neway47
5 HN mentions · mentioned in 5 months, 2016–2020
1:44 · 606K views · Apr 30, 2007
Footage of Airbus's 2006 certification evacuation trial of the A380, in which 873 people left the aircraft within the required 90 seconds using half of the 16 doors. The test was supervised by EASA and the FAA, and one passenger broke a leg.
Cited in threads about evacuation rules, mostly as an example of a certification test that commenters call unrealistic.
5 comments from Hacker News
Those passengers aren't to blame, regulators and aircraft designers are to blame. People are idiots in the aggregate, and reliably exhibit herd behavior counterproductive to their survival. Aircraft design must account for this. There's something to the famous Feynman quote if we apply it in this context: "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. -- Richard P. Feynman In order to be certified aircraft must be completely evacuated during a test in 90 seconds. Here's such a test of the A380, Boeing etc. conduct tests in the same manner: this video These tests have been widely critiqued as completely unrealistic, e.g. here: [LINK] Numerous real-world examples of emergency evacuations "in the wild" have shown that evacuations proceed nothing like what's shown in these tests. If aircraft manufacturers and regulators faced up to this we wouldn't have this problem. You'd get actual safety instead. E.g. design changes to aircraft mitigating the aisle blockages that do happen in these evacuations, but aren't accounted for in tests, more emergency exits etc. This is a recurring topic, e.g. in 2015 a BA flight in Las Vegas took 5 minutes to evacuate: [LINK]
Nah. It's just a requirement to study the issue from a safety perspective.[1] "SEC. 577. Minimum dimensions for passenger seats. (a) In general.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and after providing notice and an opportunity for comment, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall issue regulations that establish minimum dimensions for passenger seats on aircraft operated by air carriers in interstate air transportation or intrastate air transportation, including minimums for seat pitch, width, and length, and that are necessary for the safety of passengers." That just means an aircraft with a tight seat pitch has to pass the aircraft evacuation time test.[1] Some of those tests may need to be rerun. Which is risky; people are injured in evacuation tests. The standards need to be re-evaluated, though, because people are fatter. [1] [LINK] [2] this video
This makes a lot of sense. They need similar requirements for evacuation testing. Regulations say all passengers in a plane need to be able to evacuate within 90 seconds. As Americans get bigger and airplane seats get smaller the airlines "comply" with the 90 second requirement by conducting an evacuation test in completely unrealistic circumstances.[1] The test participants are all handpicked, fit, airline employees who prepare and practice for the drill. The test "starts" with everyone in their seat (seat backs & try tables up) and with their life jacket already on. And in recent years the FAA hasn't required these tests as frequently. Why? Because even with all the preparation that goes into it, the mad-rush to the exits in a staged emergency, tends to be quite dangerous for the participants. [1] this video
It is a certification requirement for airliners that they can be evacuated in 90 seconds, with half the emergency exits closed/inoperational (see [1], [2]). This is tested with volunteers before certification, see e.g. [3] for a video of the certification test for the Airbus A380. The details [4] are quite interesting: a third of "pax" must be over 50, three life-size infant dolls must be carried along, etc. Given those certification requirements, a slow passenger is very much a problem. [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] this video [4] [LINK]
I have the same impression from videos like [1] but I suppose that is all that is needed to certify the aircraft. It may not happen in the "real world", you never know how everyone in a plane of hundreds passengers will react, but the design of the plane has to allow it to be "possible". [1]: this video