...that after years of reading this forum something has finally irritated me enough to register ;-). Afternoon all...
When fully trained pilots apparently don't know how to recover from a stall (despite that being taught in practically the first ever lesson I took in a glider,) or forget where the runway is, there is always a long debate about how nobody should place blame, all pilots are fallible, and the system/process/aircraft obviously need redesigning.
When a passenger, whose background we know nothing about, in a highly stressed situation does or says something stupid, it's taken as a sign that the passengers are morons and it's entirely their own fault because the system is completely perfect.
I expect a 15 year old kid to think they're invincible and incapable of making a bad decision, that's why we don't let them drive and why when they do start driving they have a bad habit of killing themselves. But seriously, the adults in the room should take a long hard look at themselves.
Anecdotally, in the last couple of weeks I've flown with Easyjet, Jet2 and BA several times. I always pay attention during the safety briefing, and check the safety card. Some anecdotal data points:
- I cannot remember a single flight where the "personalised briefing" for those on the exit row consisted of more than "please will you put your bags in the overhead locker and remember to read the card."
- Back in the old days, when you checked in at the airport, if you checked in to the exit row you were asked if you were capable and willing to handle the exit doors and assist in the evacuation. I assume they also made an assessment of whether or not you were mentally likely to be capable. Since the advent of online checkin that doesn't happen any more. Yes, I presume the gate staff/cabin crew weed out the obviously infirm/incapable, but maybe there is a weakness here. Some airlines now charge extra for the exit row - I imagine there is even more disincentive for crew to remove someone inappropriately seated there if they know they've paid for the privilege.
- The idea that it is "obvious" from the safety card that there are no slides/rafts on the overwing exits (except on those planes where there are) just isn't true. I've checked several safety cards on the internet and some it's far from obvious; the reliance on pictography while understandable means actually some details like that are far from clear. It's also something I don't remember ever being called out by cabin crew. Perhaps the briefing should be updated to make a specific mention.
- It may be obvious to you or me that the large arrows painted on the wing are directions to evacuating passengers, but there are plenty of things written on the wing ("NO STEP", "HOIST POINT", "STAND CLEAR OF THIS AREA WHEN ENGINES RUNNING", "ENSURE SLATS LOCKED BEFORE OPENING THIS COWL" that sort of thing (and yeah I know those wordings are probably inaccurate, I'm going from memory)) that clearly are not directions to passengers under normal circumstances, so why should it be obvious to a normal person which ones are for their benefit and which aren't?
- Someone earlier (cabin crew I guess) said "when have you ever seen a passenger check if their lifejacket is under their seat." I remember being surprised last week when on one flight (BA I think it was) the CC specifically indicated to passengers they could do so if they wanted during the briefing; it's the first time I have ever heard it mentioned; prior to that you would certainly never have seen me checking - on a plane passengers are pretty much told to do what they're told and only what they're told, I for one certainly wouldn't have tried to find the life vest for fear of setting off some kind of alarm or ending up not being able to get the thing back in its holder.
- Realistically, when you're on your sixth flight in as many days on a different airline and aircraft every time and you're flat out knackered, sometimes it's hard to remember where the hell you're flying from and to, let alone specific details of which aircraft you're on, even if you did read the safety card/listen to the briefing. That's just a fact of life. If there is important information people need (like "jump off the wing here, there's no slide",) present it to them when they need it, don't rely on them remembering something that could have been hours earlier.
If we can forgive pilots for not knowing how to recover from a stall, I think we should probably forgive passengers for not knowing how to get off the wing of a plane, and maybe look at how safety briefings/aircraft/the system could be modified to improve things in the future.