After my last article about safety belts (Why we need seat belts in an airplane?), I have decided to speak about another important topic – safety instructions.
Frequent flyers often have the habit of ignoring flight attendant while giving safety instructions with an excuse of knowing them by heart since they have heard them million times and that kind of behavior can be fatal since every airplane and every airline can have its own set of rules and conditions of behavior in the certain safety-challenging situation. For instance, the location of exits will be different, the seat layout will be different and the people on the plane will be different.
Although plane accidents are not that frequent, it is always better to be safe than sorry. Safety instructions will explain where to find and how to use emergency equipment you, as a passenger, may have to operate. In case of an emergency, a well-briefed passenger will depend less on crew members and have a better chance of survival. So, no matter what you’re doing, it’s far more important to give flight attendants your full attention for two minutes. Their instructions can save your life.
About safety instructions
The safety instructions, also known as a pre-flight safety briefing, pre-flight demonstration, in-flight safety briefing, in-flight safety demonstration or simply the safety video is a detailed explanation given before take-off to airline passengers about the safety features of the airplane they are aboard. Aviation regulations do not specify how an airline should deliver safety instructions. They can be in the form of the live demonstration, a pre-recorded audio or video form. Pre-flight safety instructions typically last two to six minutes. Since some passengers do not speak the airline’s official language, and some of the passengers may have hearing problems, instruction video can feature subtitles or can be repeated in another language.
Although safety instructions can be different on a different airplane, they all have some things in common. Here is the list of the things that need to be included in safety instructions:
- how to use exits, emergency exits and evacuation slides
- where to find the emergency locator transmitter, survival kit, first aid kit, fire extinguisher and any other safety equipment
- rules about using electronic devices
- where to find and how to use life preservers emergency – the location and use of the life vests, life rafts and flotation devices
- note that the passenger should always fit his or her own mask on before helping children, the disabled, or any persons requiring assistance
- rules about smoking
- how to exit a plane when underwater
- what to do during in-flight turbulence
- the requirements for sitting in an emergency exit row
- note that all passengers must leave all carry-on bags behind during an evacuation
- a reminder that seat belts are securely fastened and that all aisles, bulkheads and emergency exit rows must remain clear at all times
- that seatbacks and tray tables should be in their upright and locked position, leg- or footrest put away in premium cabins, and carry-on luggage stowed in the overhead locker or underneath a seat prior to takeoff;
- if seated next to a window, the window blinds must be raised for takeoff and landing
- to review the safety information card prior to takeoff or to follow along during the demonstration/video
Safety videos
As we mentioned before, safety instructions can be delivered to passengers in various ways. One of the most popular is surely video. While some airlines make classic videos, some of them are more creative in order to attract passengers’ attention. Now safety videos are that are not only informative but also highly entertaining. Some safety videos are made using three-dimensional graphics, and some videos were made to be humorous, or feature celebrities.
Here are a few examples of entertaining safety videos.
- British Airways
- Air New Zealand
- Virgin Atlantic
Some of the safety experts are not sure in the positivity of this approach because then they may not take it as seriously as they are.
Consequences of not listening to the safety instructions
Passengers who do not comply with instructions are putting the safety of all passengers at risk. Here are some examples of what happens when you do not listen to safety instruction.
Air New Zealand
A man and woman have been kicked off an Air New Zealand flight and fined for refusing to listen to the safety briefing. The plane was forced to return to the gate and the woman was removed from the flight. Passengers said the woman, who was seated in an exit row, was looking down reading a magazine and playing on her phone when the safety briefing began. After 25 minutes, the plane then returned to the gate where police were waiting and the man and woman were placed under arrest.
Southwestern flight 1380
Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 suffered an explosive decompression caused by an engine explosion that sent debris breaking a passenger window. A passenger was halfway sucked outside the aircraft at 32,000ft. This caused all oxygen masks to deploy. A passenger managed to take a video of the incident. Apparently, the passenger who took the video and a few others were wearing the oxygen mask below their noses! Some still even kept their earplugs on, limiting themselves to hearing other necessary safety instructions. This example shows that passenger air injuries and deaths can be caused by simply not following the instructions of cabin crew members.
Ethiopian Air B767-200ER
November 23, 1996, Ethiopian Air B767-200ER heading to Nairobi was hijacked by three Ethiopians who wanted the captain to fly to Australia. The airplane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean due to fuel exhaustion. Many passengers died on impact, but most who died actually survived the initial crash. What killed them is not following the crew’s instructions not to inflate life vests inside the aircraft. This caused them to be pushed towards the ceiling when water started coming in and made them unable to escape the exit doors, they eventually drowned. Of the 175 passengers and crew, 125 were killed.
After everything said in this article, I believe next time you are onboard you will leave everything you do and listen to safety instructions. It is important to trust flight attendants, after all, they’re trained to save your life.
