Passenger safety thoughts
 

A thread like this probably belongs in a wiki of some sort.

(1) Put your shoes on for landing/take-off. Asiana SFO crash passengers eggressed onto the debris covered tarmac bare-footed. They took their shoes off for the long flight and hadn't yet put them back on.

(2) Overhead luggage. Asiana SFO crash passengers grabbed their belongings out of the overheads prior to eggress. You know, somebody might be in a hurry to get out of the plane? On the other hand, from my experience of evacuating a burning building in the middle of the night in a cold, snowing place, grabbing shoes and blanket could be a good idea.

(3) UA Airbus 320 V1 overwing exits have the most convoluted design in the world. Instructions on the card and on the wall are sometimes conflicting. The card says do not use the exit in a water landing. The diagram on the wall instructs the deployment of lanyards over the wing--for a water landing? The card says put the exit door on the seat. Row 20 has the exit precisely on top of the seat. Setting the exit door on the seat would block the exit! The card says (1) the slide deploys automatically and (2) the slide deploys after pulling the handle that appears in the exit door socket. automatic, or manual deployment? which is it? The Row 20 slide wraps around the Row 21 slide. If Row 21 doesn't deploy, can Row 20 deploy?

Is this French engineering at its best? :rolleyes: Aircraft mechanics seem to have their own choice words for the Airbus aircraft. The Boeings all seem super simple in comparison.

Typically my shoes go back on whe computers go off.

Count the number of seatbacks between you and the nearest exits, both forward and aft of you.

Shoes are on whenever landing gear is down.

Shoes=foot is essentially covered, flipflops don't qualify.

I thought you're supposed to remove your shoes before you exit the aircraft so that they don't puncture the slide.

Never a good idea to stay in a burning building any longer than you have to. Don't ever, ever, ever stop to gather belongings. Just get out, and get out now.

Only high heels. Regular shoes are fine. Why anyone would fly in high heels is beyond me anyway.

I was really peeved on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Hanoi to HCMC. A group of locals had their seats back, foot rest up and bags all over the floor. The flight attendant checked that I was doing the right thing but just walked straight passed this group after looking at them. I thought in an emergency their bags could of gone in to the aisle or anywhere or they might of tripped over their footrest and fallen in to the aisle and thus got in my way. I was annoyed at one rule for some and a different rule for others.

Because One Day You’re In, And the Next Day You’re Out!

I always count seat rows to the exit, and I also look at the closest exit door to see which way the handle moves, or pulls.

Always wear lace-up shoes, not loafers, so they don't fly off.

Wear cotton clothes inflight, not synthetics, because you don't want synthetic fabric to melt onto your skin in a high-heat situation.

Passport, wallet, phone, keys stay in a pants pocket for takeoff and landing, not stuffed into the seatback or stowed in a bag, so you leave the aircraft with your essentials if you evacuate in a hurry.

Yes, count seatbacks between you and closest exit, say the number out loud to yourself so it sticks, and tell any traveling companions. Never mind if they think you're paranoid. I always make a mental exit plan.

If in an exit row, check the pictographs before departure to see if this exit door is the kind you bring in or the kind you throw out. You never know.

Scope the FAs hard before departure to judge whether you think they'll be any good in an emergency. You may have to work around them. Plan on fending for yourself though.

Decide before pushback what you'll do about difficult seatmates (fat, old, small, infirm, oblivious) in an emergency. If "something happens" (love than euphemism) the ratio of calm heads to non-calm or helpless ones will be high. Just by planning for trouble and staying cool you will be a major asset onboard. Even some flight attendants, statistically, can be counted on to freeze or crack up.

In a burning building situation, a blanket and shoes can be safety equipment, not 'belongings'. A wet blanket may be the difference between life and death. While you should not unnecessarily delay your departure from a burning building, a few preparations can save your life. This is quite different from evacuating a plane, where the combination of a small space, lots of people, and lots of fuel means seconds are the difference between life and death.

I do agree that taking a blanket and shoes as protection against the weather is less important in a burning building situation than taking them as protection to ensure you get out of the building - unless the building is in the wilderness and your risk of dying from exposure before you can get help is as high as from dying in the fire itself.

If you really want to be fire resistant, how about wearing this?
http://www.feldfire.com/thumbnail.as...axx=300&maxy=0

Swim towards the light.

Not denying that it's good advice, but must be somewhat uncomfortable... especially on a 10hr+ flight, in economy! Beside, I'd constantly be worrying about items falling out of my pockets unnoticed.

Also, more difficult for women who don't generally have pants pockets :)

"For takeoff and landing", not for the whole flight.

How did I miss that? Makes a lot more sense :)

My safety drill on any flight (some of it will be repetition of things already said)

• Wear shoes during Taxi, Take-off, Climb, Descent, Landing.
• Have passport and boarding pass in pocket.
• Count the number of rows between me and the exits.
• Check that if it's supposed to be there, there's actually a life-jacket under the seat.
• Check the safety card for which exits to use in a ditching in water.
• During the safety demo, when the seatbelt instructions are given, practice opening the seatbelt for muscle memory.
• Put feet flat on floor during takeoff and landing.
• and if seated in an exit row, visualize how to open the exit, those red arrows may not be visible when push comes to shove.

Also, regardless of what it says on the card or in the demo, if at an overwing exit, I'm tossing the door out and not putting it on the seats in the cabin.

Never fly in a Tupolev.

The shoes thing - if you are exiting on to tarmac, yes, you want shoes that are not going to fly off. But if you are exiting into water, you need to ditch the shoes, especially guys who wear the big heavy lace-up DM boots or similar. I have swum in shoes, and it is very difficult (and these were running shoes, not big heavy boots), they drag you down. If you are exiting the aircraft into water, the last thing you want is big boots on. I guess the idea compromise would be shoes that cover your feet, but that can be kicked off very easily (you know, like your mother told you never to do with your school shoes!) if needed.

If you wanted to be prepared, your phone, wallet, keys and passport should be in some sort of waterproof bag (ziplock idea) otherwise some of them will be useless if there is a water landing.

I always fly with my own pashmina, but if you don't, you may want to keep that in flight blanket handy in case of an emergency - it can cover your head from debris, can shield your hands if you have to move something sharp or hot, and can be used to aid someone else in a water rescue, as well as give warmth once out if it remains dry (no matter how warm ambient temperature is, shock is bound to set in).

I also always have a water bottle in the seat back pocket that I would grab and bring with in an emergency - being able to get ash / soot / dirt off your face so that you can see, as well as being able to quell burning of the throat from acrid smoke is pretty important too.

Personally I would keep my shoes on and rely on the lifevest.

Same do I, except the life-jacket check. Thanks for the idea.

You'd be surprised how many are stolen from aircraft.

Absolutely silly question, but do you guys actually open up the bit and check to see if the jacket is there?

Wow. This is a new level of vandalism and idiocy.
Curious how these morons hide the swag.
Not sure if the flight may take place when certain amount of seats are not provided of jackets.

This entire thread was inspired as I waited for a bus, chatting with Rita, a UA flight attendant for 45 years and going! Apparently, UA female flight attendants are supposed to have heels on for public image, when they're not in the aircraft but in uniform. Rita puts on more practical shoes when she's on duty.

She tells me that different aircraft have different combinations of exit doors that are not supposed to be used in water landings. My response is that I'm glad the flight attendants are next to those doors. The overwing exits, though, are dependent on the exit row passengers who don't get to practice.

The new 737-900's overwing exits are handy. They're hinged at the top and designed to swing outwards and upwards out of the way.

As for pockets, I travel with a fleece jacket with zippered pockets so things don't fall out everywhere. I've got headlamp, earplugs, surgical masks (gurantees that the guy next to me isn't sneezing, wheezing, coughing and flinging phlegm everywhere), chapstick, etc in the pockets. Holy utility belt Batman! Anybody seen any stray water bottles left behind in the seat pockets? I've forgotten so many, that I think I need to tether those to myself somehow.

As someone who spent a fair amount of time on and in the water (wearing shoes some of the time) with lifejackets and bouyancy aids I wouldn't count on the lifevest to actually inflate automatically (most of those things are stored for so long, I wouldn't count on the CO2 cylinders actually working). By the time you discover this, you are already in the water (the whole 'inflate your jacket as you leave the aircraft thing aids mobility exiting the aircraft, but is a dumb move from a life preservation stance, as you may well hit the water with an uninflated jacket which will then do you no good if you are knocked unconscious as you exit). If you hit open water (waves, wind, etc) you have enough to deal with getting your jacket inflated by blowing into the valves (they take a LOT of air, which is going to be tough when you are also likely to be paniced and breathing shallowly as well, not to mention the cold water will sap your energy in an instance) without being dragged down by your shoes.

IMO, barring the odd exception (like the Hudson landing), for the most part the lifejackets are for your peace of mind, rather than actually well-designed, life preserving devices, especially when combined with user error (I wonder if anyone has looked at how the average person fastens one, for example, I am guessing most will not tie it nearly tight enough and it will pop off the second you hit the water with any force).

Generally no, but I try to look if it's a clear lid.

So another question, has anyone ever taken survival swimming training - how to stay afloat without a life jacket, preserve body heat etc?

And has anyone ever foudn the lifejacket missing and demanded a replacement? Presumably there is a rule as to having to have them for every passenger if they are flying over water for an extended time? I know they have baby life cots - what do small children do if they need a life jacket?

BA's safety announcement says they have smaller lifejackets for children.

Wonder what would *really* happen in an emergency - say, on a flight to Orlando from Heathrow. How many "smaller" lifejackets do you suppose they have, taking into account the gaggles of children on such a route and, during a water landing, is someone really oepning the overheads looking for them and ensuring they get to the kids? Maybe they have them by the fore-doors, and can ahdn them out on exiting, but that would ***** the people using the overwing exits (I think I am right that rear doors are not opened in a water-landing situation) I'm guessing age 10 or so up could make the adult one fit, smaller than that, I don't think it would.

While the comments on precautions to take during the takeoff and landing phases of flight are excellent, something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet is wearing your seatbelt during cruise. You never know when turbulence will hit and a seat belt during cruise (even a loose one) could keep you from getting seriously injured in the (admittedly rare) instance that the aircraft suddenly loses altitude.

Perhaps they figured that enough exit row passengers are not strong enough to lift and throw the exit door out through the door opening.

There is a great post over on the BA boards about this:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post17484553

It says pretty much everything ;)

I've read the max load label on those overhead bins and see how much people drag on and often thought "this won't end well in an emergency" European's and Asian's tend to drag on a lot less bulk then we American's and I tend to think that's a legitimate safety issue.

Well, technically it's not dumb. The rule of no inflation until after egress comes from historical tragedy. I'll have to search for the exact reference but basically the water landed plane rapidly filled with water. The passengers, who put on their life vests and inflated them prior to egress, were trapped and drowned in the plane as the water floated and pinned their bodies into the cabin's ceiling.

Now that the annoying terrorists have made it illegal to carry utility knives and other useful tools, there's no way to quickly cut things anymore.

Lately I was shopping for a whistle for my SCUBA BC, and wondered what kind of whistle was on the UA-issued life vest. The UA mechanic sitting next to me advised me not to check out the life vest under my seat. I couldn't remember why.

Airlines based in Europe and Asia are more likely to have carry on weight limits (7kg to 10kg is typical) than airlines based in the US.

I think heavy carry-ons are the most dangerous thing now. No, they probably won't kill you, but injuries happen at a million times more frequency than injuries from the airplane crashing.

Charging for overhead bin space is very difficult to implement. I would rather replace the big overhead bins with small ones from the 1970's, giving passengers more space around them (less claustrophobia) and obviously preventing you from putting in a suitcase-sized "carry-on".

I don't get why folks are panicking about leaving their phones, wallet, passport behind etc. If my plane ditches I just want to get out with my LIFE not all my belongings. I can always get a new passport and I am sure I won't be hauled off to jail because my passport was burnt or now at the bottom of the ocean and I don't have it on me.

Phone, passport, and wallet should be small enough to be in your pockets already, so that they won't hinder your evacuation.

Easy to do for guys, but many of the fairer sex wear clothes without them.