flyingdoc787 From United States of America, joined Jun 2012, 23 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 22 hours ago) and read 3254 times:
I just watched the safety video of FlyDubai for its 737-800, and was surprised to hear that the life vests are located "in a panel above your head", except for the first row, where it is located under the seat. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLm1ccPrPiM
I checked out other airlines' safety videos for their 737-800's, and couldn't find any other airline with that location for the life vests. I've known life vests to be located under the seat, in between seats, or in a compartment in the armrest, but overhead? Anybody know if this is the case on any other airline/aircraft type?
Dogbreath From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2008, 236 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 18 hours ago) and read 3204 times:
Yep. The majority of Ryanair aircraft have their life vests in a panel above each seat row.
I believe the main reasons for having them located in the overhead panel is:
1. Helps prevent passengers from stealing the lifevests. Yep! You'd be surprised what people will do. The underseat life vests are just sitting in a small pouch and easy for pax to remove and take away. The overhead location makes it more difficult for pax to access without drawing suspicion from other pax and cabin crew.
2. The old underseat pouch is also a safety problem. Easy for terrorists to place items in the pouch with the life vest. During the security checks (which a LCC may have to complete up to 8 times a day) the life vest must be removed and the pouch checked so that some asshole hasn't placed any rubbish, or at worst a device that might be of a security or safety issue.
3. The overhead location for the life vests makes it extremely easy for the cabin crew to inspect that the required life vests are installed. Just look above each seat row, and see the 3 red dots in the panel. Much easier than leaning down below each seat and inspecting each pouch (as mentioned above).
Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15868 posts, RR: 66 Reply 3, posted (6 months 2 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago) and read 3191 times:
Quoting Dogbreath (Reply 1): 2. The old underseat pouch is also a safety problem. Easy for terrorists to place items in the pouch with the life vest. During the security checks (which a LCC may have to complete up to 8 times a day) the life vest must be removed and the pouch checked so that some asshole hasn't placed any rubbish, or at worst a device that might be of a security or safety issue.
Many installations now use a closed "pod" with a security seal to make inspection easier.
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo
Quokkas From Australia, joined Jan 2012, 1355 posts, RR: 9 Reply 8, posted (6 months 2 weeks 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 2854 times:
Is there any advantage in the vest being in an overhead panel in the "unlikely event" of a water landing? Does it make it easier for passengers to access them and speed up an evacuation?
Quoting JAGflyer (Reply 4): but what are the women in that video wearing on their face/mouth?
You can still see this being worn in the Gulf States, and is an alternative to the niq'ab or burqa. Some can be quite ornate, featuring gold and other decorative features. I imagine that they would be a bit cooler to wear than a complete face covering. They do have the benefit of helping to keep flies out of your mouth.
[Edited 2012-11-03 10:12:57]
“Not to laugh, not to cry, not to hate, but understand.” Spinoza
Markhkg From United States of America, joined Dec 2005, 960 posts, RR: 2 Reply 10, posted (6 months 2 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 2696 times:
Quoting Quokkas (Reply 8): Is there any advantage in the vest being in an overhead panel in the "unlikely event" of a water landing? Does it make it easier for passengers to access them and speed up an evacuation?
It can also be hard to physically reach the lifejacket when it is under the seat.
In the NTSB report for US Airways 1549, it states, "Overall, 19 passengers physically attempted to obtain a life vest from under a seat, and 10 of these passengers reported difficulties retrieving it. Of those 10 passengers, only 3 were persistent enough to eventually obtain the life vest; the other 7 either retrieved a flotation seat cushion or abandoned the idea of retrieving flotation equipment altogether."
aerdingus From Ireland, joined Dec 2006, 2483 posts, RR: 18 Reply 11, posted (6 months 2 weeks 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 2575 times:
Quoting Markhkg (Reply 10): In the NTSB report for US Airways 1549, it states, "Overall, 19 passengers physically attempted to obtain a life vest from under a seat, and 10 of these passengers reported difficulties retrieving it. Of those 10 passengers, only 3 were persistent enough to eventually obtain the life vest; the other 7 either retrieved a flotation seat cushion or abandoned the idea of retrieving flotation equipment altogether."
Wow, that is really scary, I thought the underseat lifejackets were much easier to grab!
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