Effective EVAC's?
Folks,
Wan't going to post a reply on here but after reading through all your comments, I felt I had to.
First, I have to say that I don't favour Airbus over Boeing or vice versa. (I'm a turboprop driver). But this is not really my point.
I have to agree with EAL401 when he says that designers can only try their best. No-one at Airbus or Boeing wants a fatality on their aircraft during operations, drill or evacuations. No aircraft engineer has sat down and deliberately thought up a compromised, dangerous design.
I was reminded of this very recently when going through my late father's notes and papers. As an aircraft designer for over 30 years with BAe he was one of several tasked with looking at safety and evac systems following the B737 fire at Manchester in the '80s.
Reading through his papers, which included the accident reports, I was reminded of the utter chaos and panic on board as people scrambled to get out, ignoring serviceable exits. Many of those people ran forwards, ignoring closer, usable exits behind them and died because of it.
Recently on BBC radio I listened to a woman who had escaped from that flight. Seated right at the back, she described how she fought her way halfway down the cabin to use one of the overwings to escape. Her description of what it was like on board was hair-raising. I really don't think anyone can build for these circumstances. If they did, the planes might never leave the ground.
Its not how many exits you have or chutes that matter. Its how well the people can cope with what's happening to them. Remeber how dis-orientating the fire and smoke drills are. Now imagine a few hundred people who have never done that drill, panicking and trying to get out. There isn't really a perfect solution to this is there?
These are my feelings on this - I'm not looking for a flaming. But remember that, regardless of who make the aircraft, no static drill in a hangar can ever come close to the real thing and all the designers can do is their best.