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That slide in the cover aircraft BAA appears different from the rest with what looks like a skirt. Is it for sea survival? Seeing the grand ditching plan is for you to don your life vest and hang on door slide I don't know why they bother. A door slide does not give the protection of an MS28 or similar

What are you on about? 'cover aircraft BAA'?

Yes,if you are referring to the AA slide (it's '9AA' by the way), I have no idea what the side bits are for (maybe stowage for the Chump's White House removals?), but ALL slides are designed to be detachable for use as rafts in a ditching. Where did you expect your MS28 to appear on your Ryanair flight as you plunge into the Med?

FYI ETOPS twins (when I operated them) had to carry enough MS dinghies for the load. I have no idea how we were supposed to get them out and into the oggin with all the pax getting their hand-baggage from the lockers.........................

Boac, I thought the slides on some 737-400 can be used as slides and then they have ropes around for pax to hold on to, until help arrives. That's from the pool safety of a European operator of 737 aircraft.

Point well taken for the hand-baggage.

All slides, I think?

My sister, who was a trolley dolly for a well known UK airline, once told me that advice was issued that they should wear cotton underwear due to the risk of artificial fabrics melting and embedding in the skin when using slides.

One hastens to add that one has never conducted any empirical testing to see if this advice was taken.

Having said that, back in the 70s, a certain RAF squadron, in its creation, had a collection of panties nicely framed and displayed behind glass, labelled with the airline that had 'donated' said item.

Sis is still flying with Squeezy.

That story regarding underwear has reminded me of Jane, who was the sister of one of the boys of our pub group when I was in my very early 20s.
We were a group who had all recently moved there from afar and so were seeking a circle of friends.
Jane was brought along as otherwise she would have been left at home alone.
She drank barley wine and had a wicked sense of humour - one of her party pieces was
"Are those your knickers on the floor?"
"No, mine are in my handbag."

I lost touch when I moved away within a couple of years, and I wonder what she would be like today (aged 70+).

The evacuation evaluation for certification is a farce. All young people in running shoes no hand baggage. All well briefed and expecting it. No kids on laps. Monarch tried to did cram 361 pax into their A300-600Rs. On the first CAA evaluation they failed to meet the 90 sec requirement. One guy dived under the trolley tart's arm who was blocking off an exit simulating failed chute. On the outside cameras you could see him bounce off the safety matting on the run and he was not at the roll call at the end of the exercise, disappeared without trace. They achieved it on the second attempt (just). Wonder what the time would have been in reality. I don't think that we ever did one for real. Yes our girls were advised (briefed?) not to wear nylon knickers, or take them off.

I thought the most realistic evacuation simulation ever done was the one (in one of the two famous aviation Universities - Cranfield or Loughborough) where they offered a beer voucher for the first few participants. Survivors of the real accident said the evacuation experiences were similar.

My daughter, mid-twenties at the time, tri-athlete,was on the A380 testing in Hamburg, afterwards she said she would never volunteer for anything ever again, it's a bloody long way down from the upper deck of an A380.

I applied for that trial. No answer!

She was married to an Airbus structures engineer at the time, that probably got her in the door, and out down the slide!

Is there any need for repeated evacuation tests for assessment of ongoing specification changes - or is it a once and for all test?

ex-A wrote:Yes our girls were advised (briefed?) not to wear nylon knickers, or take them off.

SOPs require that to be the Captain's duty. (Removing them (from the lady) before any (non-nylon) smart ass quibbles)

k3k3 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:30 pm

She was married to an Airbus structures engineer at the time, that probably got her in the door, and out down the slide!

I read that Airbus went around Hamburg sports club to recruit people for the trial.

G-CPTN wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:43 pm

Is there any need for repeated evacuation tests for assessment of ongoing specification changes - or is it a once and for all test?

That is a very good point CPTN. Our aircraft were just completely open cattle trucks. Surely bulkheads or mid fuselage galleys added would slow things down. No idea of the answer to your question. I must say that I didn't like stepping off the flight deck to have 400 + folk staring at me. Especially given the average IQ. They probably thought that I was the ice cream salesman. Surprised no hands went up.

I did follow the A380 final certification press coverage. ISTR that the evacuation trials are done for the maximum number of pax the aircraft can carry. Hence Airbus did for 859 people (crew + pax) straight away.

Rwy in Sight wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 3:49 pm

I did follow the A380 final certification press coverage. ISTR that the evacuation trials are done for the maximum number of pax the aircraft can carry. Hence Airbus did for 859 people (crew + pax) straight away.

Yes, but if the open-plan interior is subdivided with partitions like a maze . . .

It can work - the AF Airbus that went off the runway in Canada had everyone off pretty quick. I suspect the presence of an actual fire might add realism to the exercise.

Why is is it that whenever I see this thread I expect to see a PowerPoint presentation!

These tests look totally unrealistic.

Always travel with 799 highly trained and motivated people next to you.

No hand luggage visible! Completely unrealistic. Sober order following Germans. Add a couple of bastards with hand luggage who will attempt to grab it, a handful of drunks, older immobile folk etc. etc.