Here's another good reason to locate all emergency exits when you board a commercial flight. I know, I know, everyone already does but just in case anyone has been getting lax.... http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&am...rgency_slides_4

Ed

Find a seat near an emergency exit, tie some parachord to a solid anchor, and rappel like hell if the chute doesn't work.

Naturally, some idiot is going to think you are rigging some sort of detonation fuse, so bring a copy of the article along as well as a copy of airline "Mae West" failures.

Bountyhunter

Hmmm!, -A Clearly Marked "Remove Before Flight" Item that is *Not* Removed Before Flight!,.....Etc.

Also, -If and Where the Industry can Do it's Own Inspections, -as Oppossed to Random, Spot Ones from Outsiders, -They're gonna Choose the 10 % that they so Inspect, -From Obviously Known Best, and Working Slides!

The Fact that a Sizeable Number of Malfunctioning Slides have been Found! Points Up that at least Some were Not such Self Inspections. [color:"black"] [/color] [email]eodman[/email]

I've Thought of the Possibility, of Using such Emergency Exits in Flight, -at Low, Near Ground Altitudes, -in the Event of an Impending Crash, Etc.

Of Course If and Where Practiceable at All!, -It would Require a Good and Precise Sense of Timing!

But Where Doable, -One could Conceivably Emergency Exit an Aircraft, -Near Ground Level. And *Before* Being Otherwise Trapped, Injured, or Killed within the Crash or Other Mishap Itself!

Despite How Close to such Crash your Landing Point may be! (And Affected perhaps Adversely, -By Flying Debris, Heat, Flames, Where and How you Fall and Exit, in Itself, Etc.).

I've Seen such Emergency Exits on the Few Airline Flights I've been on. And Read / Familiarized myself with the Basic Instructions.

The Thot then Came, -Could One Successfully Operate Such, -Just Shortly Before a Crash or Other Mishap?! At Low Enuff Altitude once again, -to Hopefully Survive such a Fall Itself?

Timing would be Crucial!

And you Always Got to Worry about your Fellow Passenger, -Who May say Something Like, -"What the Heck Do you Think you're Doing?!" And Perhaps so Obstruct and Interfere with you! But Also, -Others May Join In and Assist! -Seeing your Idea there as the Way and Ticket *Out*!

What Do some of you Think About either the Feasability, -or Non-Feasability, -of This? [color:"black"] [/color] [email]bountyhunter[/email]

Scott,

I used to be part of the flight crew on some of the U.S. Air Force's Airborne Command Post aircraft. We flew EC-135's which were similar to the Boeing 707. I say this to establish that I am speaking with at least a little knowledge.

I believe the only time you want to exit the airplane before it has come to a complete halt (either at the gate or in a cornfield) is if you know it is going to nose dive into the ground and you have the option of using a parachute. Otherwise you're better off strapping yourself into your seat, cinching your seatbelt and riding it down to the best landing the flight crew can manage.

Think of the airplane as a car. You wouln't jump out of a car if you thought you were about to have a wreck would you? No, you'd depend on the crumpling sheet metal to absorb the crash energies and slow you down as gently as possible. The plane will do the same thing.

We had parachutes on our aircraft, and the consensus opinion was that riding the aiplane down was safer than bailing out in almost every circumstance. I know of one incident where the aircraft made a poor landing (or perhaps a great landing in poor conditions) and skidded off the runway and broke in two pieces. The break was in the rear of the aircraft by the aft escape hatch. Everyone walked away from the incident. By definition it was a 'good landing', because any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.

Dennis

I've heard of a couple of accidents involving light planes with skydivers on board in which nobody survived. Even with optimum conditions (trained parachutists, wearing their regular and emergency chutes, with the door removed) it's simply not feasible (usually) to evacuate the aircraft in an in-flight emergency.

The fact that trained skydivers would prefer to remain in a crippled airplane and ride it down than try to bail out at low altitude speaks volumes, IMO.

I use to do a little skydiving. We were trained and required to use seat belts until we were at least 1500' above ground level. Any lower and we would be unable to evacuate everybody and get our chutes open in time. It takes somewhere from 200' to 700' of freefall for a chute to properly deploy, not to mention the extra time it would take to get evetybody out the door.. Also, not all planes have the doors removed. Most jump planes have doors that are modified for skydiving purposes.

It Does Indeed Speak Volumes! And RBruce has a Good Valid Point concerning the Altitudes.

But at least in Aardwolfe's particular example, -Their Decision Turned Out to be a Wrong One! I Understand that they Couldn't have Known about that Ahead of Time. And the Feasability of Bailing Out at a Suitably High Altitude, -May or May Not have been in the Cards!

Also, -I Indeed have also Thought about Similarly, in some Cases, -of Jumping Out of a Car About to Crash! In Only Some, and in Only Proper and Possible Cases!, once again! This in No Way Negates nor Diminishes!, -Your Many Fine Points Against Doing Such! At Least in Many Cases! And in Many Many Cases, -I Would Stay and Try to Ride it Out with the Car! And For that Matter, -Plane!

Pre-Bailing Out could at Least been Ideally Advisable in the Case of the 9-11 Hijackings! Except for at least One, Perhaps Two (or More) Things! These are the Altitude! A Bailee would Still be Jumping Out at Skyscraper Height, -and Without a Parachute! And the Hijackers may have been able to Prevent / Interfere With, -any such Attempt! But Otherwise, -Were I in Such Position as a Passenger, -I Might like to Make a Low Altitude, Emergency Exit Bailout!, -if I Could!

Again, -I Might Still Make some Occassional Proper Exceptions. But you Guys are in Most Cases, -Overwhelmingly Right!, -on this One! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]rbruce[/email]

I still don't think it would be advisable to bail out of a moving vehicle (be it a plane or car). And the reason being the speed at which you are moving. If an accident is going to be bad enough to want to bail out of it you are probably moving fairly fast. For example, you are in a car going 60 mph and about to hit another object. So you jump out the door and onto the road. This would be about the same as riding a motorcycle and laying it on it's side at 60 mph. Now a well prepared motorcycle rider is wearing a helmet and a protective suit of leather or some other material. A person bailing out of a car won't be wearing that protective gear. So he is going to get chewed up by the road severly. I'm not an EMT, but I'll bet the ones on this board can vouch for that.

I do however have some incidents that have happened to people I know that are relevant. My roomate was riding a motorcycle. He was wearing a helmet, shorts, and t-shirt. Not smart. The car in front of him came to a sudden stop. He was able to get the motorcycle stopped in time, but when he did he couldn't control it anymore. When he stopped the bike fell over on it's side, with him on it. He told me his helmet wacked the pavement pretty hard. Also the arm he landed on had some "road rash" from hitting the ground. His injuries were slight, but he was only going ZERO mph.

One time my brother was driving northbound on the freeway in a vehicle with a T-top at 70 mph. He fell asleep at the wheel, hit the outer barricade, came across the northbound lanes, ramped over the bushes in the center divider, the vehicle turned upside-down, skidded across the southbound lane, and into the ditch on the other side. He did not bail out, but because of his height (6'1") and the open top, his head came in contact with the ground. His scalp was completly rubbed away in one place until you could see a patch of his skull that was the size of a quarter. I didn't know this until I saw it but a person's scalp is actually very thick. BTW he was only in the hospital a week and is doing fine now. Although he has lots of facial scarring.

I realize that neither of these people bailed out. However, the circumstances made it close enough to hopefully illustrate my point.

Now for bailing out of aircraft. In an aircraft you will be going much faster than in a car, so whatever damage takes place will be much more severe. The only time a bail out should be condidered is if you have a parachute, enough altitude to bail out at, and the pilot tells you to. Of course this only applies to skydiving planes and military aircraft. Like I have said before, I have skydiving experience. Also, I am in the Air Force. In both areas of aviation I was trained that we do not bail out unless the pilot tells us to. He is responsible for the aircraft and his passengers. The decision to bail out is his and his alone. It is not a good idea to try and bail out of a commercial aircraft under any circumstances.

Certainly, and in Most Cases at the Very Least!, -You and the Others on this Thread are Very to Completely Right! I've Learned some More so, -and I Stand Substantially Corrected / Further Educated!

And in Addition to the Earlier Altitude Considerations, -You've just brought up the Very Important Additional One of Speed!

And Whatever the Altitude one Tries to Bail From, -It's Reasonably Likely you could Hit Into the Horizontal Stabilizer, Get Sucked Into an Engine, Etc.

Looks Like in Perhaps All, -or Certainly Very Nearly All Cases!, -It's Far Better and Best!, -To Try to "Stay It Out" with the Aircraft!

Especially When you're Very Likely to Have Absolutely No Parachute! And of course One Can't so "Parabail" from such Low Altitudes! And on such Short Prep Time and Notice! [color:"black"] [/color] [email]rbruce[/email]