Evacuation slide

An escape chute (English evacuation slide ) is mainly used in aviation and is used for rapid evacuation of an aircraft in an emergency. It is used in all commercial, passagierbefördernden aircraft are needed in which the doorways are so high that passengers in an emergency can not reach the ground unharmed.

Construction

The escape slide is installed, depending on the type of aircraft in the lower part of the fuselage of an aircraft door or under the door and inflates automatically when the door is opened by means of a compressed air bottle in an emergency rule. There are single-lane and double lane slides. Most slides can be used after a ditching as a life raft. To protect against sun and rain can be clamped on the slide a tarp that serves as a roof. In many emergency slides next to the inflatable slide, a rope is attached, after an emergency landing can get into the plane via the emergency personnel.

For use on ships similar systems are used, see Marine Evacuation System (MES).

A similar system is the recovery tube, which is used primarily for the evacuation of buildings.

Handling

By constantly repeated Notübungen the crew members are trained in dealing with the emergency slide at all airlines. Detailed rules for the procedure to prevent the device from inadvertent aircraft deploying an emergency slide at risk. The automatic firing mechanism is activated by the cabin crew before starting on command of the cockpit or in the few airlines, the purser and disabled after landing. The statement for this is, for example, "Cabin attendants, all doors in flight" or " Cabin attendants, all doors in park " or: Cabin Crew, door slides armed / disarmed, or cabin crew, yellow door selectors automatic / manual. For tripping mechanism is activated, a yellow / orange, visible from the outside strip of the flight attendants in addition secured across the window of the door so no one opens the door from the outside and thus inadvertently deployed the chute. This does not apply to modern aircraft, however, including Airbus. When the car door is opened from the outside, the emergency slide mechanically disabled in these types. A manual inflating is also possible. For this purpose, drawn after an emergency landing and opening the door release handle located on the door frame below (depending on aircraft type also different). The spreading, unfolding and inflating the emergency slide takes a few seconds.

In order to evacuate is effective, jumped into the chute. For this purpose, it used to be mandatory to take off your shoes before. Today this is no longer the case with all airlines. Shoes with heels can damage the slide and pose for the carrier itself is a risk of injury. It is also recommended to take off nylon pantyhose before, because this high by the slip velocity and the heat generation associated therewith may melt due to friction. This would result in skin burns.

Aircraft escape slides without

Aircraft such as the Embraer 145, the Bombardier CRJ or Dash have no escape slides because all outputs have a sufficiently short distance to the ground. These aircraft gangway often than one aerial own, short, retractable stairs at the main entrance.

History of the escape slides

The first evacuation slide was constructed in the 1930s by the U.S. company Air Cruisers. This company was founded by James F. Boyle, who was also the producer of the lifejacket " Mae West ", which was frequently used in American troops in World War II. Before the inflatable types came on the market, had some aircraft evacuation slides made ​​of canvas. It took a relatively long time until the crew had spanned these slides.