Ask the Pilot: Time For Airlines to Get Serious About the Safety Briefing
Nov 1, 2016, 6:26 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Boston
Posts: 467
Ask the Pilot: Time For Airlines to Get Serious About the Safety Briefing
Up now on my Ask the Pilot site, lessons from the recent incident at ORD...
Passengers Evacuate With Luggage in Chicago Runway Fire. It's Time For Airlines and Regulators to Get Serious About the Safety Demo.
"....Ultimately, it comes down to passenger awareness. And one of the best ways to stoke this awareness would be to better emphasize the issue during the pre-flight safety demonstration.
As they exist today, the safety demos are numbingly tedious. Even as carriers try to out-cute one another with their video presentations -- further underscoring their irrelevancy as a genuine safety measure -- they are crammed with the equivalent of legal fine print. Nobody pays attention, and we can hardly blame them.
Amidst all the redundancies, the vapid niceties and the dreary airline-ese, the demos go on for minutes at a time with confusing and unnecessary instructions about the use electronic devices, the minutiae of putting on an oxygen mask, and impossibly complex tutorials on how to don a flotation device — things NOBODY will remember in the throes of an actual emergency. Yet they leave out entirely the short, simple, and far more valuable admonition to LEAVE YOUR DAMN THINGS BEHIND DURING AN EVACUATION!
With a little common sense, the fatty babble of the typical briefing could easily be trimmed to a quarter or less of its length, resulting in a lucid presentation that people might actually listen to. Ninety seconds, tops. And among the bullet-points should be the clear instruction not to take your stuff should the need arise to evacuate. Will everybody get the message? Probably not, but some will. At least passengers have HEARD IT, and that can have important consequences should something unforeseen occur.
The FULL article is here...
http://www.askthepilot.com/evacuatio...e-safety-demo/
Per FT guidelines, I must disclose that I am the author of the article linked to, above.
Passengers Evacuate With Luggage in Chicago Runway Fire. It's Time For Airlines and Regulators to Get Serious About the Safety Demo.
"....Ultimately, it comes down to passenger awareness. And one of the best ways to stoke this awareness would be to better emphasize the issue during the pre-flight safety demonstration.
As they exist today, the safety demos are numbingly tedious. Even as carriers try to out-cute one another with their video presentations -- further underscoring their irrelevancy as a genuine safety measure -- they are crammed with the equivalent of legal fine print. Nobody pays attention, and we can hardly blame them.
Amidst all the redundancies, the vapid niceties and the dreary airline-ese, the demos go on for minutes at a time with confusing and unnecessary instructions about the use electronic devices, the minutiae of putting on an oxygen mask, and impossibly complex tutorials on how to don a flotation device — things NOBODY will remember in the throes of an actual emergency. Yet they leave out entirely the short, simple, and far more valuable admonition to LEAVE YOUR DAMN THINGS BEHIND DURING AN EVACUATION!
With a little common sense, the fatty babble of the typical briefing could easily be trimmed to a quarter or less of its length, resulting in a lucid presentation that people might actually listen to. Ninety seconds, tops. And among the bullet-points should be the clear instruction not to take your stuff should the need arise to evacuate. Will everybody get the message? Probably not, but some will. At least passengers have HEARD IT, and that can have important consequences should something unforeseen occur.
The FULL article is here...
http://www.askthepilot.com/evacuatio...e-safety-demo/
Per FT guidelines, I must disclose that I am the author of the article linked to, above.
Nov 1, 2016, 9:16 pm
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
Amidst all the redundancies, the vapid niceties and the dreary airline-ese, the demos go on for minutes at a time with confusing and unnecessary instructions about the use electronic devices, the minutiae of putting on an oxygen mask, and impossibly complex tutorials on how to don a flotation device — things NOBODY will remember in the throes of an actual emergency. Yet they leave out entirely the short, simple, and far more valuable admonition to LEAVE YOUR DAMN THINGS BEHIND DURING AN EVACUATION!
With a little common sense, the fatty babble of the typical briefing could easily be trimmed to a quarter or less of its length, resulting in a lucid presentation that people might actually listen to. Ninety seconds, tops. And among the bullet-points should be the clear instruction not to take your stuff should the need arise to evacuate. Will everybody get the message? Probably not, but some will. At least passengers have HEARD IT, and that can have important consequences should something unforeseen occur.
With a little common sense, the fatty babble of the typical briefing could easily be trimmed to a quarter or less of its length, resulting in a lucid presentation that people might actually listen to. Ninety seconds, tops. And among the bullet-points should be the clear instruction not to take your stuff should the need arise to evacuate. Will everybody get the message? Probably not, but some will. At least passengers have HEARD IT, and that can have important consequences should something unforeseen occur.
Nov 2, 2016, 12:56 am
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Atherton, CA
Programs: UA 1K, AA EXP; Owner, Green Bay Packers
Posts: 21,690
The problem here is that we are repeatedly conditioned not to trust that we will get our bags back if we leave them in the evacuation. I don't believe there will be good compliance with leaving it behind until we no longer figure it's likely anything expensive we leave will be gone with no compensation.
Nov 2, 2016, 2:09 am
#5
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 6,334
You could take every passenger aside for a direct and personal briefing and a goodly percentage would STILL grab all their gear before getting off.
Unless ALL carry on baggage is banned... OR all stored in the overheads which are then LOCKED for take off you will NOT get full compliance.
Some people don't think ANY rules apply to them.
Unless ALL carry on baggage is banned... OR all stored in the overheads which are then LOCKED for take off you will NOT get full compliance.
Some people don't think ANY rules apply to them.
Nov 2, 2016, 6:53 am
#6
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
There will always be people taking things with them or otherwise behaving poorly in an emergency. Some people think their carry on is more important. Others will just not be thinking straight due to panic. Perhaps in some of the less serious accidents passengers are thinking that it's OK to take time for their bags. There may be other causes.
People tend to be complacent and ignore risk assessment and planning. How many people carry first aid kits and emergency gear in their cars, practice fire evacuation in their homes, learn CPR, take self-defense training, prepare their homes for a natural disaster, etc.? Not that many I'd guess. 60% of house fire deaths occur in homes where there were no smoke alarms or the alarms weren't working.
I'm curious, does anyone ever do follow-up investigation with the passengers involved to ask (anonymously or on a non-attribution basis) if they took stuff with them and why? Or even to interview passengers randomly at the end of a flight to see what they remember of the safety rules? Without some empirical data it's just throwing darts to figure out how to improve dissemination and retention of the information.
I'd imagine that part of the problem is that it's fine to be told, or to read, instructions - even repeatedly. But there is nothing like actually doing to really become proficient and make something part of one's initial reactions. Airline passengers should be offered opportunities to participate in simulations of airline evacuations. I realize lots of people - probably a majority people - wouldn't be interested but some would, and that might make a difference one day.
People tend to be complacent and ignore risk assessment and planning. How many people carry first aid kits and emergency gear in their cars, practice fire evacuation in their homes, learn CPR, take self-defense training, prepare their homes for a natural disaster, etc.? Not that many I'd guess. 60% of house fire deaths occur in homes where there were no smoke alarms or the alarms weren't working.
I'm curious, does anyone ever do follow-up investigation with the passengers involved to ask (anonymously or on a non-attribution basis) if they took stuff with them and why? Or even to interview passengers randomly at the end of a flight to see what they remember of the safety rules? Without some empirical data it's just throwing darts to figure out how to improve dissemination and retention of the information.
I'd imagine that part of the problem is that it's fine to be told, or to read, instructions - even repeatedly. But there is nothing like actually doing to really become proficient and make something part of one's initial reactions. Airline passengers should be offered opportunities to participate in simulations of airline evacuations. I realize lots of people - probably a majority people - wouldn't be interested but some would, and that might make a difference one day.
Nov 2, 2016, 2:24 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 9,304
Nov 2, 2016, 2:37 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
1) This is more an issue in the cases where the threat isn't obviously critical.
2) For somebody to take their computer will slow them down very little. It's the overall effect that causes the problem. Thus you will have fools taking their computer even when the cabin is on fire.
2) For somebody to take their computer will slow them down very little. It's the overall effect that causes the problem. Thus you will have fools taking their computer even when the cabin is on fire.