Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

VLTA emergency requirements research evacuation study

Deliverables

The objective of this task was to identify the potential impact of VLTA introduction from the real evacuation experience. To conduct the work on the possible impact of VLTA introduction, the factors and a validated task analysis (built up from accident and incident report analysis) were used. The work was mainly focused on emergency evacuation but most of the results should also be relevant for precautionary evacuations. Main issues concern the use of stairs and of upper deck slides, the communication, and the co-ordination between separated and out-of-direct sight parts of cabin. Moreover, the size of the passenger population raises crowd-handling issues. The aim of the task was to review the available information on the interaction between configuration aspects and human performance in emergency evacuations in scenarios other than aircraft. The use of a cognitive model in the analysis of the cases highlights the fact that cabin crew behaviour was logical and efficient, even when they decided to adapt procedures. Thanks to their adaptations, solutions were found and control of the situation was kept. Safety evacuation procedure used in the trials was the one cabin crew use in their company in B747 aircraft (i.e. double deck with non-door cabin crew). According to the cases analysed, the actual procedure is not sufficient to allow cabin crew to be as efficient as possible, which could threaten their control of the situation. Whatever the safety procedures, which will be designed for the use of the stairs, cabin crew will always need to know what it is happening in the staircase. But safety procedures (necessary but not sufficient) are not the only way to facilitate the cabin crew work by allowing us to know what is going on for the other strategic elements of the evacuation process. Aircraft design and communication means between cabin crew should also allow the cabin crew to know what is happening elsewhere in the aircraft, and notably in the stairs. Study was conducted to provide information concerning the co-ordination issues of cabin crews in Very Large Transport Aircraft regarding preventing and managing emergency situations. The purpose is to provide an overview of the theoretical aspects concerning crew teamwork and co-ordination. An assessment of the actual practices and difficulties in current aircraft, trying to identify the relevant information concerning VLTA is made. We considered that the passenger Mental Representation (MR) carried out during an evacuation is more than a simple mental map of the aircraft and includes social and emotional aspects. The worst failure of MR is panic. Panic induces social disorganisation, violence and mental confusion. The contributing and limiting factors of collective pathological behaviour will be addressed within the scope of theoretical domains: Cognitive psychology, Sociology, Clinical psychology or psychiatry, Human ethology.
The purpose of Work Package 2 was to identify hazardous states relating to situational awareness and to specify current strategies used on the flight deck and by operators for managing crisis events. This involved the interrogation of relevant material in both normal and non-normal operations. In particular, accident data obtained in previous research projects were screened for relevant events to help define training requirements in WP3. Further, data from normal operations were collected to capture flight-crews, knowledge of critical Crisis Management and Situational Awareness skills. Finally, airline-training practices in Crisis Management and Situation Awareness were identified from a high-level perspective. As a result of the work programme, it was recommended that the Training Needs Analysis at the centre of ESSAI should focus on the issues that will form the basis for the design of the training tool/s in subsequent work packages. The ESSAI partners have, now in some depth, investigated both SA and CM conceptually, through user consultations and in current airline practice and elsewhere. Specifically: - It is suggested that the training requirement is not to provide more CRM and HCI training, but to provide training in the form of the underlying cognitive processes associated with SA. - It is recommended that potential users review the many factors identified here and those collected by the crew interviews and assesses their trainability. - Training and design solutions for loss of SA have been identified but their practical value needs to be assessed. Generally, loses in SA occurred during periods of high workload, during periods of multi-tasking, a preoccupation with other tasks, inadequate feedback from crew members, during periods of stress and during interactions with automated systems. - Situation Assessment and Teamwork are significant factors in Crisis management. Crews supported training in Systems Knowledge. Research should continue in this direction. - The concept of negative training was introduced and it is recommended that it be reviewed in aviation safety practices. The report provides examination of theoretical constructs in real settings and develops a cognitive model of crisis management that is pertinent to other users of complex human system technologies.
Essai Training Development. This work package designed and developed the content of the ESSAI training solution, based upon design criteria and competencies identified in preceding work packages. Dedicated design effort commenced during the summer of 2001. The original technical annexe assumed a sequential delivery of work package material, however, this methodology was revised with the explicit agreement of the European Commission as it did not allow or recognise the need for the parallel development of later work package material. Much of the design work undertaken at British Airways required close liaison with QinetiQ. The delivery of the training, particularly during the simulator phase, (WP5) was carefully integrated into the data gathering process. The design process integrated a CBT-based DVD training session, a Tactical Decision Game (TDG) - the ESSAI 'Low-Tech' exercise- and dedicated LOFT sessions; the latter were scripted to expand upon and underpin the lessons learned during the DVD presentation. Key design elements: - CBT (DVD) contents and production - LOFT scenario scripts (Benchmark/Assessment/Standard and Training LOFTS) - Briefing material for participants (including questionnaires and SA case-study) - Low-Tech exercise - Observer briefs and performance assessment tools/techniques - Trainer briefs (including observation techniques) - Debriefing guidelines (including use of Auto-confrontation) - ESSAI dissemination website (relocated from WP6) (Benchmark (BS) and Assessment (AS) were titles applied to the initial and final calibration LOFTs to be flown by all crews at TUB.) The Essai training solution has been designed to be: 1) focused primarily on recurrent and transition Airline training but sufficiently generic to be used in other training roles. 2) Operationally applicable and centred on crew competency in SA and TM. 3) Modular and flexible allowing for variations in airline size and resources. 4) Complementary to existing CRM/NTS programmes and progressing beyond imparting knowledge with the explicit aim of developing SA and TM skills. The training strategies chosen are operationally orientated. Also, as the majority of users of this material will probably be Airline training departments of varying size, with different product requirements, a modular package of knowledge-based CBT has been developed in the hope of providing an optimal solution that allows the training to be integrated into smaller-scale training programmes and the JAA's modular approach to recurrent NTS training.
The goal of the Training Analysis is to identify the training needs and to develop operational applicable solutions for these needs. The Training Analysis consists of three steps: Training Needs Analysis, Training Program Design, and Training Media Specification. The workpackage report provides a detailed description of the competencies that need to be trained in order to enhance pilots' Situation Awareness (SA) and Threat Management (TM). The term 'competencies' was chosen to illustrate that SA and TM are not 'simple' skills, such as riding a bicycle, but an aggregate of several complex (cognitive) skills, knowledge, attitudes, and strategies that should also be addressed as such. Using the Activity Based Approach the SA and TM competencies could both be decomposed into four essential areas. Essential competencies identified for SA are 'Prepare and Review'; 'Notice and Perceive'; 'Understand and Interpret' and 'Project & Think Ahead'. Essential competencies identified for TM are 'Anticipate and Avoid', 'Detect and Trap', 'Diagnose' and 'Recover'. These areas of competence and respective behaviour strategies through which they become effective will constitute the contents of the proposed ESSAI training solution. Furthermore, a generic framework for the design and development of the training is proposed. This framework specifies guidelines how the SA/TM competencies and strategies should be trained. Stripped of its contents (ESSAI competencies), the design guidelines and concepts demonstrated here are also applicable for training products of other (complex) skills, both in aviation as well as in other domains.
This result concerns the analysis of passenger behaviour during a series of large-scale evacuation trials conducted in a VLTA mock-up. The primary analysis undertaken by the FSEG of the University of Greenwich concerned passenger use of the stairs and passenger exit hesitation time analysis for upper deck exits. The full report will be made available on the FSEG web site at http://fseg.gre.ac.uk A series of evacuation trials were undertaken at Cranfield University designed to explore passengers' use of stairs and also to gain passenger exit hesitation delays from upper deck exits. Unfortunately, the trials did not proceed in the controlled manner that was originally planned and so the analysis did not yield the detailed information that was originally hoped. The main difficulties associated with these trials were: 1) CC did not behave as originally intended. 2) Camera angles not ideal to record required data. 3) As these trials were conducted with great caution, the majority of crew behaviour at the upper deck exits can be described as extremely non-assertive. This crew behaviour significantly biases the behaviour and hence performance of the passengers. It is thus not clear if the resultant passenger behaviour is a result of the sill height and slide length or the lack of assertiveness of the crew. While the trials did not proceed in the controlled manner that was originally planned, much has been learned from theses trials. It is clear from these trials that crew can exert an influence on the performance of passenger stair usage. Passenger behaviour in utilising the staircase is both rich and complex and warrants further investigation. These trials support the view that for crew to consistently make appropriate or optimal redirection command decisions that include the possibility of using the stairs as part of the evacuation route, they must have sufficient situational awareness. Equally, passengers can only make appropriate or optimal redirection decisions if they too have sufficient situational awareness. This situational awareness may need to extend between decks. Passengers were also noted to make heavy use of the central handrail while both descending and ascending the stairs. The presence of the central HR effectively created two staircases. By effectively separating the crowding on the stairs, reducing passenger-passenger conflicts and providing as additional means of passenger stability, it is postulated that the stair flow rates may be positively influence through the presence of the central HR. Passenger flow rates were measured for both the UPWARDS and DOWNWARDS flow directions. Flow rates in the UPWARDS direction were found to be greater than flow rates in the DOWNWARDS direction. This was thought to be due to the packing densities on the stairs, which is a function of the motivation of the passengers, the travel speeds of the passengers and the feed, and discharge characteristics of the staircase and surrounding geometry. Clearly, most of the parameters can be influenced by both crew procedures and cabin layout. Concerning the passenger exit hesitation times for the higher sill height, the trials produced inconclusive results. While the exit flow rates are lower and the passenger exit delay times are longer than would be expected for a normal Type-A exit, it is clear that the extreme unassertiveness of the cabin crew positioned at the exits and the lack of motivation of the passengers exerted a strong influence on the data produced. The reaction of the passengers in these trials was to be expected as the trials were not performed under competitive conditions and the reaction of the cabin crew could also be understood, as safety concerns were paramount given that these were the first trials of their type to be conducted at Cranfield. Finally, due to the small number of data points provided by these trials, there is insufficient data upon which to claim statistical significance for any of the observations. Clearly, much more work is required in order to generate essential data to improve our understanding of passenger performance, passenger-crew interaction and passenger-structure interaction within VLTA configurations.
The purpose of Very Large Transport Aircraft (VLTA) Emergency Requirements Research Evacuation Study (VERRES) was to investigate many issues relating to post-accident survivability of larger aircraft in the future. A particular focus was on evacuation issues with detailed investigation of the role of computer models. Conventional evacuation certification procedures incur a significant risk of personal injury to the participants (on average 6% are injured) and large costs (approximately US$2 million for a wide-body aircraft). Furthermore, as only a single evacuation trial is necessary for certification requirements, there can be limited confidence that the test - whether successful or not - truly represents the evacuation capability of the aircraft. The issue of the test being potentially unrepresentative is, however, recognised but nevertheless plays an important part as a yardstick for comparison with other aircraft design that may have more extensive evacuation experience. The large increase in passenger capacity and aircraft size being suggested for VLTA exacerbate these difficulties. The introduction of computer based analysis techniques coupled with partial practical testing using people offer the potential of reducing all of these risks and costs while making the certification process arguably more rigorous. Computer based analysis techniques coupled with partial testing have a role to play in the following areas: - Design and development of safer aircraft bringing safety matters to the design phase while the proposed aircraft is still on the drawing board. - Implementation of safer and more rigorous certification criteria. - Development of improved and more efficient crew procedures. - Improved cabin crew training. - Accident investigation. VERRES includes results of the first evacuation research trials of large double-deck aircraft (using the Cranfield University VLTA cabin simulator). These were intended to provide data for evacuation models, particularly related to the use of stairs. These exploratory trials were able to provide an indication of the many issues involved and provided useful pointers for future, more detailed investigations. During the development of the test plan for the experimental trials, the VERRES consortium identified a large number of potential variables of interest, and it became evident that it would be difficult for the consortium to limit the number of independent variables. It was therefore decided that the trials would explore a wide range of possibilities for future research within very large transport aircraft, as opposed to studying a limited number of issues in detail. For this reason the VERRES experimental study was exploratory in nature and the results presented within the report are by no means conclusive, but do highlight issues where future research should be considered. Cabin crew views of potential problems with managing large numbers of passengers in an emergency situation were collated, highlighting the need for clear information on the cabin situation to be effectively communicated between the crew. The study notes areas that may require amended cabin crew training, for example with substantial numbers of passengers likely to be at the foot of large slides that will require effective management. Safety communication is not restricted to crew and the study concludes that passenger safety briefing may need to be enhanced for evacuation in potentially complex cabin interiors. The study compares aircraft evacuation with other forms of transport, for example the evacuation of a blended wing VLTA may be similar to a fast ferry with multiple aisles. The aircraft evacuation situation is however unique in the need for a very fast evacuation resulting from the fire threat that is not found to the same level in other forms of transport, or indeed buildings. The study includes a review of techniques that may be considered for crew training for managing large numbers of passengers in emergency situations. The topics include crew co-ordination, communication and enhancing situational awareness. The developments commenced here will play a vital role in the safe evacuation of future Very Large Transport Aircraft.
Very Large Transport Aircraft (VLTA) pose considerable challenges to designers, operators and certification authorities. Questions concerning seating arrangement, nature and design of recreational space, the number, design and location of internal staircases, the number of cabin crew required and the nature of the cabin crew emergency procedures is just some of the issues that need to be addressed. In this project the Fire Safety Engineering Group (FSEG) of the University of Greenwich investigated issues associated with staircase design and cabin crew procedures using the airEXODUS aircraft evacuation model, a product of FSEG. The full report will be made available on the FSEG web site at http://fseg.gre.ac.uk As part of this study hypothetical VLTA identified as the UOGXXX, involving two decks and a passenger load of 580 passengers with a single main staircase was defined within the airEXODUS model. While a number of evacuation cases were investigated, the primary evacuation studies addressed the scenario in which passengers from the upper deck were forced to make use of the main staircase in order to evacuate the aircraft In the specific design investigated, it was shown that the two-lane staircase could not cope with the passenger flow generated by the two main cabin aisles resulting in a bottleneck at the head of the stairs and under-utilisation of the main deck exits. Suggestions for improving the overall evacuation time under such conditions include, widening the staircase or providing an additional staircase. If the staircase were widened, relocating the staircase to a more central location with access to additional lower deck exits would also be required in order to reap the full benefits afforded by additional stair capacity. As part of these studies, it was demonstrated how crew procedures could be represented in aircraft evacuation models and how this could be used to assist in the development of crew procedures. It was demonstrated how enhanced crew communications would be essential in double deck aircraft if crew were expected to make optimal redirection decisions involving passengers moving between decks. It was suggested that enhanced crew communication systems such as head set devices would be a useful way of providing such information. These devices could provide crew useful information as to conditions in remote parts of the aircraft allowing them to make sensible redirection assessments. An important issue that must be borne in mind is that gaps exist in our understanding of human behaviour and the quantification of human performance in some of the configurations examined. One of the areas that require further attention is the collection of passenger exit hesitation time data at high sill height exits. While some data exists, more data is required to increase the confidence in model predictions. Another area that requires attention is the performance of passengers on stairs in these types of aircraft. Also requiring further research is the propensity of passengers to freely elect to make use of the stairs rather than evacuate from the upper deck exits. In the work presented here, it was assumed that this would be similar to human performance on building stairs. However, where data does not exist in abundance, models can still be usefully used to limit and refine the design concepts that may need further testing in experimental facilities. Clearly, a sensible balance of modelling and experimentation is required to address all of the challenging issues posed by VLTA aircraft.
During the experimental design stage, the consortium identified a large number of variables of interest, and it soon became evident that it would be difficult to limit the number of independent variables and insufficient test evacuations were available to obtain adequate replications of each test condition. It was finally agreed that the evacuation trials would not be conducted as an experiment; instead, the evacuation trials would take the form of a series of evacuation demonstrations, which could then be used to explore possibilities for future research. The final programme that was agreed was to use the trials to explore passenger movement in three types of situation: where passengers had a free choice between available exits on both decks, where passengers on the lower deck were required to move to the upper deck, and where passengers on the upper deck were required to move to the lower deck. The trials were implemented by the Human Factors Group, within the Cranfield University Large Cabin Evacuation Simulator, the facility was modified to provide key physical features of a generic wide-bodied cabin with two decks. The planned test programme was completed and no evacuations were halted. In total, 336 individuals participated in the evacuation demonstrations. It is believed that the trials produced passenger behaviour representative of non-competitive evacuations and the crew behaved in a manner that might be expected under a set of simulated operational conditions in which no additional training concerning the use of stairs for evacuation was provided. Although a number of pilot trials had been conducted, the trials did not proceed in the controlled manner that was originally planned. Due to the small number of data points provided by these trials, there is insufficient data upon which to claim statistical significance for any of the observations documented within the report. In the event, the cabin crew behaved in a number of ways that differentiated from that which had been expected. It was apparent that in all the trials, crew played some role in managing the passenger flow on the stairs. It must be remembered that all crew (except those located at UR1) were line cabin crew who were trained in specific operator emergency procedures with the aim of reducing the overall evacuation time of the aircraft. Ethically it could be argued that if the cabin crew were trained in behaviours that conflicted with their normal procedures, this could be potentially detrimental to their later performance in a genuine emergency situation. Although cabin crew knowledge and experience is crucial to our understanding of aircraft emergency evacuation, the trials have demonstrated that in exploratory research where specific crew commands and behaviours are fundamental to the experimental design, in particular where these are not identical to those implemented by the operator, the use of researchers trained as cabin crew should be carefully considered. Unfortunately, the Cranfield University analysis was limited to descriptive analysis only on the passenger evacuation times, as inferential analyses of the evacuation data could not be conducted, as insufficient data was available to conduct comparisons across conditions. However within the free choice evacuations, there did appear to be differences in evacuation rates between the two demonstrations, with lower mean evacuation times, faster evacuation rates, and lower overall exit evacuation times evident on the last trial of the programme. However, this may simply be a function of the cabin crew, who by this time would have gained significant additional experience in passenger management and evacuation situations. Within the conditions involving ascending the stairs, there did appear to be marked differences in evacuation rates between UR1 and UL1. The UR1 exit involved passengers evacuating down a slide whereas UL1 was out onto a platform. This difference in time through UR1 is most likely a function of the caution exercised (due to safety) by Cranfield University cabin crew at the UR1 exit. Finally, within the evacuations involving descent of the stairs, the mean evacuation times, evacuation rates and overall exit evacuation times do appear to be broadly similar across the evacuation trials conducted. The trials have identified a number of areas where future research needs to be conducted to generate essential data to improve our understanding of passenger performance, cabin crew performance and passenger-crew interaction within VLTA configurations. The next step should be to form clearly identifiable research objectives and to develop detailed research programmes combining partial experimental evacuation testing including statistically reliable results, evacuation computer modelling and qualitative analysis, in an attempt to address the complex issues relating to the safe evacuation of VLTA.
The goal of this work package was to conduct a full-scale training experiment with the ESSAI training solution to evaluate its effectiveness on developing pilots' behavioural strategies in specific and crew performance in general as safety enhancing factors. Following the identification of factors and strategies for effective Situation Awareness (SA) and Threat Management (TM) by means of flight-crew surveys and analysis of accidents and incident scenarios a training solution had been designed consisting of an awareness phase with computer-based instruction, an interactive tactical decision game designed to practice new behavioural strategies, simulator training with two LOS scenarios, and a facilitated debriefing. In a pre-post design with an experimental (N=16 active airline pilots) and a control group (N=16 active airline pilots), training effects were analyzed using different SA/TM measures like self- and peer-ratings, behaviour observations, and questionnaires. Findings of this training experiment indicate that the ESSAI training tools have a significant impact on SA measures while TM measures remained stable or showed only slight increases. The reports provide several innovative measures for SA and TM as well as empirical evidence for the effectiveness of different training modules to enhance SA and TM. This information can guide other training experts or training institutions in the design of modular training approaches for non-technical skills.
A literature review and state of the art investigation were carried out in order to find the most promising approach for the remainder of the project. The following questions were addressed: 1. What exactly are Situation Awareness and Threat Management? What factors affect them? 2. What do we mean by 'threat' and what type of threats do we consider in the project? 3. What is the relationship between SA and TM? 4. How are SA and TM dealt with in other domains? 5. What is state of the art in respect to training (development)? Three sources of information were consulted. In the first place, a vast literature study was carried out to answer questions 1 - 3. The literature study supplied the theoretical background and constructs for the key-concepts of the project - Situation Awareness and Threat Management. Question number 4 was answered by holding interviews with experts in 6 different domains. The last question was answered by analysing current programs in research institutes and universities to ensure the most novel and up-to-date results. The report provides an excellent and thorough overview for those interested in Situation Awareness and Crisis Management.
This result reports on the whole ESSAI-project. It provides an overview of the activities carried out during the project in the different phases. It was aimed to write the report in such a manner that is of interest to both scientists as well as practitioners. More detail of the 5 project phases can be found in the respective WP-reports. These are referred to in the document. The intent of the document is to provide interested parties with an overview of the project. Each chapter focuses on one phase of the project. It can serve as a start-off point for organisations and people on the subjects of situation awareness and threat management. At the same time, it can also offer information to those attempting to develop training on different subjects.

Exploitable results

This Vrres-VLTA study, funded by the European Commission and undertaken by a European consortium has been able to investigate a wide variety of issues related to the evacuation of very large transport aircraft (VLTA). Some exploratory evacuation trials have been carried out and areas for future research have been identified. A VLTA evacuation becomes as a issue as more passengers need to be managed by the cabin crew (although in total, the proportion of cabin crew to passengers would be expected to stay the same), possibly with large slides and crowd management at the foot of the slides becoming more significant in importance. Concerning the passenger exit hesitation times for the high sill height, the trials produced inconclusive results. Whilst the measured exit flow rates are lower and the passenger exit delay times are longer than would be expected for a normal type-A exit, it was clear that the extreme caution of the cabin crew positioned at the exits and the lack of (panic) motivation of the passengers exerted a strong influence on the data produced. The need for improved situational awareness for cabin crew has been considered and improved communication systems for them may be worthy of further investigation. These could be visual information display systems perhaps placed at exits or portable systems to allow crew to share information regardless of location. These tools may enable better command and control procedures to be developed for the cabin crew. The communication of safety information to passengers is likely to continue to be difficult to successfully achieve. Providing situational awareness to passengers in a more complex VLTA interior will be a challenge and improved techniques may be required. The value of computer models of evacuation have been assessed as a major part of the study with a particular focus on VLTA. Computer-based analysis techniques coupled with partial testing have been shown to assist in the design and development of safer aircraft, particularly significant for the more complex interiors that may be offered in VLTA. Verres-VLTA includes results of the first evacuation research trials of a large double-deck aircraft. These were intended to provide data for evacuation models, particularly related to the use of stairs in addition to exploring wider issues of VLTA evacuation. These exploratory trials were able to provide an indication of the many issues involved and provided useful pointers for future, more detailed investigations. It should be noted that a more complex interior allows more crew procedural options and passenger behaviour may be less predictable with implications for crew training. Research recommendations were made to: 1. conduct further experimentation and computer simulation on the use of stairs (and handrails) in the evacuation process for accident/incidents and precautionary evacuations. The Verres-VLT trials provide an indication of some of the passenger movement issues but more trials would be required to establish conclusive results. The purpose would be to formalise the use of stairs and stair management. 2. continue to develop and eventually demonstrate (through parallel application with certification trials – both historic and new) a framework for the use of aircraft evacuation simulation for certification purposes. 3. continue the development of aircraft evacuation modelling technology to enhance existing behavioural capabilities, in particular in the area of crew-passenger interaction and passenger behaviour in real accident scenarios; e.g. ability for passengers to climb over seats and their behaviour in fire/smoke environments. 4. collect data on the passenger exit hesitation time distribution associated with representative VLTA upper deck exits to better characterise the performance of these exits and for use in computer simulation. 5. gain a greater knowledge of passenger behaviour and passenger- crew interaction in an emergency within a VLTA through experiments (plus the use of software models noted in recommendation 3) in order to maximise evacuation efficiency. 6. assess the importance of exit visibility. This should include the evaluation of new materials and intelligent systems to make the location and status of the exit more apparent to passengers (and crew). 7. review the use of upper-deck slides for large numbers of passengers in accident/incidents and precautionary evacuations with the purpose of maximising evacuation efficiency and minimising injuries. 8. conduct experimentation on enhanced crew communication (with the flight crew and between cabin crew) in accident/incidents and precautionary situations (attention should be paid to the crew organisation and communication means). 9. conduct research work on the improvement of the passenger safety information delivery process (safety objectives, media and timing). 10. conduct experimentation on cabin crew location significance (special attention should be paid to panic mitigation and passenger flow redirection). It should be noted that the research teams in the consortium employed complementary analyses of data for the trials undertaken for the study and the efficacy of this methodology should be considered for future studies. Cabin crew training recommendations are made to ensure that VLTA cabin crew training addresses specific issues that may be more demanding in VLTA. In particular they must be able to manage evacuating a large and complex interior through effective communication with passengers and other cabin crew. It may be necessary to develop skills with new systems offering enhanced communications and situational awareness. The management of passengers on and around stairs will be important, together with the effective management of passengers at the foot of slides. Some of these skills may be developed through the use of computer simulations. The developments commenced here will play a vital role in the safe evacuation of future.

Searching for OpenAIRE data...

There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE

No results available