A-380 Evacuation Test

[Skip Miller]

From BBC News:

Volunteers injured in A380 drill

One man broke his leg and another 32 people suffered minor injuries during an emergency evacuation drill of the new A380 superjumbo in Germany.

Plane owner Airbus said the exercise - a key step which the A380 must take to prove its airworthiness - was a "great success" despite the injuries. About 850 passengers were successfully evacuated from the plane in 80 seconds.
European and US regulators will reveal on Monday whether the drill met their safety requirements.

Key milestone

The drill is a key milestone on the road to certifying the plane for public use - which Airbus hopes to do by the end of 2006. It has so far sold 159 A380s to 16 airlines, with the first due to go into service next year.

Officials from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration Agency were present at Sunday's drill, which took place in Hamburg.

"That was a very great success," said Gustav Humbert, Airbus' managing director said of the exercise, despite the injuries. The drill took place in an aircraft hangar in Hamburg, the site of one the company's largest factories. "The initial impression is that the test went very well," EASA spokesman Daniel Hoeltgen said.

There was huge interest in the exercise and Airbus was inundated with volunteers wanting to take part, most from the local area.

This was despite the fact that none of the participants were paid and previous evacuation drills of civilian aircraft have resulted in serious injuries to volunteers.

The success of the exercise will determine the number of passengers that the aircraft can legally carry.

Although the A380 has room for 853 passengers, Airbus' first customers - including Singapore Airlines and Emirates - intend to carry only 65o passengers.

If required, Airbus will conduct a second drill early next month.

The practice drill proved a nerve-wracking exercise for those taking part as well as those watching.

The passengers had 90 seconds to get out of their seats and to exit the aircraft by one of the eight exits available - the A380 has 16 exits but half of these were closed off.

The drill took place in the dark and passengers had to contend with luggage, blankets, pillows and other debris strewn across the aisles.

Those sitting in the upper tier of the twin-deck plane found themselves 26 feet off the ground, although emergency slides had been put in place before the exercise began.

To make the drill as realistic as possible, the volunteers represented a broad-cross section of the population in terms of age and sex.

About 40% of those taking part were women, while 35% had to be over the age of 50.

Three life-size dolls were carried on board to represent children under two-years old.

The A380 completed its maiden flight last year but Airbus had to drop plans for an evacuation drill in 2005 because of technical problem

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

I wonder what the briefing was like. "Now you are going to have to haul it outta here, if you can't all get out of here in 90 seconds, we have a multimillion dollar boondoggle on our hands!" (a few injuries might be expected)

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

"Don't run out on the wing!! It might break!!"
Doh! - sorry, that's below the belt!

 

[Skip Miller]

Boeing 787 Dreamliner Evacuation Test

Encouraged By A380 Tests, Boeing Moves Up 787 Evac Drills

But Uses Real Americans... Not Gym Club Or Dance Troupe Members.

04.01.06 'Special' Edition: In an unprecedented adjustment to the typical development cycle of a new airliner, Boeing announced last week the company would conduct what was described as a "preliminary evacuation exercise" of its upcoming 787 Dreamliner.
The tests, conducted early Saturday morning, utilized a full-scale mock-up of the 787's fuselage and what Boeing described as "real American citizens, not those handpicked 'evacuees' our friends across the pond used for the whalejet."
The result? All 262 passengers and crew were evacuated relatively safely from the Dreamliner cabin mockup... in 34 minutes and 17 seconds.
In the days leading up to the drill, Boeing said it would use "real people, with real issues" selected from among those waiting in line to tour Boeing's Everett, WA plant. Denizens of a local Wal-Mart were also among chosen to participate in the test.
Much of the 34-minute delay Saturday was caused by a Highland Park, TX woman who couldn't find her lipstick, and refused to leave the simulator until she found it -- thus holding up 87 passengers behind her, waiting to deplane through one of the Dreamliner mock-up's two overwing exits.
While those passengers would be almost assuredly doomed had the evacuation been an actual emergency, in the drill they were instead treated to a half-hour-long running commentary of said search, given by the woman as she talked on her cell phone.
Boeing reports approximately 127 participants were injured in the evacuation exercise -- including 43 who suffered fractured limbs tripping over the supersized "carry-on" luggage strewn throughout the darkened cabin. An additional 74 people suffered minor gluteal trauma when the evacuation slides deflated due to exceeding their rated weight limit.
There was one fatality -- although details were unavailable at press time, eyewitnesses state Boeing employees were quick to cover the body, with only a hand clutching a cell phone visible under the tarp.
"We knew we were in for some difficulties when we discovered nearly all of the participants we pulled had flown in, via Southwest, on a group-saver fare from Omaha," Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally said.
"Before we continue development on the Dreamliner, however, we felt we needed an accurate assessment of a realistic passenger evacuation scenario... and this way, inelegant as it may seem, gave us that data."
There are unofficial reports the study was, in fact, commissioned by the Dallas-based LCC, as the airline looks ahead to replacing its fleet of Boeing 737s and possible overseas expansion, upon repeal of the Wright Amendment.
Sources within the Boeing supplier network, however, said Northwest Airlines -- one of only two domestic carriers to have Dreamliners on their order books (the other is Continental) -- requested the evacuation drill, in order to ascertain (theoretically, of course) how a typical compliment of passengers from Northwest's hub in Minneapolis would be able to evacuate a Dreamliner that was recently serviced by nonunion mechanics.
While Boeing said the tests met internal expectations and would not be repeated in the near future, the less-than-stellar results come as a disappointment to the company -- especially as rival Airbus conducted a successful evacuation of its upcoming A380 superjumbo last weekend, deplaning 873 passengers in less than 80 seconds.
While one "evacuee" suffered a broken leg in the ordeal, and 32 others suffered minor injuries, not one of the handpicked members of Toulouse gymnasiums and dance troupes was killed in the A380 test.
"I knew we shouldn't have allowed those Southwest passengers who had to buy two seats to get their fat butts here from Omaha," said one Boeing source close to the exercise.