Come Fly With Me
Posted by Michelle Moquin on March 6th, 2013
Good morning!
I received this from a reader who thought it was very important. I read it and although I agree, it is important, I also found it to be quite fascinating, illuminating, and surprising. I didn’t know a lot of this stuff. Perhaps you won’t either.
Here’s the write from the Huff Po:
What Airlines Won’t Tell You During The Safety Demonstration
Have you ever wondered exactly why airlines dim the lights upon landing, making you grope to find the overhead light just as you were about to finish your Sudoku? (Hint: It’s not to save electricity. Read the answer at the end of this article.) Or why it’s so important to put your own oxygen mask on before helping others? Or what’s it like jumping onto a 737′s inflatable emergency slide? And just how heavy are those over-wing exit doors?
If you’re a bit of an airline nerd like me (I said a bit, by the way, I’m not one of those planespotter types), then you might have been curious. Or maybe you’re the cautious kind, the kind who wants to have every possible advantage the next time there’s a “Miracle on the Hudson” or if you’re landing at one of the scariest U.S. airports.
Well, British Airways has just the thing: the BA Flight Safety Awareness Course, a modified version of the same training that flight crews go through after they’re hired and then once a year thereafter. Even if you’re not the pessimistic or overly cautious type, it’s a fascinating way to spend a day in London.
You get to jump down an emergency slide! And if you’ve ever wanted to pull the inflation cord on one of those airplane life vests, well this is your chance. You also get to evacuate a cabin filled with “smoke” (it’s the kind used in a theater or rock concert, but does the trick). You’ll practice the fine points of the “brace position.” And best of all, you understand why some of those more obscure procedures and safety warnings are part of the flight experience.
Check those life vests
One thing they don’t tell you in the safety demo: people take those life jackets, located under or between your seat, as souvenirs. It’s a vile and punishable offense, and while airlines do check each seat at the start of every day, a plane could make several trips in a day, during any one of which a passenger could steal a life vest. So, I learned, it’s a good idea to check if the life jacket is indeed there. Not that it may much matter anyway. Only a small fraction of the passengers on US Airways Flight 1549 bothered to grab their life vests when Captain Sullenberger ditched his Airbus A320 into the Hudson River.
Put yours on first
You’ve heard it over and over: put on your own oxygen mask before helping those around you. But the safety demos never tell you why that’s so important. The reason? You might only have 15 or 20 seconds in the event of a cabin decompression, during which all oxygen would be sucked out of the plane (and your lungs), before you’d experience confusion and a euphoric “stoned” state, at which point you might forget everything you heard during the safety demo (if in fact you even listened, which you probably didn’t).
In 30 to 45 seconds you’d probably pass out. So it’s important to act quickly. (I think that if the standard safety announcement explained some of these fine points then people might put down their newspapers.) Andy and Diane, our instructors, also explained what else to expect during a sudden decompression: a burning smell from the oxygen canisters, severe vibration, a rapid descent (typically a drop of 20,000 feet in just three or four minutes), and an automated announcement telling you what to expect (because, obviously, the crew would have their own masks on and wouldn’t be able to communicate with passengers).
The proper brace position
Some of the finer points of flight safety may seem particularly arcane and even anal, but there’s a reason for every detail. If you’ve ever bothered, for example, to look at the safety card in the seat back pocket, you may have noticed that the correct brace position is to put your hands on your head, but not in just any slipshod fashion (and definitely not with the fingers locked together). See how the illustration shows one hand over the other? Is that just arbitrary? No as it turns out. Should something fall on you during a crash landing, you want to protect at least one hand (preferably the one you write with) because you’ll need it to unbuckle your seat belt when it’s safe to do so. Your other hand is in that position to provide some protection to your “strong” hand, which will be doing the unbuckling.
Why not fly backward?
And speaking of the brace position, wouldn’t it be entirely unnecessary, I asked Andy and Diane, if airlines oriented their seats so that everyone was flying backwards? After all, in the event of a crash landing or controlled emergency landing, there’d be no need to assume the brace position if the seats didn’t face forward. Isn’t that why flight attendants face backward in their jump seats? “People equate rear-facing seats with trains,” Andy answered. “We’d be out of business in a week,” said Diane. And why not have three- or four-point harnesses rather than seatbelts, such as those worn by flight attendants, one of my classmates asked? Aren’t they safer? You’ve probably guessed the answer: airlines recommend keeping your seatbelt fastened whenever seated, and no one would want to wear such an uncomfortable contraption during the flight.
“Touch drills” and “muscle memory”
While your pilots are waiting for take off, it may surprise you that they’re probably doing a safety drill. What if this or that should go wrong on take off, which buttons would we push or steps would we take? So they actually go through the motions of various procedures, touching and even moving the actual controls. They call these touch drills, and Andy and Diane suggest that passengers do the same thing just before take off, perhaps buckling and unbuckling their seat belts three times.
Sounds daft? “It’s muscle memory,” said Diane. “In an emergency, people panic. They think they’re in their cars, and try to release the seatbelt by pushing a button rather than lifting a flap.” Indeed, as the final report of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board noted following the crash of US Airways flight 405, which landed in the water after take off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport resulting in loss of life, “Some passengers tried to move from their seats while their seatbelts were still buckled, and other passengers had difficulty locating and releasing their seatbelt buckles because of disorientation.”
Why does “red” mean “go”?
And what’s with that escape path lighting along the floor? Why would red lights indicate an exit? Shouldn’t they be green (as in “go”) instead? Ever see taillights along the motorway in a fog, Andy explained? They’re red because they show up better in a smoke filled cabin. And indeed, it’s true, as we learned when our “cabin” became a soupy fog.
Those doors are heavy
And what about those emergency over-wing exit doors? How heavy are they exactly, and how easy are they to open and toss? Well, we practiced on a Boeing 737. The answer? Even for me, a fairly strapping six-footer who goes to the gym regularly, they’re pretty heavy (40 lbs. to be exact).
It’s not just the weight, but maneuvering them while sitting down that’s an awkward challenge. Tip: sit way back in your seat or you’ll konk yourself on the head when the door swings down. Another tip: use your knee to rest the door and then swing it out and throw it on the wing (don’t worry, you won’t be sued for damages). I was surprised that the actual latch mechanism is so easy to engage you can do it with one finger. Even though, according to our instructors, it’s been 27 years since an over-wing exit door has had to be opened on a British Airways plane (other than in this cavernous training hangar, that is), I still feel safer now that I’ve done it.
The bad news is that half the people (probably more) who I see sitting in those exit rows wouldn’t have the strength to manage the door. Airlines should not sell these seats to anyone merely because they can pay the fee for the extra legroom. But don’t worry if some nut tries to open the doors in flight. They’re impossible to open owing to air pressure being much higher inside the plane than outside.
Ever notice those “grab” handles by the door?
Next time you get on a plane, take note of the handles by the door, just inside the plane. What on earth are those for? Correct, they’re grab handles, but why? Well, in a panicked emergency evacuation, when the flight attendants are manning the exit door, passengers, in their mad rush to get off, have a tendency to push them out of the way, sometimes all the way down the slide. The handles are there to make sure that the flight attendants stay on the plane if that’s what they need to do.
Why don’t airlines tell us all this?
I left the course thinking that more passengers would listen to the pre-flight safety demo if airlines shared some of this insider information before each flight, maybe mixing it up from time to time so that the demo doesn’t get overly long and cause more people to tune out. On one flight, the demo might include the finer points of opening the over-wing exits. On another flight, more information about why it’s so important to put your oxygen mask on first (and quickly) before helping others. More passengers would probably do what they’re told in an emergency if they knew the reasons behind these rules (and time and time again, in emergencies, passengers do not listen, do the wrong thing and become victims).
Speaking of the whys, just why do airlines dim the cabin lights during nighttime take offs and landings? You guessed it: to help adjust your eyes to the dark (either inside a smoke filled cabin or on a darkened runway). And why do some airlines ask that you keep your shoes on (except high heels, which can tear the slide) when taking off and landing? Because the runway might be burning hot after you jump down the slide.
And while it’s doubtful that airlines will ever add these extra details to their pre-flight safety drills, the main thing I left the course with was a better respect for the thought that has gone into airline safety over the years, as each crash and emergency landing contributes to collective knowledge. And I have even more respect for flight attendants who, as we all know, are primarily there for no other reason than our safety.
Related read: You’ll need to watch the safety demo if you ever fly with these 10 horrible airline pilots.
Related video: A Passenger Courtesy Video Demo We’d Like To See.
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Readers: Good to know huh?
Peace, Love, and Happy & Safe Travels. :) Here’s a little entertainment just for you:
Puts you in the mood doesn’t it? Blog this BABE.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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March 6th, 2013 at 10:08 am
Love this blog Michelle. I didn’t know any of those things.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:10 am
You’re too sweet Michelle, Frank Sinatra is my favorite.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:14 am
I read this in H.post. “Whatever Scalia’s talents as a jurist, those skills do not include vote-counting in the United States Senate. The Huffington Post asked a sampling of Senate Republicans and found that, contrary to Scalia’s presumption, some of his legislative branch colleagues across the street are just as ready as he is to toss out the heart of the Voting Rights Act, its Section 5, which prevents states with a history of racial discrimination from altering their voting laws without federal approval.”
Actually Scalia knew he was lying when he suggested that republicans would not be able to vote against the wishes of the majority. He knows they do it all the time because their districts are gerrymandered to insure they get reelected.
Another reason to make him a founding father of your LSOS club Michelle.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:17 am
The suit against the voting rights act is really about them doing everything they can to hang on to that last vestige of angry white male voters, who keep them afloat. As a bonus, they would love to stick it to black voters who voted overwhelmingly for the President.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:20 am
Knox, I read this on Huff Post.
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I was born and raised in MS and now live in TN. As a white, middle class female, I will say what the Republican Senators won’t say. Even though we elected a black President in 2008, there is still prejudice against anybody who isn’t white in the South.
I remember the days that our schools were integrated in MS. The same comments made against people of color then are still made against people of color in MS today.
50 years ago, James Meredith became the first black person to be admitted to Ole Miss. In November, 2012 when Obama’s election was announced, Ole Miss students once again rioted.
It’s not just MS though. TN elected the first Republican state legislature in 2008. Hmmmm who else was on the ballot in 2008?
I don’t intend to say that progress hasn’t been made. It has, but there is still work to be done and doing away with the Voting Rights Act is moving in the wrong direction.
————————–
I can say the same about South Carolina. We know that the minorities are still discriminated against. Denying it just allows us to take a stand against their reaching equality without us seeming racist.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:21 am
Of course the Republicans want to gut voting rights….they have been working hard dissing the Constitution and trying to take as many rights as possible away from the American people.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:25 am
In my opinion, it is obvious Scalia, as a member of the Supreme Court has–inadvertently–shown his true colors, laced with latent racist and explosive prejudice, such concluded, by mere evaluation of the quality of his statements regarding the Voting Rights Act.
Scalia is now motivated by the pure fact resulting from this past election, which clearly demonstrated the shape of things to come, and, is that voters with Black and Latino origins are now an unsurmountable power in the electoral process for which Scalia somehow feels compelled to manipulate the effects of the voting process.
Notwithstanding, should the Supreme Court of this great land attempt to vacate the Voting Rights Act, there is going to be a Political Tsunami throughout the United States with mayor political repercussions coming directly from the citizens of this nation during the upcoming mid term elections.
Scalia will then be known as the “Supreme Court Justice” who helped wipe out the Republican Party.
March 6th, 2013 at 10:40 am
I read in Huff Post – Roger Ailes Called Obama ‘Lazy,’
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A black child, with an african father and a single mother is born in Hawaii. He is given the name Barack Hussain Obama.
His father leaves him when he was two and his mother dies young. His is raised by his white grandparents.
Through his own hard work and determination he goes on to college and graduates from Columbia university, then becomes president of the Harvard Law revue before graduating maga cum laude.
Instead of going to wall street to earn millions, he returns to chicago to help the poor people from his old neighborhoods.
After he earned his law degree he teaches constitutional law at the university of Chicago law school. He then enters politics and becomes a 3 term state senator. He latter becomes a US senator.
From there, against all odds, he runs for president of the united states and becomes our first black president.
After inheriting the worst economy in history, with two wars, a 10 trillion dollar debt and 1.2 trillion dollar deficit he goes on to help steer the country’s economy back from the worst recession in our history. Yesterday the Stock hit an all time high. It is setting records as I write.
He is awarded the Nobel peace prize. He easily wins reelection to a 2nd term. This is the man that Roger Ailes, president of a news organization that was created to spread lies and deception to the masses, has called “Lazy”.
Ailes, a man whose news organization has tried to convince people that Obama wasn’t even a citizen of this country, calls him “Lazy”?
I wonder if Obama will be as upset over that word as Al claims to be over “white boy.” Black men have been called lazy for more than 250 years by white boys who have had the power to kill them at will. In the south it was a misdemeanor up until the late 60′s I’m told.
That would be the law of the land written by those calling him “lazy” enabling the white boy to act legally on his racist’s beliefs.
While you Al have only the sight of the words on a blog site to bother you. But your cringe is still the same according to Bree. I guess all racism is equal after all.
March 6th, 2013 at 12:35 pm
testing
March 6th, 2013 at 12:51 pm
hmm, wasn’t allowed here today so I just posted yesterday…it kept saying duplicate comment…weird and first time ever. – ZL
March 6th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
I can’t believe it happened to you too, Zen Lill. It happens to me at least once a week.
March 6th, 2013 at 4:11 pm
Thanks for continuing to look out for me Shiva. They may be ignorant, but I am not. xoxo
March 6th, 2013 at 5:30 pm
Willard, it just said ‘you already said that’ or something to that effect…ZL
March 6th, 2013 at 7:52 pm
…and here’s a song for you, Misch. I’m luvin’ this dude and Mary Lamberts voice is gorgeous…for all the hypocrites out there it’s for you as well…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00ps_EFjzSI – Maklemore/Ryan Lewis/Mary Lambert – same love
G’nite, ZL
March 7th, 2013 at 4:47 am
I loved it Zen Lill.
March 7th, 2013 at 4:59 am
Thanks Zen Lill, at last a way to tell my super religious mother that I’m Gay and I can’t change even if I wanted to.
Wanda
March 7th, 2013 at 6:45 am
For Safer Driving, Put a Baby Photo On Board
Remember those yellow and black “Baby On Board” placards that hung from inside so many car windows a few years ago, signaling the presence of an infant?
That fad has faded. But I have to say, for me those signs really did have the desired effect, reminding me to drive extra carefully to protect the vulnerable babe aboard that vehicle.
Now a new study suggests a similar and appealingly simple way that we can turn ourselves into safer drivers all the time, not just when we spot one of those placards.
A favorite photo—complete with gummy smile—could hold the key…
ROAD TEST
The study involved 87 men and women. One group of participants was assigned to look at photos of everyday objects such as pencils or chairs…another group looked at photos of policemen patrolling the streets…a third group looked at pictures of smiling babies. Each group saw 10 different pictures for 10 seconds each.
After looking at the pictures, all the participants played a simulated driving game. The “drivers” operated their virtual vehicles by pressing and releasing buttons to stop and start. Traveling the route to their intended destination, they had to navigate various intersections with traffic lights—and when a light turned from green to yellow, they had to decide whether to keep moving across the intersection or brake to a stop.
The amount of time the lights stayed yellow before turning red varied from two to seven seconds. Participants earned points for time spent in motion—unless the yellow light turned red while they were still in the intersection, in which case they lost all their points.
Time spent in motion while a traffic light was yellow was considered an indicator of risky driving behavior. Frequent stops were considered signs of cautious driving.
Finish line:
The researchers found that it didn’t matter whether the drivers were men or women, nor whether they were relative novices or experienced behind the wheel. The only factor that affected risky behavior in this test was the type of photographs the participants had viewed before taking to the road.
Surprisingly, people who looked at pictures of policemen scored the same as those who looked at images of everyday objects—the reminder of possibly getting a ticket did not reduce drivers’ risky behaviors.
But: Participants who looked at pictures of smiling babies “drove” with significantly more caution—spending less time going through intersections with yellow or red lights and stopping more frequently.
Researchers attribute the results to a phenomenon called “feelings as information.” When people are exposed to affective stimuli (something that affects their mood or feelings), they subconsciously evaluate the stimuli and adjust their behavior accordingly. In this case, the drivers felt protective after looking at pictures of babies—and thus were less inclined to take risks.
IN THE REAL WORLD
For safety’s sake, this study was conducted virtually rather than on actual roads—so we can’t say for sure how the results would translate into the real world.
But considering how rampant road rage is these days, I’d suggest that we could all adapt the study technique to increase our courtesy and caution—and our own safety—on the road.
And some of us could really use that, don’t you think?
Of course, it wouldn’t be safe to look at baby pictures while actually driving.
But why not try carrying a favorite baby photo of your child, grandchild or another beloved person in your car? Taking a quick look right before turning on the ignition may be the key to a safer journey…for you and for those around you.
Source: Nicola Mammarella, PhD, associate professor of general psychology, department of psychological sciences, University of Chieti, Italy. His study was published in Accident Analysis and Prevention.
March 7th, 2013 at 6:51 am
I love this song, its so true and I intend on going to the Gay Pride Parade in my city this summer. I hope that people open their eyes and minds, Gay is completely okay. Don’t let them bring you down, cause eventually they’ll give up.
March 7th, 2013 at 7:06 am
Fred, Wanda, and Lyssa, now you know why I’m diggin’ this white man (as opposed to white boy) so much, he just tells it, and includes the hypocrisy in the lyrics perfectly. & everyone is beginning to think I’m bi-curious bc I cannot stop singing ‘I can’t change, even if I wanted to…’ he’s the best example of just be who you are and let everyone else deal with themselves about how they feel about you being gay, (as if they should have to give it some stamp of their approval, please) though when it’s regarding your parents often we do want approval/empathy/etc…, I wish luck to you Wanda and just understand they may not totally ‘get’ your path in life.
- ZL
March 7th, 2013 at 7:07 am
Empathy bc others can be hypocritical and judgmental fools, wanted to clarify. – ZL