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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 0981.PDF
FLIGHT, 31 July 1953 135 BRIEFING the PASSENGER Some Thoughts on Emergency Procedure By CAPT. R. C. O. LOVELOCK SHIPS lifeboats, whether snugly griped and chocked on deck or swung gracefully outboard on sturdy davits ready to be lowered away, have a comforting and reas suring look; for sea passengers, boat drill holds few fears. In contrast the very mention of safety equipment and pro cedures to air passengers is likely to be regarded with as much gloom as the onset of an emergency itself, and requires great tact; yet a far greater measure of individual action is required of an air passenger if things go wrong, and passenger emergency 'briefing' should be made the subject of a fine study in psychology, imagination and foresight. The need for reduced weight and bulk renders the personal safety equipment provided for air passengers less accessible and (at first sight) less simple than that used at sea, but a few easy directions about finding and using it are all that passengers actually require. The nature of the circumstances in which it will be required, if at all, preclude any chance of detailed instructions being given in that event. Therefore the operator, in discharge of his moral responsibilities towards passengers, must arrange for verbal instruction to be given, in addition to the wall-diagrams provided in the cabin, and possibly the issue of a passenger's safety leaflet. It will always be the verbal briefing which exerts the greatest influence, because the spoken word is capable of the greatest appeal. Ideally, the instructions should be given aboard the air craft, with the passengers seated, and with no disturbing sounds; in these circumstances passengers are able to concentrate upon the nature and stowage positions of the equipment or fittings described to them, and to ask questions if they desire. When there is no opportunity to speak to passengers in their seats without the engines running, the main part of the briefing should be done elsewhere on the ground, with a demonstration of the life jacket there; while the directions about stowages, and the position of emergency exits, should be given in the air. This at least provides the advantage of training cabin attendants to perfect a technique of being able to hold the attention of passengers sufficiently to instruct them, above the sound of the engines. Should an emergency subsequently occur which necessitates the order "Prepare for ditching," it should then only be necessary for the cabin attendant to issue a "reminder" briefing in the limited time available; there are so many other important things for an attendant to see to at such a time—liaison with the captain, stow ing and securing of loose equipment, "clearing away" the survival gear—that detailed instructions to passengers may be impossible; hence the value of pre-flight and pre-emergency briefing. Never theless, it is of great importance to preserve the proper sequence in reminding passengers of these vital points—smoking, constrictive clothing, lifejackets, seat-belts, spectacles, false teeth and sharp objects, bracing, and emergency exits—because the sequence in which things are done is one of the most important things to con sider when devising a drill. Three phases have to be provided for in a forced landing— impact, evacuation of the aircraft, and subsequent survival in the new environment. Logically, it seems useless to provide for evacuation, or ultimate survival, if the precautions against the effects of the impact have been ignored, in case passengers do not have time to complete all these precautions before the landing is made. Unfortunately the question of whether a certain sequence is practicable or not often makes a nonsense of mere logic and, finally, calculated short cuts to save time on the more involved procedures can sometimes be permitted to take precedence over either of the two virtues just mentioned. _ The loosening of constrictive clothing, and the donning of life- jackets, are precautions against drowning, part of the problem of ultimate survival in the new environment; fastening seat-belts and removing spectacles, false teeth and sharp objects from the per son are precautions against the dangers of deceleration on impact and should be done first, by logical sequence. Yet lifejackets cannot be put on and fastened properly by a person who is strapped tightly in a seat, nor can certain articles of clothing, likely to exert a constrictive effect when shrunk, be reached when the wearer is so tethered. The removal of sharp objects from the pockets can better be done before being strapped in, but the donning of the lifejacket takes the longest time of all the actions, and should therefore be started as soon as possible. To make his points, the author of this article (an experienced airline pilot) has, perhaps, painted a purposely rather gloomv picture of the confusion that may occur during preparations for an emergency landing. Incidentally, his passing reference to a cabin loudspeaker implies that the installation of such systems might be well worth while, especially in the newest aircraft with their reduced noise-levels. Last year, it may be remembered, Capt. Lovelock received the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, in recognition of his skilful forced landing of a Hermes IV, with 60 on board, which had lost its starboard outer airscrew. It is likely that the correct sequence may be destroyed, with possibly disastrous results, because of two characteristics of the human mind when presented with danger in circumstances with which it is not familiar; it may be found, during an emergency, that passengers are incapable of absorbing and remembering many directions at a time, and also that they tend to imitate one another. Since current practice recommends that certain emergency exits should be opened in the air, that lifejackets should not be inflated before leaving the aircraft, and that in some circumstances it may be advisable to "shuffle" passengers, these characteristics of fear —the beginnings of panic—could have very serious consequences; but the problem is not insoluble. First, no "shuffling" of passengers should ever be attempted until the passenger briefing, and hence the cabin attendant's con trol over them in the new circumstances, is complete; and secondly, the emergency briefing of passengers should be as nearly simultaneous as possible. Unless a loudspeaker system is fitted, it will not be possible to brief all the passengers at once. In, say a 27-seater, it will probably be necessary for the cabin attendant to divide them into as many as six or seven groups for this purpose; yet they will usually be in sight of one another. Unless the cabin attendant can keep them "in step," there is a chance that those out of earshot, seeing the first group reaching for lifejackets, may do likewise. Forgetting the restriction, or actually seeing children being told to inflate their lifejackets inside the aircraft, they may inflate their own prematurely, with all the undesirable complica tions of the need for instruction on deflating, and subsequent difficulties of reinflation by air from the mouth when in the water. The important point is that the cabin attendant should make no attempt to brief each group right through straight away; the pas sengers forming the group will be incapable of remembering all the directions at once, and they will require time to adjust their lifejackets, and to absorb the directions upon the hmitations of lifejackets, before being reminded of the next actions. Therefore the cabin attendant should give each group only about two points at a time. For instance, after explaining briefly the nature of the emergency, the orders "Loosen collars and ties and all constrictive clothing. Put on your lifejackets but do not inflate them before leaving the aircraft, except in the case of small children" should be given to each group in succession; thus everyone will have received some reassuring attention, and everyone will have been given something definite to do, right from the beginning. By the time the cabin attendant is able to return to the first group, that group will be ready for the next lot of directions: "Fasten seat-belts and do not unfasten them before the aircraft has come to rest; remove spectacles and false teeth; remove all sharp objects, such as pen cils and brooches from the person." The psyohology of fear, as is well known, is such that energies for self-preservation are created, and the feeling prevails that one ought to be doing something; if this torrent can be diverted from expressing itself in faulty action, it may give the memory an oppor tunity to reassert itself. In the circumstances described, the details of the pre-emergency briefing, absorbed under much more favourable circumstances, then have an opportunity to return to mind. It is also important that the ascendency of the cabin attend ant over the passengers, for their benefit, should never be lost. When (continuing the briefing-) the subject of emergency exits is reached, the passengers have to be told not only where these exits are and how they are operated, but that certain ones will be opened by the crew in the air, and that the passengers may not touch the others before the aircraft has come to rest. A warning must be given, too, that the opening of these exits by the crew in the air (when depressurization is complete) will create a great draught and a great noise, with considerable discomfort, possibly, from cold. ,__-»•'". "Shuffling," which may be necessary to remove ineffectual
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