Is Anyone…
By Mitch Berg
…who, like me, ignores the “safety instructions” before flights…
US Airways flight attendant Alin Boswell concurred: “This is why we go through training and go through briefing. That 60 seconds you have to go over the emergency card can make all the difference.”
…thinking of paying just a tad more attention next time?
Maybe just a little.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Angryclown knows that flightpath very, very well. Yikes. After 9/11 Angryclown had to think about the weapons he might have to defend himself in-flight. Now Angryclown will have to learn where those frikken life vests are located.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
That’s one of the first things I thought of. I wondered if people used their seats as floatation devices, and if so if they immediately knew how.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Some of us operate that way anyway, and it’s very old hat. To me the biggest thing is figuring out what kind of plane I’m on.
Statistically, your odds of survival go up exponentially the closer you get to an exit row. They’re significantly better within 5 rows of an exit than elsewhere and very significantly better in the actual exit row (a case where paying the additional money for an exit row is actually an insurance payment).
Then again, I’m an engineer. I guess it comes with being to paid to figure out how things could break and how to recover if they do 🙂 I also note emergency exit locations in hotels and restaurants and avoid sleeping above the 8th floor.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I read somewhere recently that what you’re saying is true, nerd. I’d always just figured sitting way in the back was the best idea, to avoid possible impact to the front of the plane. But it makes sense that the primary principle for surviving a plane crash is to get the hell out of the plane as quickly as possible.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
“”wondered if people used their seats as floatation devices””
One of the passengers commented when he got to the exit he thought
— ‘Oh shoot, I forgot my seat’, but then someone else handed him one. Since there was also life vest on this plane, they had double the necessary flotation devices.
“”To me the biggest thing is figuring out what kind of plane I’m on.””
That’s me as well. I always pull out the placard, and check the exits before they even begin their spiel.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
This was an example of my biggest nightmare…being trapped in either a car or a plane in water. Yikes. I have never listened all that close to the safety instructions myself. One always just figures things will go well and you’re off to have a good time….what could go wrong?! Like Mitch, I plan to pay closer attention from now on. I like the advise about sitting near an exit too. I always thought it seemed like a seat with grave responsibilities though…
A few years ago we flew to Ireland through the night and I didn’t sleep one bit…just thinking that if we hit the water I hope the impact is enough to kill me before I know I’m trapped in water.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
When I’ve had the option, I’ve always asked for bulkhead row, paying extra if I had to.
Mostly it was because at 6’5, sitting in regular coach seats is really uncomfortable, especially when some passive-aggressive little pipsqueak in front of my SLAMS his seat back to full recline.
But that whole “within five rows of an exit” thing plays a part in it.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Slightly off-topic. On an overseas flight I was on once, it was a 747 or something like that, and I ended up with a seat by a door. (At the airport I was sent back and forth between two desks a couple three times to get something ironed out, but I remained pleasant about it, and I always suspected I was rewarded with the door seat as a result. But anyway…)
It was wonderful. Could stretch my legs etc, which was quite a gift on that long flight. But, there was room for people to gather, so people would stand and talk, and sometimes would sit on the door.
I just reflexively got quite nervous. I know it takes more than a little jostle to open those doors, but I still wished they wouldn’t sit there.
January 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
My biggest fears on a plane is after the landing. do the people in the emergency row really know how to open the hatch? Will they be calm enough to do it fast enough? Will they remember to chuck it outside& not lay it in their seat? Will the people get up & out fast enough, will they go the right way? Will they block the isles trying to get their carry-ons? will they jam things up by climbing over the seats? The experts say that in ideal conditions, you have 90 seconds to get everyone off the plane… a little panic can really screw things up!
January 16th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
My sister was a flight attendant for a time, the principle thing, she says, is get off in 90 seconds or less.
Apparently this crew did a magnificent job, most of the passengers were off in 60 seconds.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I had to evacuate a plane that was parked at a gate. They had started up the planes APU when it caught fire, and started billowing smoke outside the plane. I was in row 1 seat D and was out of the plane in under a second. Didn’t need no damn placard. Didn’t stop running til I hit baggage claim.
January 17th, 2009 at 12:46 am
I try to always get an aisle seat for the extra stretch room. The first thing I do is scope out the exit doors.
Damn if I don’t have to agree with Peev, though. The crew were perfect as possible, and the passengers acted with grace and courage. All in all a shining moment for humanity.
January 17th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Jeff,
You don’t need to worry about the door opening at altitude. All of the doors are designed so they open inward before swinging out. The pressurization of the airplane versus the thin air outside means that the doors are impossible to open. Even if you lift the locking handle, you wouldn’t have the strength to pull the door inward.