More fat on the fire in the arguments about seat pitch...
[QUOTE]Mon 27 May 2002
Evacuations take less time with smaller seat pitches
A study by Cranfield University has shown that ‘narrower seat pitches appear to lead to faster evacuations’ in the event of an aircraft accident.
The Times reports that a series of evacuation tests undertaken by the University, the world’s leading authority in the field, found that passengers in rows with seat pitch of 36 inches – typically the most generous available in long-haul economy class – took seven seconds longer to evacuate an aircraft than those in more cramped seating.
The conclusion drawn by researchers was that while extra space allowed volunteers to leave their seats more quickly, this caused ‘severe bottlenecks’ as many headed for the exits at the same time. Tighter seat pitches resulted in faster evacuations as they allowed a steady flow of passengers through the exits.
International regulations state that all commercial airliners must be capable of being evacuated within 90 seconds using only half the available emergency exits, while the Civil Aviation Authority, regulator of UK-registered aircraft, stipulates that minimum seat pitch must be no less than 26 inches.
The results of the Cranfield study contradict research commissioned by the CAA last year, which proposed that the minimum seat pitch should be increased by at least 3 inches.[QUOTE]