How Long Does it Really Take to Evacuate a Plane?

Looking out the window as your flight finally pulls back from the gate, you're vaguely aware of the flight attendant yammering over the PA system: eight emergency exits...evacuation slides, aisle path lighting, closest usable exit may be behind you...blah, blah, blah.

Sure, when a big crash makes the news I stop to wonder how I'd find my way off a plane in an emergency, but most of the time I don't worry about it. Judging from the number of people paying attention during pre-flight safety briefings, I'm not alone.

Part of the reason I don't worry is that airlines and plane manufacturers have the whole evacuation thing figured out. Every new airplane model must receive a 90-second evacuation drill certification from the FAA before it can fly. During the drill, people hired to play passengers buckle themselves into planes where half the emergency exits are blocked and debris is scattered throughout the aisles. On cue, they have 90 seconds to get off the aircraft.

It's a good system, but it's flawed.

Take a look at the Airbus A380 certification. In April of 2006, Airbus
conducted a mock evacuation of the then brand new superjumbo in Hamburg. Over
850 mock passengers of different ages, genders, and sizes were loaded onto a plane, buckled in, and then told to evacuate. To create a more authentic situation, Airbus made sure the
plane was dark, that there was smoke and debris in the cabin, and that
half of the emergency exits were blocked. An actual Lufthansa flight
crew guided passengers, adding a nice touch of authenticity.

When it was over, all 853 passengers and crew had safely
evacuated the plane in a 78 seconds. An stunning feat, considering the size of the plane.

But could the plane be evacuated in a minute and a half in a real emergency? Think about it. The simulation may have been realistic in that it took place on a real
plane with a real crew, and came with obstacles
that passengers might face during a real emergency.

But Kieren Daly from Flightglobal points out that what
manufacturers can't account for in an evacuation drill is human
behavior. During the A380 test, passengers knew why they were there.
They were all fully aware that they'd be told to evacuate the plane.
Consciously or not, they began planning their escape long before the
order was given. And because the mock passengers knew that they weren't
actually in danger, they weren't overtaken by the fear or blind panic
that can cause people to act erratically.

Sure, people will follow crew member instructions if they're not
worried about actually dying. But will 850 passengers aboard a burning,
smoke-filled plane wait politely in line for their turn on the
yellow emergency slide? Not all of them. And as much as I'd like to
believe that I'd be one of the level-headed ones who followed the
rules, who knows what I'd do, especially if I had my baby in my arms.

The point here is not that anyone has done wrong. Those
drills that Boeing and Airbus run tell us a lot about how an
actual evacuation would go. But because a simulation can't account for human behavior, the specific numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Unloading a full A380 in 78
seconds is amazing. Doing it during an actual emergency would be a
miracle.

Photo: Airbus S.A.S