World's most experienced pilot shares truth about why we use brace position on planes

One of the most experienced pilots in the world shared the truth over just why the ‘brace’ position exists.

I mean, we’ve all heard enough conspiracy theories about this by now – some people truly reckon it’s so ‘your neck instantly breaks before crashing’ or to ‘kill you quicker’ – so it’s time we got our facts straight.

We’ve seen it pop up in disaster films and we’ve heard the flight attendants referencing it before take off whenever we’ve boarded a plane.

But it does seem like it’s rare that the reason behind the position itself is actually explained properly.

And luckily, Nick Eades spoke to LADbible to tell us all about the protective posture where travellers have to bend forward, tuck their chin and lean their head on the seat in front.

Luckily, it's rare you should be having to do this. (Getty Stock Image)

Used for when a plane is thought to be crashing, the world’s most experienced 747 pilot told us that its purpose goes directly against one of those age-old conspiracy theories.

"What you're trying to do is to stop people breaking their necks in a big impact," Eades explained.

"You're just trying to get the body into a position that's going to suffer least damage.

"It's like whiplash - you're trying to avoid that sudden movement of the head, which can result in serious injury, if not death."

He quickly dismissed the rumours that it’s used to just kill us all off so we don’t feel any pain.

There’s literally the suggestion out there that the brace position could kill you in impact, while preserving dental records so the bodies are easier to identify once people discover the wreckage.

However, that's all a load of baloney according to Eades, who said the position was designed to save lives.

Eades previously spoke about the purpose of 'brace!' (Nick Eades)

Despite this, he did say that some airline staff would no longer tell their passengers to brace and would instead stick to clearer instructions instead of a phrase some might not know about.

He said: "I've had a couple where we had problems with the landing gear, and the cabin crew shout to all the passengers, 'Brace, brace!'

"Now, if you think about it, I would say at least half - probably three-quarters - of passengers on the aeroplane don't speak English as a first language. And if you think about it, what does 'brace' mean?

"It took a long time for the aviation world to realise if you're suddenly thrown into an emergency situation and people start shouting 'brace' at you, you might think, 'What the hell do they mean?'

"The brace position is going to become redundant, so cabin crew won't shout 'brace' at you anymore. They'll say, 'Head down, hands over your head. Head down, hands over your head'.

"At least that gives somebody in probably the most stressful position they'll ever be in in their lives something to do."