380 Evac test
 

Funny nobody mentioned it...
I'd really love to be in Hamburg to watch this :)
Any first hand report most welcome...

:mad: Airbus will be keeping very tight on who talks about the test I am sure. The participants are chosen from a local health club I believe. Will be interested to hear how many make it out inside 90 seconds.

I understand that 50% are EADS employees

Oilhead you work for Airbus do you?? Thought not. Got a hotline to the board of Airbus? Thought not.

So how can you state so definitely that Airbus will tightly control who speaks about the evac tests? Pure supposition on your behalf BUT it does make sense that Airbus wouldn't allow the floor cleaner to pass comment to the assembled press. I doubt that Boeing, Embraer or Bombardier allow just 'anyone' to pass comment on their tests, but they allow people who are qualified and knowledgeable to speak for them.

So just for once can we forget the Boeing v Airbus, USA v Europe battles. When Boeing flew the 747 for the first time I was young but was excited by the tecnologically of the new a/c and the advance it represented. Same for the Lockheed C5, Concorde, Space Shuttle, fly bywire Airbus demonstrator etc.

Is it impossible for people to be genuinely excited by advances in aviation these days? Do we have to have the constant carping by one camp against another?

I hope the A380 is successful and I can't wait to see one flying instead of watching it on the Television. The same goes for the B787.

I note you are living in America. If Americans really are champions of the free world and free trade maybe you could be a little less parochial and wish the A380 well. I hope you do.

Who took the jam out of your doughnut?
 

What an extraordinary response! My comment concerned who may or may not talk to the press. I am GUESSING (and am sure!) that Airbus will have some pretty strict controls in place on who may talk to the media regarding this test. Nothing odd about that. I worked for an aircraft manfacturer years ago (sorry to disappoint you old chap, but it was British Aerospace, not Boeing) and media contact was very tightly controlled around new aircraft and tests for all the obvious reasons.

I am not even remotely acting parochial on this - I am not a Boeing fan over Airbus etc. I am anxious to see both 380 and 787 both succeed - how on earth could you construe my simple posting to suggest anything to do with USA v Europe - that is far more telling of your thinking frankly. And no, you are absolutely right, I do not have a hotline to the Airbus board. I did however, spend 3 days at Toulouse last month, specifically to get technical briefings on the plane, and to climb all over it... Nice machine. Flew the simulator too - great fun to be able to do that. I very much hope they get everyone off in 90 seconds.

I think your comments were rather curious and yet rather telling. With 2700+ posts, you obviously do like to post well thought out and considered reponses....

Well, the test should be over by now..?

14:30Z plus 90 seconds.

Any direct video link or web cam?

Hope nobody breaks their back and/or get paralyzed like in other similar tests.
(was it DC-10 or MD-11 that was particulary bad...?)

In the second MD-11 evacuation test in 1991 a 60-year-old woman broke her neck after tripping and falling head first down the slide. 36 more people (out of 410) were injured in the same test.

FWIW I just looked at my notes from the briefing at TLS on the evac test....these are unedited notes I made as the briefing took place....

380 Evacuation Demo Update –

Full Scale Evac Demo Required – each deck will be considered independent of each other. 90 second evac with half (8 of 16 ) doors inop. 3 upper deck door pairs plus 5 main deck door pairs. 2 staircases link the two decks.

Upper deck – 315 pax plus 7 cabin crew

Lower deck – 538 pax plus 11 cabin crew.

(This is a 340 put on top of a 747!)

Evac analysis will determine final max pax number.

New evacuation requirements – 25 knots surface wind, plus all slides to be cold soaked prior to them firing. (-65 F for min 8 hours)

If aircraft is on tail the slides can be extended. >5 degree pitch attitude will activate a cord cutter to extend slide – clever.

All slides take 3.5 seconds to fully extend.

1100 people will be involved in demo – night conditions at Hamburg.

Low ground light – path leading into aircraft covered to prevent test participants from viewing outside.

All must leave aircraft in 90 seconds.

Make up of pax – min 40% female – Min 35% over 50 – with 15% female and over 50.

Ground power will be switched off – emergency lighting only.

Goal – 853 passengers in less than 90 seconds.

press conference
 

according to the German newsmagazin Der SPIEGEL online there will be a briefing for journalists at 17:00 Hamburg time (http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,408044,00.html). In the same article it is mentioned that the tests were completed at 16:30, it was planned that 873 people will be involved and have to be evacuated in the 90 secs. The SPIEGEL does not expect any detailed briefing.

Best

873 passengers evacuated in...
 

... 80 seconds.

New World Record.

one broken leg.

congratulations. :ok:

Worldrecord
 

Der SPIEGEl online reports as mentioned above that 873 people were evacuated in 80 secs, one elderly person above 50 injured (fractured leg), 32 other people slightly injured (bruises, scratches).
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,408052,00.html

The individual with the broken leg is a +50 year-old male.

Step forward 747Focal and take a bow. Been telling us for what seems like a couple of years it couldn't be done! Done it was! Whatchagonnasaytodat? Say something! If only "well I never!" (Did you never.....all the time!)

Good thing they weren't chosen from the Reeperbahn:E

Oh yes? How sure?

I know a couple of aviation journos who'll actually be among the evac participants. Kinda puts the speculation on media control in its place.

anybody seen this?
 

PARIS (Reuters) - European plane maker Airbus said on Sunday it had interrupted an evacuation test for its new A380 double-decker plane after an incident in which several people were injured as an evacuation slide dis-inflated.

The test took place in a hangar at its Hamburg site in Germany under supervision of the European certification authority and in the presence of a representative from the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority, as it is part of the certification procedure.

"Such an incident during such a trail is not unprecedented," said Airbus chief operating officer and head of the A380 programme, Charles Champion, in a statement.

There were 873 people involved in the evacuation test. Some 31 had minor injuries and one broke a leg. Regards nooluv....

I am always surpised how many people are actually injured by the evacuation process itself.

I talk it that leg breaks occur when people hit the floor at the bottom of a slide???

Would a different mix of operative and inoperative doors have a significant impact on evacuating the double decker?
Lets say most of the bottom doors inoperative due to...?

The issue being 70% of total number of passengers are on the lower deck. If lower doors inoperative to evac they need to locate the nearest stairs then climb the stairs and locate exit at top. Rather than just run along/across the aisle.


Mickjoebill

Here's what actually happened...
 

As best I know it, and I was on it, this is what happened, and this is how it was for me.