You also can't open a hole at the back and let them slide out backwards, you'd need a cylindrical tube in a tube which can then slide out. That's a HUGE amount of extra weight and complexity.
Planes are so so much safer than cars. Before we parachute people out of passenger planes we should be ejecting people out of the roofs of cars if an imminent collision is detected :)
I'd be "accidentally" driving into a lot of trees if cars had that. Sounds like major fun!
I don't fancy the chances of the crew getting the whole cabin of a 737 out of a single door, in flight, after fitting parachutes, but without parachute training, before hitting the ground, though. Even leaving aside the weight and bulk of the parachutes.
As you say, not a great idea.
Though I agree that broadly safety is solved. And obviously we must heavily reduce air travel to combat global warming.
The remaining ‘crew and passenger capsule’ would need to remain sealed.
This speculation is just pointless. It's simply not a solution given the engineering practicalities and cost constraints.
It's also not a good way to solve what is essentially a software problem.
Well-designed planes are ridiculously safe compared to almost any other mode of transport. And it's completely possible to design planes that handle all but the most extreme and unlikely edge cases.
The problem here isn't that passengers didn't have a Rube-Goldberg escape route, but that Boeing made some serious design errors - and then apparently tried to cover them up.
Now what happens when this system malfunctions and one wing pops off for no reason in normal flight?