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Just been watching Discovery Channel and the series about A380 flight tests prior to certification. They just showed the evacuation certification test. 873 people evacuated out of only 8 of the 16 doors in the dark with debris in the isles in 78 seconds.  The "pax" where all Joe and Jane Public who replied to adverts in the local Hamburg papers.......Still would not fly in it myself, it is just too many people in a small space.

Matt

Also remember, that's a planned scenario. If that happens for real, the time would be much longer.

Also remember, that's a planned scenario. If that happens for real, the time would be much longer.

For the test, everyone was no doubt determined to set a record getting out; keeping calm and organized is the key to that.
In a real emergency, with smoke and flame and injurues, most pax would be determined to get the hell out of there, and damn anybody who gets in the way.
As soon as I take my seat, I make my plan... nearest emergency exit, preferably with someone near it who looks like they'll keep their cool and not be drunk. I count the rows, to make sure I can find it while crawling on the floor in the dark.

Didnt someone break their arm or leg in one of those tests because of the height of the slide?

Didnt someone break their arm or leg in one of those tests because of the height of the slide?

One person broke a wrist. Fairly irrelevant in the bigger picture. Also as far as the Pax were concerned, they knew nothing. They did not know that it would be in the dark or which exits would be used.

Matt

[quote]Just been watching Discovery Channel and the series about A380 flight tests prior to certification. They just showed the evacuation certification test. 873 people evacuated out of only 8 of the 16 doors in the dark with debris in the isles in 78 seconds.

One of the worst disasters involving evacuation of an airliner involved a Boeing 737 at Manchester Airport in 1985. The aircraft was stationary on the runway after an abandoned take off. 55 of the 137 occupants died.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19850822-0

PS. None of the inquiry safety recommendations was acted on.

B747 is supposedly permitted to carry 660 people - cannot see how! ANA used to have 594 seats, Corsair currently has 587.
Would you fly Corsair?

For most people the price counts more than the discomfort. If passengers would care more about maitnance than price, Onur air would have folded ages ago.

Nobody cares if they have to spend 6+ hours in cramped seats when the price is low enough (remember Phuket Air?)

Onur Air come into the airport that I work at. I could tell you a story or three their  :o

Matt

Corsair currently has 587.
Would you fly Corsair?

Nope, probably not, but then again most of the Corsair customers I've seen seem to be wearing combats and carrying M16s...

I saw one of those Discovery Channel type shows which claimed that Boeing had experimented with the full second deck jumbo when they designed the 747 and abandoned it because they couldn't figure out how to meet evacuation regulations.

What did Airbus do?  High tech slides?  Nope.  They lobbied and either got their plane exempted from the regs or had the regs changed (forget which).  Either way, it didn't give me a warm fuzzy...

I saw one of those Discovery Channel type shows which claimed that Boeing had experimented with the full second deck jumbo when they designed the 747 and abandoned it because they couldn't figure out how to meet evacuation regulations.

What did Airbus do?  High tech slides?  Nope.  They lobbied and either got their plane exempted from the regs or had the regs changed (forget which).  Either way, it didn't give me a warm fuzzy...

Ok no matter what we think of the test it is industry standard. 90 seconds is 90 seconds and 873 people took 78 seconds to evac during this test. Just because Boeing could not do it............

Air Bus have not had any "regs" changed. The rules had to be written  to include Extendable Length Escape System because the 380 is the only aircraft that at this time will use them.

The FAA adopted changes in its rules allow pre-deployment of slides. But passengers cannot know the location of the emergency exits to be used before the drill begins. The pre-deployment and inflation of slides allows the proper placement and opportunity for inspection of safety mats around the slide prior to the start of the demonstration. In addition, the revised rules allow low-level lighting outside a plane during an evacuation demonstration. An FAA review of 19 full-scale evacuation demonstrations between 1972 and 1991 involving 5,797 participants found that 269, or about 4.5 percent, were injured. In one of the demonstrations involving the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 with 410 passengers, a participant was seriously injured, resulting in paralysis. The FAA believes that a 4.5 percent injury rate during an emergency evacuation demonstration is not an acceptable safety practice and that was the reason for the changes.

These rules came into effect in 1993, a little bit before the A380 was about.

Matt

Ok no matter what we think of the test it is industry standard. 90 seconds is 90 seconds and 873 people took 78 seconds to evac during this test. Just because Boeing could not do it............

Lol!

These rules came into effect in 1993, a little bit before the A380 was about.

Matt

Could that have been for the projected MD-12 perhaps?

set some fires with thick black acrid smoke and see how long it takes