (more leg room!). I do not like to sit up front (especially on the CRJs) because I don't like hearing the cockpit noises. :airplane Also like Ice said avoid the back of rear engine planes. The MD-80 is so loud in the back that you can't even drown out the noise with your headphones. :headphones

Kelley

[noflyingfan]

I think it depends on what you're looking for. For comfort, I've heard the over-the-wing thing too, but on some airlines, if you're sitting in the back row in seats that don't recline, you get free booze. Might be worth it to endure a few bumps.

[YankssRule]

I sat in the last row once..and it was horrible. Not only was there more turbulence, but it was a lot more noisier. :eek

The best seat I ever had, was the one right behind the first class wall, where the exit door was. Very smooth going, tons of leg room, and the TV was right in front of my fact. :banana

Janet :coffee

[MadScientist]

Deb is right about the motion sensor being up front. Once the sensor detects movement, it adjusts its' pitch to compensate for the turbulence. The way to do this is by adjusting the flaps on the tail of the plane. Therefor, the rear end of the plane make the movements to stabilize the plane. That's whi it's a little more bumpy in back. That, and the whole center of gravity thing and the fulcrum thing.

[MadScientist]

Kelley,
You would have loved to have been seated in 1C on my Md-88 flight into Newark. Because we had such a slow and low and long approach, the computers in the cockpit thought we were landing so the warning horn sounded to lower thr landing gear on 4 different occasions.

[WillFlyToDisney2]

Great, Ken. I would SO not have liked hearing that! Last time I flew on a CRJ up front (row 2) I sat by an RJ pilot deadheading to CVG so I bugged him with questions about every single noise I heard. Poor guy! :ray

Kelley