That's always been in the fore-front of my mind during demonstrations, primarily from watching Air Crash Investigations. It was the episode(s) for the crash of Ethopian Airlines 961, one of the few water crashes where people survived initially... until a high number inflated them inside the plane, and drowned.

My plan has always been to get out, away from the plane and any chance of being sucked under as it goes down (a-la Titanic), and then inflate it. Unless I can't surface right away, and would inflate immediately.

Of course, I have no idea how much I would follow that plan in a panic!

 

Granted it's been a while since I flew AC (2 days) but IIRC, AC does NOT mention to leave carry ons behind.

Someone prove me wrong.... I haven't admitted I'm wrong yet today. Yesterday yes... today no.

 

I have heard the leave carry-ons behind but not every time. Do I keep my shoes on?

 

Bearing in mind that procedures varies between airlines, you would only hear "leave everything behind" as a shouted command in an evacuation situation. The obvious reason - it hinders rapid evacuation from the aircraft. As far as keeping your shoes on - You are the best judge. If you had to leave an aircraft suddenly in open land terrain or a field of debris, would you want your shoes on?

In a prepared (known) emergency situation with full cabin preparation, the advisory announcement incorporates removing high-heeled/spike shoes as they can damage the chute, should that apply to you.

This concludes your emergency briefing.

 

Further to this, do NOT inflate your life jacket prior to leaving the aircraft. There were multiple deaths with passengers that did, onboard a hijacked 767 that ran out of fuel (Ethiopian airlines). In the Mayday episode, it was stated that multiple unnecessary drownings occurred as passengers who did survive couldn't get out due to the life jacket being inflated

 

Please raise your hand if you don't watch Mayday/Air Crash Investigation (just wondering).

 

As I like to say each weekend or long weekend in my province at least 5-20 people die, and dozens more injured, on the roads. You still drive on weekend right?
Better chance of dying from the flu than in a plane crash. The odd are so small in Canada, no even worth thinking about, imo.

 

I wonder if a plane equipped with wifi may have a better chance of locating it in a disaster event. Presumably there'll be enough PAX on board connected to wifi so agencies can track (e.g. NSA(!)) when they lose contact or internet traffic with whomever they were emailing/chatting. I even think of in this day and age, wouldn't it be possible for Apple to use the "Find my iPhone" app to try to locate some of the PAX's iPhones right before they get turned off or crash land?

 

Can't conventional radar already do all this?

If radar can't detect the plane, what are the odds that the electrical system is functioning that the wi-fi would work?

 

Unfortunately, many phone GPSs don't work at the altitudes planes fly at, and those that do generally need to be located quite near a window. Over the oceans where satellites would provide the link, triangulation type methods wouldn't be much of a possibility either.

Having said that, an Internet connection would certainly provide an easy and relatively inexpensive link for continuous tracking and updating of (no-critical) location information. But the current cost cutting nature of airlines would probably still work against something like that, particularly given the cost of getting any permanently installed system certified for aircraft use.

 

The most dangerous part of the journey is the cab ride to and from the airport.

 

You obviously take safety seriously. My best advice to you? Like everything else in the Universe, AC's current safety video is running on YouTube. Review it at your leisure and any crew member would be happy to address any concerns you might have.

 

I think it's great this conversation is happening at all, especially among frequent travelers. As pointed out, the risk is statistically very low, but the cost of a few minutes of forethought is pretty low too! I work in (experimental) flight test, so have maybe a more direct interest in egress in non-optimal conditions than some, but I take a few seconds to think it through on any commercial flight, also.

I know the flight attendants are capably trained, and have been shown to make a huge difference in evacuations...but what if I end up at a door without them? In the dark/ smoke/ etc? Which side is the handle on? Does it move up/down/sideways? Door goes up/ left/right? If necessary, where is the slide inflation handle? All this is on the safety card, and differs by a/c type.
How many rows fore/aft to nearest exit? Next nearest?

I'm always surprised when people remove their shoes (or wear flip flops!) before takeoff - that and landing being the most likely phases for evacuations, and I'd rather have something protecting my feet.

And I've thought it ironic that the AC video indeed says to inflate your vest only after exiting, but then the demonstrator 'orally inflates' it (or pretends to) INSIDE the aircraft.

Anyways, just my $0.02!

 

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I hadn't really considered that before. I usually take them off as soon as I sit down, but I may reconsider it now.

Hah, that's a good one!