I was reading an old Conde Nast article (I think it from Dec 05 issue) today. It was about airline safety, focusing on evacuating the aircraft in an emergency, it was rather quite fascinating.
There aren't that many a year, about 30-33 in the US each year. It was very detailed article explaining what happened at various seconds if there was a fire, the slides, % of injuries, etc... In a nutshell, if you aren't off the plane in 90 seconds then you aren't getting off if there is a fire. At 100 seconds the entire cabin is usually completely engulfed in flames and a flashback (I think that was the term they used, course I'm trapped under a sleeping toddler and can't get the article) occurs.
30% of the slides/exits usually malfunction. The FAA requires during a test that 50% of the exits be blocked, because that could happen. The slides are very steep, injury can easily occur, the reporter writing the story actually fell off of one trying to escape during a test. Many people freeze at the sheer steepness of them, others injure fellow passengers by throwing carry-on luggage down them. It was estimated that about 50% of people try to take belongings with them. 30% of fatalities are from people were survived the crash, runway, mishap, etc... but died from injuries trying to get off or didn't make it out in time. Most flight crew have never had first hand experience in a full evacuation test. Although they do try to make sure that the instructors who train the attendants have gone through a simulation... that is really comforting. Many of the passengers who have gone though a evacuation say that the crew didn't know what to do, never gave out warnings about not carrying belonging, etc... The article did have a few tips that I will do from now on. Counting the rows in each direction to exits so you can feel your way out. Not wearing sandals, burns on feet, etc...
They had a detailed pic of the Toronto plane in 05 that crashed off the runway, Out of 8 exits, only 4 were usable, 3 of those were at the front of the aircraft, none in the middle and one in the rear. People were jumping over seats trying to find an exit that worked, some ended up having to jump out of doors that had opened but the slide didn't inflate.
So I'm reading this article and several questions popped into mind. What do you do while traveling with children? The stance for exiting via the slide are jumping down feet fist in a tuck position, would you tuck with a child between your legs and child, hoping to take most of the force, or basically just throw the child out the door and hope they don't fall off? Another thought that popped into my mind was if I was by myself and had both DD's, could I even get them out of their carseats and out the door in enough time? It's not like you can flag someone down to help, it would be complete and utter chaos.
I know that the chances of actually being in an airplane evacuation are very slim, but it never hurts to be aware.
There aren't that many a year, about 30-33 in the US each year. It was very detailed article explaining what happened at various seconds if there was a fire, the slides, % of injuries, etc... In a nutshell, if you aren't off the plane in 90 seconds then you aren't getting off if there is a fire. At 100 seconds the entire cabin is usually completely engulfed in flames and a flashback (I think that was the term they used, course I'm trapped under a sleeping toddler and can't get the article) occurs.
30% of the slides/exits usually malfunction. The FAA requires during a test that 50% of the exits be blocked, because that could happen. The slides are very steep, injury can easily occur, the reporter writing the story actually fell off of one trying to escape during a test. Many people freeze at the sheer steepness of them, others injure fellow passengers by throwing carry-on luggage down them. It was estimated that about 50% of people try to take belongings with them. 30% of fatalities are from people were survived the crash, runway, mishap, etc... but died from injuries trying to get off or didn't make it out in time. Most flight crew have never had first hand experience in a full evacuation test. Although they do try to make sure that the instructors who train the attendants have gone through a simulation... that is really comforting. Many of the passengers who have gone though a evacuation say that the crew didn't know what to do, never gave out warnings about not carrying belonging, etc... The article did have a few tips that I will do from now on. Counting the rows in each direction to exits so you can feel your way out. Not wearing sandals, burns on feet, etc...
They had a detailed pic of the Toronto plane in 05 that crashed off the runway, Out of 8 exits, only 4 were usable, 3 of those were at the front of the aircraft, none in the middle and one in the rear. People were jumping over seats trying to find an exit that worked, some ended up having to jump out of doors that had opened but the slide didn't inflate.
So I'm reading this article and several questions popped into mind. What do you do while traveling with children? The stance for exiting via the slide are jumping down feet fist in a tuck position, would you tuck with a child between your legs and child, hoping to take most of the force, or basically just throw the child out the door and hope they don't fall off? Another thought that popped into my mind was if I was by myself and had both DD's, could I even get them out of their carseats and out the door in enough time? It's not like you can flag someone down to help, it would be complete and utter chaos.
I know that the chances of actually being in an airplane evacuation are very slim, but it never hurts to be aware.