Should Airline Passengers Be Required to attend "Crash School"?

[DawnCt1]

Unlike the Op Ed. writer in today's Hartford Courant, I do pay attention to the flight attendant, I know where the exit rows are from my seat, I could open the door if I were seated in an exit row, and I know that I should put my own mask on prior to assisting any child seated next to me. I can't think of anything that would delay and complicate airline travel more than this suggestion. Just what the struggling airlines need; another layer of bureaucracy for passengers who gaze out the window.

Train Airline Passengers Before Takeoff
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion...airplane-emergencies.artjul14,0,1436364.story
By ARTHUR G. SHARP
July 14, 2009


Airplane passengers are seldom prepared for emergency landings. They should be given the opportunity to practice using airplane safety devices and evacuation techniques before each flight. Mock-ups of aircraft in every airport, paid for out of government stimulus funds, will help in that regard.

Emergency landings for airplanes are not uncommon. On July 2, US Airways Flight 752 from Philadelphia to Stockholm made one at Bradley due to a smoke alarm in the cockpit. That landing ended without incident. Not all of them do, however.

Remember US Airways Flight 1549, which landed in the Hudson River on Jan. 15? How many of those passengers were expecting — or prepared for — an emergency landing? They could have been better prepared if they had the opportunity to practice emergency landing techniques beforehand.

Let's face it: Virtually the only passengers who use the safety devices aboard airplanes are those involved in emergency situations.

Most people — including me — pay little or no attention to flight attendants as they mechanically explain how to activate an oxygen mask, pull out seat cushions for use as flotation devices and assume crash positions. Nor do they read the cards that explain the emergency evacuation procedures. That has to change.

Here's the plan: Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration should create mock-ups of airliners in airports to train passengers preparing for flights. The mock-ups will include the safety devices used aboard actual aircraft, from oxygen masks to escape chutes.

These trainers will be staffed by personnel who will assist passengers in practicing with the devices. The training will be optional at first. Eventually, it will become mandatory for all passengers on a one-time basis.

The mock-up does not have to be a full-sized aircraft. A few seats, fully operational safety devices, an emergency escape door and a modified escape chute would suffice. Trainers would demonstrate the use of the devices, set in motion-simulated emergencies, help the passengers with the equipment, when necessary, and assess their reactions.

The training will help prepare passengers for emergencies, reduce the level of panic and the potential number of injuries or deaths, free flight attendants to work with passengers who opt out of the practice opportunity and ease the burdens of adults with children.

Generally, children are the least prepared passengers for airplane emergencies. Normally, they rely on their parents or older passengers to activate their safety devices and initiate escape techniques, which delays their own preparations. So, children in particular will benefit from the mock-up training, which will familiarize them with the equipment and procedures associated with emergencies.

Children going through the training could earn official-looking certificates to acknowledge their accomplishments. The certificates will entice more children to complete the training and encourage them to get their parents and guardians involved in it as well. Once the mock-up training becomes mandatory, certificates will be awarded to all passengers, who would show them before boarding a commercial airplane.

Granted, there are plane crashes in which no amount of training with safety devices will be useful, such as Air France's Flight 447, which crashed off the coast of Brazil May 31 and killed 228 people, or the June 30 crash of Yemenia Airlines Flight 626 into the Indian Ocean near Comoros, in which only one of the 153 people aboard survived. But training would be helpful in incidents like the Hudson River landing of Flight 1549.

Airlines carry millions of passengers into the skies annually without providing them with any hands-on training in the use of safety devices. The mock-up sites will remedy that lack of training and increase the numbers of survivors in emergency landings. They should become standard in airports around the world — and would provide a beneficial use for stimulus finds in the United States.

 

[crz4mm2]

I pay attention too Dawn.

THis is a ridiculous idea.

 

[onelilspark]

Hmmm, if you go through the "expert" line at security, does this exempt you from the class??

ETA: After fully reading the article and not just making fun of it... I think this is a fantastic idea. I mean, I love certificates. I would do just about anything for a certificate. But if I had to show it to them, how could I display it in my office? Wouldn't I have to take it out of it's frame? Man...that would totally bum me out

 

[DawnCt1]

Hmmm, if you go through the "expert" line at security, does this exempt you from the class??

ETA: After fully reading the article and not just making fun of it... I think this is a fantastic idea. I mean, I love certificates. I would do just about anything for a certificate. But if I had to show it to them, how could I display it in my office? Wouldn't I have to take it out of it's frame? Man...that would totally bum me out

Maybe they could give you a pin! You could put it with your Disney pins.

 

[Starbrite]

I'm sorry ~ but I think that would scare my DD half to death I don't need her worrying the whole flight about what to do if we crash.

 

[diznygirl]

Most people have flown before, that's why they are looking out the window during the safety instructions. I watch just to be polite.

The writer needs a Chill Pill.

 

[onelilspark]

Maybe they could give you a pin! You could put it with your Disney pins.

What if someone wants to trade for it? Would I have to do the class again?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Talk about a make-work, spend-money "plan"

No, it's just plain silly. It would add to the recommended (maybe even now required?) pre-arrival time; it would add to airport congestion; with 'only a few' seats - let's say twenty - it would take thirty minutes, minimum including change-out time, to teach a hundred passengers; most airports don't have one central terminal like MCO does, so a mock-up would be required in each terminal...

Nope. Just plain silly. Asinine.

 

[DawnCt1]

What if someone wants to trade for it? Would I have to do the class again?

Of course you would have to take the class again, which is why it would be worth at least 5 Disney pins.

 

[maxiesmom]

If they offered some sort of airline discount to go with the certificate, you could sign me up! Take the course, save 20% on your tickets.

 

[Disney Doll]

You know, I am probably the one in a million that actually pays attention to that spiel every time I fly (usually 2-4 times/year). And I watch the passengers around me not listening. And I think to myself "I'm not going to try and save your sorry butt if this plane goes down since you were too busy with your iPod to listen, but I'll help the kid next to you".

But this idea is ridiculous really, especially since, although they make big headlines, airplane crashes are relatively rare overall.

 

[ols386]

I always listen when the flight attendant is giving emergency instructions. I already know what they are going to say, but I always think if I'm not paying attention, then I might jinx myself and everyone else on the plane, and then we'll experience some kind of emergency situation, if I'm not listening.

 

[luvmy3]

Most people have flown before, that's why they are looking out the window during the safety instructions. I watch just to be polite.

The writer needs a Chill Pill.

ITA. My dh flies all the time and was even involved in an emergency landing with an engine on fire He doesn't really need to pay attention every time he flies.
I on the other hand pay attention every time. I'm nervous enough and any info that they tell me to make me believe I actually have a chance to survive a crash is good thing for me to hear

 

[Mr.MouseFan]

Yay! Something Dawn and I agree on!!

This is the most ridiculous line of the whole article IMHO:

"Generally, children are the least prepared passengers for airplane emergencies. Normally, they rely on their parents or older passengers to activate their safety devices and initiate escape techniques..."

Depending on the age of the child, no amount of training will fully prepare a child for an emergency and they will still depend on their parents to assist them.

Oh, and not only do I still listen to the flight attendants, but I can recite the spiel and everything right along with them..LOL

 

[NotUrsula]

I agree that a lot of passengers don't listen every time, and if you looked at me you would think that I wasn't listening, but I fly a lot, mostly on the same type aircraft, so by now I know it off by heart on most flights; even my children do. What you might not notice is me counting off the seat rows to the nearest exit, and making my kids do it, too. I also wear a small string wallet in flight that contains my valuable ID/credit cards, so that if I had to evacuate I would not be leaving those things behind.

I think it would be a good idea to build those simulators, but not necessarily put them in airports. Put them on trucks, and take them around to schools and churches and shopping malls. (When is the last time that you saw a truck exhibit at a shopping mall that didn't have a zillion people going through?) People tend to be rushed when they are at airports, and they wouldn't do it there, but if they had a chance to do it elsewhere, I think that they would.

The UK government did some tests involving the issue of families evacuating from aircraft after emergency landings, and what they found was that the adults tended to panic, but the school-aged children did EXACTLY what the FA's told them to do. They were used to that, because of having done fire evacuation drills at school. For this reason, the UK has a contiguous seating rule that says that children must be seated within "arm's reach" of an accompanying adult -- not because the children had trouble, but because the adults defied the FA's orders and went against the flow of the evacuation to try to find their children in the dark, even though the kids were getting out of the plane exactly as they were told to.

 

[onelilspark]

Yay! Something Dawn and I agree on!!

This is the most ridiculous line of the whole article IMHO:

"Generally, children are the least prepared passengers for airplane emergencies. Normally, they rely on their parents or older passengers to activate their safety devices and initiate escape techniques..."

Depending on the age of the child, no amount of training will fully prepare a child for an emergency and they will still depend on their parents to assist them.

Oh, and not only do I still listen to the flight attendants, but I can recite the spiel and everything right along with them..LOL

You mean I can't rely on the 2 year old sitting next to me to show me what to do? But...but...they got their certificate first!!

I'm gonna DIE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[onelilspark]

I agree that a lot of passengers don't listen every time, and if you looked at me you would think that I wasn't listening, but I fly a lot, mostly on the same type aircraft, so by now I know it off by heart on most flights; even my children do. What you might not notice is me counting off the seat rows to the nearest exit, and making my kids do it, too. I also wear a small string wallet in flight that contains my valuable ID/credit cards, so that if I had to evacuate I would not be leaving those things behind.

I think it would be a good idea to build those simulators, but not necessarily put them in airports. Put them on trucks, and take them around to schools and churches and shopping malls. (When is the last time that you saw a truck exhibit at a shopping mall that didn't have a zillion people going through?) People tend to be rushed when they are at airports, and they wouldn't do it there, but if they had a chance to do it elsewhere, I think that they would.

The UK government did some tests involving the issue of families evacuating from aircraft after emergency landings, and what they found was that the adults tended to panic, but the school-aged children did EXACTLY what the FA's told them to do. They were used to that, because of having done fire evacuation drills at school. For this reason, the UK has a contiguous seating rule that says that children must be seated within "arm's reach" of an accompanying adult -- not because the children had trouble, but because the adults defied the FA's orders and went against the flow of the evacuation to try to find their children in the dark, even though the kids were getting out of the plane exactly as they were told to.

Ok...that makes sense (in all seriousness.) I might not go through it, I avoid anything dealing with disaster like the plague (no pun intended) because it freaks me out too much. When I was little, my Mom would keep me out of school during Fire Prevention Week since I'd have nightmares for a month!

But...ummm...would I still get my certificate if I did go through it? Because that's what really matters. Or a pin. That I could trade for 5 Disney pins (at least. According to Dawn.)

 

[DebbieB]

Is there any evidence that people have died in a crash because they didn't follow the safety instructions or didn't know them? Everyone got off 1549 with no problem. There was a crash in Toronto a few years ago where they evacuated the entire plane before it burst into flames.

 

[Acklander]

If they offered some sort of airline discount to go with the certificate, you could sign me up! Take the course, save 20% on your tickets.

It wouldn't save you money, it would cost more for your plane ticket. someone has to pay for the mock up plane and instructors.
I figure if I'm in a large plane falling out of the sky towards earth the fact that I have a certificate from a mock class will have very little bearing on the outcome.

 

[maxiesmom]

Did anyone else just see that Southwest had to land a plane that developed a football sized hole in mid flight? Just thought that was kind of ironic.