What is the value of the Safety Card?
 

We all know the rules: there must be a safety card at every seat, it must be pointed out to you, airlines have been in trouble if their cards are inaccurate or out of date, Ryanair puts them on the backs of the seats. The card has to be the tallest item in the seat pocket. The old ones used prose; the new ones use graphics.

Now let us imagine preparing for an emergency.
The plane is pummelling out of the sky; smoke is erupting; the crew is screaming "Heads down! Stay Down!" There is nobody to translate this in to Jive when necesary.
Are you really supposed to get out the card and try to decipher it?

In a calmer setting, let's say that you're just a diligent passenger: "remove the safety card from the seat pocket in front of you and follow along..."
This is impossible.
The order of events on the card doesn't match the video or live demo. One cannot "follow along."
If you're trying to figure out what the cartoons are doing, you cannot watch the video or demo.

Lastly, emergency procedures aren't quite as simple as a few cartoon characters. Would you really understand how to get a life raft out of an overhead compartment? Then open the door (not the rear doors some aircraft), get the slide and the raft out, inflate them both, know that some slides are dual lane, others aren't; get onto the raft, cut the cord, attach the canopy, perform CPR, negotiate a hostage release, all while resisting the urge to smoke a few cigarettes?

Have the cards ever saved a life? Could they?

wow, you have been flying a very long time (based on your profile) - what recent flight did you have to bring up this gear-grinder? :)

to your penultimate point, thats why the cabin crew is aboard... to your last point, they must have some where, some time or there would not be an entire industry around it for so long, right? I mean, government regulators wouldn't just create make-work and cause expense now, would it?

I look at the safety card to see how the over-wing exits work: how to open it, whether the door comes off or hinges, and if it comes off, whether I'm supposed to put it on the seat or throw it outside (not sure what difference it makes but some cards say one and some the other).

Beyond the safety card...

If I'm in economy, I'll count the number of rows to the emergency exits.

I usually politely watch the safety demonstrations if the flight attendants are doing it live, thinking that if I was in their shoes I would appreciate it if someone looks like they're paying attention.

When they get to the part about life vests, I'll look or feel to make sure it's there and I know where it is.

And then I promptly forget everything I carefully noted. Oops. 🤷‍♂️

Section 107 I had to Google the words "gear grinder." Yes, I grew up on planes, and now I still seem to be on them a lot. I've seen a lot of safety cards.
I think it was the most recent flight with "follow along." I just found it perplexing. Nobody could follow along.

Rare I do the same. I count the exits and look for a life vest. Then I forget. I always try to show some level attention to the demo if I'm in the bulkhead or otherwise close to the crew. I think I could probably recite it from memory in multiple languages, but I don't want to be rude. But I've never followed the instruction to "remove the safety card from the seat pocket in front of you." ("For our customers in United Business, you will find your safety card at arm level between seats.")

I used to work with an Air Force accident investigator and the daughter of a friend is an NTSB investigator. So, I'm like [MENTION=7166]Rare[/MENTION]. I glance at the cards. This got me thinking about trying to find a parody of an airline safety card that National Lampoon published a long time ago. I remember it was the exact size of a real one and they were encouraging their readers to slip it in a seatback the next time they flew. If I have a few minutes, I'll look in some very old files to find out if I ever kept a hard copy.