Originally Posted by
UltraFan
Today I went on the Internet and I found this:
https://youtu.be/n9wG2FdGhDU?t=51
The link, if you care to click it, will take you straight to the 0:51 mark. What's interesting to me here is how the PA describes the evacuation procedure: "For passengers on the upper deck, if the water landing occurs, you should [go] downstairs and exit through main deck doors".
Two questions here. One, ARE THEY SERIOUS!? ...
You are a bit late on the outrage bus since that slide configuration for the 744 has been around since the late 80s and
AFAIK is industry wide for the machine.
It's been a while since I flew the QOTS but from memory I agree with the previous replies, ie..
The upper deck slides are not slide rafts because the position of the waterline post a ditching using an upper deck slide will mean any user gets dumped in the water at high speed..which has CCA has pointed out then leaves you very exposed.
Door 3 slides are not deployed in a ditching since when inflated the assembly would float aft at the inboard end of the wing trailing edge and would interfere with the sliderafts at Doors 4 (as bigduke6 explained...).
As a result the aircraft is equipped (as I recall it) with Dual lane slide
rafts at Doors 1,2 4 and 5 only...oh, and FWIW the system and procedures have been "tested in the field"..
China Airlines 605
"Immediately after the aircraft came to rest in the water, crew members ensured that all passengers donned life jackets and evacuated onto eight of the ten main deck emergency exits. These exits (as on all 747s) are equipped with inflatable evacuation slide/rafts for ditching emergencies. The passenger cabin remained completely above water during the evacuation,"