Where is the safest place to sit on a plane and is 11A the 'miracle' seat?

The safest place to sit on an aircraft is within five rows of the emergency exits or at the rear, aviation experts say.

More than 240 people were killed on June 12 when an Air India plane bound for London crashed moments after taking off from Ahmedabad.

There was only one survivor, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who was seated at 11A on the 787-8 Boeing Dreamliner. His brother Ajay was seated at 11J and has not been found.

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Seat 11A is located in the first row of economy class and is directly behind the business class cabin.

The location is right next to an emergency exit, which may have contributed to the passenger's survival when the plane went down.

The aircraft had seven other emergency exits.

Aviation expert Keith Tonkin told ACM, the publisher of this masthead, that different locations on an aircraft could be "more survivable than others" depending on the circumstances of the crash.

The survival of the man seated in 11A was "quite incredible".

"It is always better to be closer to an emergency exit because if, for some reason, you need to get out in a hurry, it's better to be near an exit than in the middle of a cabin," he said.

"That is not to say you can't safely evacuate an aircraft from other seats, because you can, but there will be some that let you get out a little bit quicker."

A University of Greenwich study found that being within five rows of an emergency exit could increase survival chances as it allowed for quicker evacuation.

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University of Sydney Professor Rico Merkert told ACM that Federal Aviation Administration data found that sitting in a middle seat at the rear of the aircraft had the lowest fatality rates in crashes where some passengers had died and others lived.

"That said, it also depends on the specifics of the crash in question, such as where the aircraft is hit hardest," he said.

But Professor Merkert said following safety instructions and wearing a seatbelt at all times was more important than seat placement.

"Given that we see flight turbulence occurring more often now due to climate change creating more air pockets, it is advisable to keep the seatbelt on whenever seated on flights, regardless of whether the seatbelt sign is illuminated or not," he said.