B737-4xx escape slide question

[Carry0nLuggage]

Sitting in the overwing exit row today, perfectly happy with the idea of opening the door in an emergency I got to wondering what happens next. The safety card shows inflatable slides for the front and rear doors but nothing for the overwing exits. Is there a slide for these exits as there is on some Airbuses or is the idea to hope that the flaps are extended and slide down them? It is a bit of a drop from the trailing edge otherwise. If you get the landing room you'll end up as a human crash mat for the rest of the pax following you out
Perhaps some cabin crew know the drill here.

[Pax Agent]

Landing on Land....Slide down the flaps....i.e feet first face rear.
Landing on Water ....slide down slats...i.e feet first face forward...(tho yr pretty much ****** if we land on the latter.
No slides fixed to the wings. If my life depended on it you could easily jump from a door....it's not that high when compared with an inferno of a plane!

[TightSlot]

Standard evac procedures on 737 call for flaps to be fully extended and spoilers retracted AFAIK for this reason (also engines shut down to prevent folk being dusted all over the airfield).

[Krystal n chips]

If you ever have to get out "in a hurry" via this exit, you will find the door is quite a heavy bit of kit to lift and then throw through the hole ( some beancounter will probably send you a bill for damage to the wing / structure as well ! ) after which you should find a nice bit of lashing assembly which you pull out and this will help with your egress.........that's the theory anyway.

Trust me on the weight of the exit door.....have removed / fitted a few over the years.

[frequentflyer2]

Landing on Water ....slide down slats...i.e feet first face forward...(tho yr pretty much ****** if we land on the latter.

THIS is a pretty depressing statement but unfortunately probably true. Even if the aircraft remained intact and came to a halt on the surface of the water in one piece how on earth would it remain stable enough to allow upwards of 150 people to charge around inside it. It's not a boat. The Flybe 146 safety card suggests only one set of doors can be used for escape following ditching.
But if everyone heads for those surely the aircraft will simply sink at one end with the weight of everyone trying to get out. On some aircraft you're only supposed to use the overwing exits after ditching which means everyone will be heading for the middle of the plane. It's a nightmare scenario.

[Pax Agent]

in a ditching you would all be heading for the overwings. You may be lucjy and have the front doors above the water level but the back will almost definitely be submerged.

[frequentflyer2]

So what are your options in a high winged aircraft - Dash 8 400, BAe 146, ATR etc. I notice there's something called a ditching dam on the Dash 8 400 but when I've been sitting at the exit where this is located its use has not been explained although the actual opening of the door has. Do all high winged aircraft have this safety feature for use in the event of 'landing on water'?

[PAXboy]

As regards the weight of the over wing 'plug' doors and throwing them out. When an engineer is fitting one, it will be very heavy. My guess is that - when need demands - your body will have so much adrenaline running that you would be able to beat an Olympic discuss thrower!!

[Carry0nLuggage]

Thanks everyone who replied. It's pretty much as I imagined then, slide off the flaps and try not to muck up the landing. I seem to recall a figure of about 25kg for one of those doors from a past thread on exit row seating. A bit like throwing my long haul rucksack about then.

[TightSlot]

Modern 737 o/wing exits (i.e. NG's) are sometimes fitted with "Gull-Wing" hatches i.e. hinged at the top, they rotate out and up away from the fuselage. These exits may be opened with one hand, although it is wise to let go, to avoid being pulled out.

[Bangkokeasy]

I have sat in quite a few overwing exit row seats and the weight quoted for the doors, if I remember rightly, is usually "about 15kg". Most men could manage that, specially in the heat of the moment. However, if it is indeed 25kg, then I am sure a lot of people would have a problem. Bear in mind it is not a straight lift, but would be either from a sideways angle, or while crouching.

At least in Asia, you usually get a pretty detailed safety lecture for these seats, including instructions on looking out for fire or obstructions before opening the door. I think there are marks on the wing to show you where to go when you exit as well. You exit pretty close to the wing root, to the rear where it is closest to the ground. With the flaps extended it would not be too far to hop, assuming you have not been entirely incapacitated by the manner in which the aircraft came to a halt.

[marlowe]

Frequentflyer the Ditching dam is exactly what it says it is, ie an inflatable dam that stops water getting into the aircraft in a ditching when the doors are opened, basically you Egress over the top of it.

[GEAR_DOWN]

Only the 737 - 700 and 737 - 800 are NG and therefore have the hinged overwing doors. The 737-400 has the old plug style doors and need to be thrown out

[flymeboy]

Does any one know how the new doors on the 737-900ER operate? Are they like doors 3 on the 757/767?

FMB

[ThreadBaron]

Frequently sit by the overwing exit and it has never even entered my head as to how much it might weigh! Off to by 25 bags of sugar for familiarisation!

TightSlot

"Gull-Wing" hatches i.e. hinged at the top, they rotate out and up away from the fuselage. These exits may be opened with one hand, although it is wise to let go, to avoid being pulled out."

Isn't that where you are trying to get to?
In the words of Mr T.E. Sco, 'Every little helps.'

[obgraham]

When's the last time an aircraft of any significant size ditched in water and passengers escaped and used their "flotation devices"?