A380 EMERGENCY EVACUATION TEST

What people said

throwaheyy · 2020-11 · Criticism

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]: [VIDEO]

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elliekelly · 2019-09 · Criticism

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] [VIDEO]

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avar · 2019-05 · Criticism

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: [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]

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