✈️ Equipping airplanes with giant external airbags: a serious project?

The Rebirth project imagines a last chance for survival for the passengers of a doomed aircraft.

This initiative, born in reaction to a tragic air accident, is based on a principle of active external protection. It aims to intervene in the final seconds preceding an unavoidable impact. The system combines several technologies to try and transform a fatal fall into a forced landing, one which passengers could potentially survive.

How the Rebirth system works

A network of sensors continuously monitors a multitude of essential flight parameters. Altitude, speed, engine status, and pilot actions are analyzed in real time. An artificial intelligence then assesses the probability of a crash as soon as the aircraft is operating at low altitude.


If a catastrophic scenario is detected, the system triggers the deployment of large airbags positioned strategically. These devices inflate in less than two seconds from the nose, belly, and tail of the airplane. They thus form an energy-absorbing envelope around the fuselage.

The structure of these airbags incorporates high-performance composite materials like Kevlar. Special fluids, known as non-Newtonian, enhance their ability to dissipate kinetic energy. Their design aims to lessen the initial shock at the moment of contact with the ground.

Limitations and questions

This project, however, raises doubts about its viability. Indeed, the considerable mass of an airliner represents a major physical obstacle. The energy released during an impact at several hundred kilometers per hour is colossal. Even a 60% reduction in forces, as indicated by simulations, would leave an extremely high residual energy.

Furthermore, adding the Rebirth system would permanently and significantly increase the aircraft's weight. This extra weight would have consequences on fuel consumption and overall performance. The aircraft's maneuverability could be affected during normal flight phases.

Finally, the reliability of the AI-based triggering raises significant questions. An untimely or too-late activation of the airbags could itself create a perilous situation. The complexity of real trajectories during accidents contrasts with the often-modeled scenario of a vertical fall.