Commercial air travel is already the safest way to move across the planet. However, in the extremely unlikely event that an aircraft is about to crash, all bets are off. The odds of surviving are slim. But two young engineers are asking a provocative question: what if we could make surviving a crash much more likely?

Their answer is Project REBIRTH, a plane that can puff itself into a Michelin Man–like cocoon seconds before hitting the ground. The invention, created by Eshel Wasim and Dharsan Srinivasan from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Dubai, is now a finalist for the 2025 James Dyson Award. They call it “the first AI-powered crash survival system.”

Born from Tragedy

The idea came from grief. Earlier this year, Air India Flight 171 took off from Ahmedabad, bound for London. Thirty seconds later, the engines lost power after fuel control switches were mysteriously cut off. Recordings revealed the pilots frantically questioning each other as the plane plummeted. It was the deadliest aviation disaster in a decade. Out of 242 people, only one survived.

Srinivasan’s mother was haunted by the event, thinking of what the passengers must have experienced.

“That helplessness haunted us. Why isn’t there a system for survival after failure?” he explained in the Dyson Award submission.

Wasim echoed the same torment. “My mother couldn’t sleep,” he wrote. “She kept thinking about the fear the passengers and pilots must have felt, knowing there was no way out.”

That sense of unbearable helplessness sparked months of design. “REBIRTH is more than engineering,” they wrote. “It is a response to grief. A promise that survival can be planned, and that even after failure, there can be a second chance.”

How the Survival Cocoon Works

REBIRTH begins watching the moment a plane leaves the ground. A web of sensors monitors altitude, speed, engine health, and pilot response. An onboard AI runs the data in real time. If the system determines a crash below 3,000 feet is unavoidable, it acts in under two seconds.

Airbags explode from the plane’s nose, belly, and tail. The fuselage balloons outward until the aircraft looks like a flying bounce house. The airbags are multi-layered, made from Kevlar, TPU, Zylon, and lined with “non-Newtonian fluids” that stiffen under sudden force. In simulations, the design reduced crash forces by more than 60 percent.

If the engines are still running, they automatically engage reverse thrust, cutting speed by up to 20 percent. If they aren’t, gas boosters activate to slow descent and stabilize the aircraft.

After impact, the system would shoot out an infrared beacon, GPS coordinates, and flashing lights — plus a bright orange paint job — so rescuers could find survivors fast.

“It prepares for the worst when all else fails,” the inventors wrote.

Promise, But Also Skepticism

So far, REBIRTH exists solely in simulations and scale prototypes. The team has built a 1:12 model controlled by microcontrollers and carbon dioxide canisters. They’ve prepared materials data, schematics, and crash test plans, hoping to partner with labs and manufacturers for full-scale trials.

Still, aviation experts remain cautious. Jeff Edwards, a retired US Navy pilot and founder of safety consulting firm AVSafe, told Popular Science: “This sounds like an interesting idea BUT airline disasters that this airbag system is intended to mitigate would mean that future aircraft would all be carrying the additional weight and other compromises to mitigate one accident in 20 years.”

The physics are daunting. A commercial jet weighs hundreds of thousands of pounds. Airbags big enough to cushion that kind of mass would themselves add enormous weight and drag. “The weight penalty alone would be a major concern,” Edwards said.

The Long History of Wild Safety Ideas

REBIRTH isn’t the first out-there aviation safety proposal. Smaller private planes sometimes carry parachutes to slow descent. NASA once funded “magic skin” that could heal itself after lightning strikes or punctures. Airbus even filed a patent for a cockpit trapdoor to eject hijackers midair. None of those ideas made it into everyday jets.

But REBIRTH is different because it focuses on the brutal truth most safety systems ignore: sometimes, a crash is inevitable. Most of modern aviation safety is about preventing accidents, not making them survivable.

That’s why Wasim and Srinivasan see their work as urgent. “This competition is our first step in bringing our vision forward,” they wrote. “Not for recognition, but with the hope that one day, it may help save lives when all else fails.”

On November 5, the Dyson Award judges will decide whether REBIRTH earns the prize.