Cattle class BBQ, anyone..
One of the ‘shortcomings’ in the dramatic, politician scaring, generalizations is the total lack of accuracy regarding exactly what occurs when a large aircraft ‘crashes’. Take a look at the LA event or any of the crash video – even the Essendon event. A crash is a violent collision between aircraft and whatever it hits. The result is nearly always fire; it is only during the first seconds and minutes of the event that significant saving of life can be achieved. This means rapid evacuation of passengers. The fire trucks cannot help with that – they have established protocols to protect their crew and are there to extinguish the flames etc..
For those on board, those who survive the impact, the imperative is to beat the fire to the nearest exit and get as faraway from the aircraft as possible. This assumes they can actually egress the hull. There exists a wide gulf between the time an orderly evacuation, in controlled conditions takes for certification purposes and the time it takes for a hundred traumatized people to extricate themselves from the cramped confines of a wrecked, dark, smoke filled, burning cabin.
Much as I like the notion of a fire truck on stand-by; to a passenger trapped in the narrow, cramped confines of the seating position, hampered by the incredible amount of spilled carry on baggage; desperately trying get out of the seat row, to find an exit, opening it and getting out, the fire truck is completely irrelevant.
I wonder how many politicians have sat in economy and considered just how difficult it would be to actually get out of their seat to get to the loo, let alone a clear path to an exit in a burning aircraft. Not too bloody many I’ll bet. Remember – if the aircraft is burning there is a chance for explosion – fire and rescue crew will not be allowed inside the danger zone, until the fire is extinguished.
Thankfully, the statistics favour it never happening, but when it does, the survival statistics are against an even chance. The statistics for rescue, by fire crew are even slimmer. But, it’s nice to know they are there.
Toot toot.
One of the ‘shortcomings’ in the dramatic, politician scaring, generalizations is the total lack of accuracy regarding exactly what occurs when a large aircraft ‘crashes’. Take a look at the LA event or any of the crash video – even the Essendon event. A crash is a violent collision between aircraft and whatever it hits. The result is nearly always fire; it is only during the first seconds and minutes of the event that significant saving of life can be achieved. This means rapid evacuation of passengers. The fire trucks cannot help with that – they have established protocols to protect their crew and are there to extinguish the flames etc..
For those on board, those who survive the impact, the imperative is to beat the fire to the nearest exit and get as faraway from the aircraft as possible. This assumes they can actually egress the hull. There exists a wide gulf between the time an orderly evacuation, in controlled conditions takes for certification purposes and the time it takes for a hundred traumatized people to extricate themselves from the cramped confines of a wrecked, dark, smoke filled, burning cabin.
Much as I like the notion of a fire truck on stand-by; to a passenger trapped in the narrow, cramped confines of the seating position, hampered by the incredible amount of spilled carry on baggage; desperately trying get out of the seat row, to find an exit, opening it and getting out, the fire truck is completely irrelevant.
I wonder how many politicians have sat in economy and considered just how difficult it would be to actually get out of their seat to get to the loo, let alone a clear path to an exit in a burning aircraft. Not too bloody many I’ll bet. Remember – if the aircraft is burning there is a chance for explosion – fire and rescue crew will not be allowed inside the danger zone, until the fire is extinguished.
Thankfully, the statistics favour it never happening, but when it does, the survival statistics are against an even chance. The statistics for rescue, by fire crew are even slimmer. But, it’s nice to know they are there.
Toot toot.