Disabled people and emergencies

[coppetta]

Hi there,
I found this forum searching for information about disabled passengers assistance on airplains. I have a doubt concerning what happens in case of emergency and I know that my question could seem unusual.

I suffer from a quite rare disease called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. Despite an acceptable level of mobility, my bones are extremely fragile, so that a simple fall to the ground could cause me severe multiple fractures.

I know that in case of emergency passengers should quickly exit using a slide or, in some types of planes, even jumping directly from the exit to the ground. I tend to believe that in both cases I could die or have extremely serious injures due to the impact (like breaking my backbone or neck and stay paralyzed for the rest of my life).

I heard that it is not so infrequent that passengers are asked to exit in this way. I mean, according to what I read on the internet, similar procedures are likely to take place not only when the plane is going to explode in the next two minutes, but even in case of minor faults. Is that true?

And, if so, do you think it would be possible for me to bargain an exception with the crew ("If there is no fire here, I will wait for someone to help me in getting out of here in a softer way") or I would be forced to get out?

...Sorry but I think it would be very hard for my survival instinct to voluntary decide to jump out of a plane and face certain death or severe injures. I think I would be stuck at the door until I feel fire just behind my ass...

[S.o.S.]

Hi copetta and welcome to the forum.

This is certainly the right place to ask your question and I'm sure airline staff will be along to answer you. If you have not flown before, then you will readily guess that asking the airline before booking is the way to start.

Welcome to PPRuNe.

[Gulf Julliet Papa]

Hi Coppetta,

Again welcome to pprune. I'm sorry if this doesn't help with your concerns but I want to keep it factual, but my hope is presenting the facts will help :)

Looking at the numbers the chances of dying on an aeroplane seems to be somewhere between 1 in 5million to 11million, in a car is 1 in 4000 to 8000. So really it has to be pointed out flying is one of the safest modes of transport. The chances of an evacuation are very very tiny. Of course it is a terrifying experience and therefore the newspapers and media grab hold of an evacuation and play on peoples fear. Unfortunately we do not hear about the 1000s of safe landings that happen everyday.

In my eyes and quite a lot of my colleagues eyes an evacuation is one of the most risky things that you could do in an aeroplane. You will almost inevitably end up with at least a few been injured and of course as the Capt that is the last thing you want. With this in mind the evacuation decision is not taken lightly (although must be done rapidly).

There are not many things more dangerous on an aeroplane than evacuation however this is one biggy...and that is fire.

Once again the chances of this happening are VERY VERY small. A fire can spread through an aircraft rapidly. There is a video of a few years back of a 737 on stand in China which had a flashover in 2 minutes. Luckily all were able to evacuate before the flashover. If you actually go to avherald, a fantastic aviation safety website, and type in evactuation you will see the main reason for evacuation....

- Fire
- Smoke/Fumes (where there is smoke there is...)
- Runway excursion

None of which I would consider minor faults. So I would say no it is not the intention of any pilot to evacuate an aircraft for a minor fault. It is usually a case of the lessor of two evils.... death or a evacuation that would lead to injuries (sorry to be blunt).

In terms of exit design they do vary. On a 737 you will have slides on both the front and back doors (bigger doors). On the wings, on the ground, through the overwing exits you would be expected to head out onto the wing, and then slide down the flaps which should be set to full. This leaves an approximate 7ft drop. Bigger aircraft do have slides on the overwing exits so it really depends on design.

In terms of bargaining power I would say it really depends on the situation with the evacuation. In terms of the condition you have described my first concern would maybe be getting to the door itself. 50 odd people rushing to the same door in a panic will inevitably cause pushing and shoving.

All been said though there are evacuations which happen fast (mainly fire and smoke conditions) as the passengers have a little more incentive, where as a excursion would be lot more slower.

In fact for an excursion, an evacuation is likely to be done in my opinion and from what I have seen, using the normal stairs brought to the aircraft (if possible) but usually slides due to terrain and/or unusual aircraft attitude rather than the fact that there is a rush. In that situation with no threat to life you would be able to at least ask the crew if you can hang on. Depending on situation the crew may even stay on the aircraft after all the passengers are off.

Hopefully that has helped, I'm sure others may have a different view point :)

[wiggy]

GJP

Good post.

coppetta:

You are quite right, your chances of being involved in an evacuation by slides is extremely small, and even so there's sometimes not a big drop involved (e.g. when the BA 777 crash landed at Heathrow a few years back it's undercarriage collapsed. The slides were so flat I believe few of the passengers slid anywhere, many had to walk along the slides)

I would be forced to get out?

Well for certain you mustn't risk any other passenger's chance of escaping by, say, freezing in the door with other people behind you...I suspect if you did that you would end up going down the slide regardless of your wishes and/or regardless of anything you've told the crew...

With that in mind could I suggest if you are insistent on not using the slides your best option would be to make sure you're in a window seat and maybe discuss your concerns/tactics with the cabin crew. To fair to them in the heat of an emergency they probably aren't going to remember every single passengeror every conversation. They are usually told to try and save life but not risk their own in doing so, so ultimately if you steadfastly refuse to move from your seat.....

[OhNoCB]

Noone is perfect and there have been evacuations carried out when in hindsight it was not required. However in most airlines they will procedures only to evacuate on certain conditions, normally to do with uncontrollable fire, smoke or fumes, major structural failure of the aircraft etc. In other words, airlines know that even people with the strongest of bones often suffer injuries during evacuations and therefore try to limit when this happens, and will normally only do so when there is strong belief that remaining in the aircraft is the worst case.

[Basil]

I'd say that, if you don't want to get off then move into an empty row.
I think that, if you find yourself in the flow, you will be carried along.
DO NOT hold up the flow whilst you try to discuss with cabin crew or you may find yourself being walked over.

[MrSnuggles]

I believe this condition copetta suffers from is called "brittle bone disease" or "glass bone syndrome" and there was a movie with Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson where Jackson was a sufferer. I think the movie was called Unbreakable.

If Mr copetta really has this condition, an emergency evacuation would be extremely painful if not fatal to Mr copetta.

For Mr copettas own sake I would advise him to try and stay seated next to a window and ask the flight crew for help. IF there is no fire involved, I hope it would be possible to remove Mr copetta from the plane in a more gentle way.

If there would be fire/smoke situations.... well, choose your destiny wisely, Mr copetta.

[IBMJunkman]

coppette,

This may sound strange but given the seat I recently had in Business on Lufthansa I would try to bring a cushion to sit on. The chance of turbulence is higher than an emergency evac. Depending on your bones if you had turbulence in the seat I was in you might hurt something.