I read somewere that Alaskan Airways “lose” 1/3 of there life jackes every year. They put it down to the fact that so many Alaskans have boats!

The landing gear and engines have fuse pins that are designed to fail under impact loads. This is to prevent the wings being ripped open, releasing the fuel. Also if you have a bad landing it limits the damage to the airframe so you can repair it.

Personaly life jackets are a waste of money. If you survive the initial crash, if the aircraft holds together, if the aircraft floats long enough, if the doors are not jammed closed by the impact, if you can get past the old folks clutching their duty free, IF THE LIFE JACKET ACTUALY INFLATES!!!! you are going to freeze to death in a matter of minutes because there is no such thing as warm water at sea. The airlines would be better spending their mony on preventing the crash in the first place.

Any way nobody ever pays attention to the safety briefing the cabin crew give, so they would not know were to find the things in the first place

Rgds Cking