From life vests to emergency exit instructions

[Hotel Tango]

Flying on an Eurowings CRJ-900 the other day I ended up in one of the overwing emergency exit rows. I dutifully read the instructions and familiarised myself with the procedures. I was however a little puzzled with the following bit:

Leave aircraft first and assist from outside. Send passengers to the rear, away from the aircraft

Since the CRJ-900 is a rear engined aircraft I found this a little odd and would welcome comments from those in the know.

[DaveReidUK]

Send passengers to the rear, away from the aircraftPassengers emerging onto the wing should ideally turn rearwards and slide down the flaps, which should have been deployed for that purpose. Although with a CRJ you could probably lower yourself off the leading edge without doing yourself any damage.

In either case, once you hit the ground "away from the aircraft" would seem to be a good option.

[DaveReidUK]

Send passengers to the rearA bit more digging around reveals that the advice changed at some stage between the original, short-body CRJ-100/-200 (where there is much less room between the trailing edge and the engines) compared to the stretched -900 (and presumably -1000):

http://my-safetycard.de/pics/thumbs/20848.jpg

http://my-safetycard.de/pics/thumbs/4788.jpg

Makes sense, I suppose.

[Hotel Tango]

Interesting, thank you Dave. I also note that the diagram does indicate a right turn once off the wing. The written instructions on the seat back in front doesn't. Perhaps send passengers to the rear of the wing and then well away from the aircraft might be a consideration?

[EISNN]

As long as everyone who evacuates goes to the front of the aircraft and not to the rear. AFAIK emergency services (if at an airport) will arrive to the aircraft from the rear and people could be knocked down if they didn't gather in groups at the front.

[ExXB]

EISNN,
That may be - but I have never heard a safety instruction that said that. Those that say anything just tell you to move away from the aircraft.

One of the three fatalities of the Asiana 'unscheduled hull retirement' in San Francisco was run over by a fire truck.

Food for thought.

[easyflyer83]

Crew will be trained to send passengers upwind of the aircraft. Engines still running is one of those things that requires consideration on the day.