What’s wrong with this picture from an airline incident last year? Quite a lot actually
They obviously didn’t hear the ‘…then place over your nose and mouth and breath normally’ bit of the pre-flight SEP (Safety and Emergency Procedures) demo! (click pic for full story)
It’s not the number of times you’ve heard these life saving demos - it’s the most recent time you heard it that’s the most important!
As an ex-flyer I’d urge you to really pay attention to cabin crew demos - it could save your life and that of those around you. It’s not cool to read, have your earphones in, talk or pretend you’re the most frequent flyer in the world !
I have to admit I don’t listen - I am even sometimes already asleep by the time the safety advice is given. (normally knackered after weekend of busy DIY).
That’s not unusual Mat - you sound like a ‘commuter’!!
However…it’s not just about you - it’s about YOU getting it right so that you can potentially help someone else. In most ‘survivable’ accidents it’s pretty much chaos anyway so anyone with the slightest clue about how to get out is a bonus!
Knowing where your nearest exit is, remembering to unbuckle your belt (YES - big issue!), fitting your own oxygen mask before helping others - simple things that make a huge difference.
I always stop what I’m doing and pay full attention to the demonstration, for the reasons given.
Having said that, I have doubts about the utility of the life-jacket and whistle. But better to think positively than otherwise.
I also think it is (very) discourteous to staff who are performing a duty in one’s interests to flagrantly ignore the request for a couple of minutes attention.
Better to have a group mind of cooperation amongst passengers and crew than one of mutual studied contempt. A little eye-contact with a steward might tip the balance in favour of personal survival or the survival of one’s partner, even if only by a minute amount. And it’s the right thing to do IMO.
It’ll work - provided you heed the advice and DON’T inflate it before you depart the aircraft!
They are rigorously checked and time limited before being rechecked
It’s been 3 years since I was last on a flight…(flying here to view my house…)
I do take note of the flight attendants and would feel fairly confident of what to do…when my daughter flew here last year with her two little sons on their first ever holiday abroad and first ever flight she said it was probably the first time she really concentrated on what was being said…fully aware that she would need to help herself first in order to help them…
I don’t mind flying but every single time my ears start popping on take off…and by the time I land I’m always stone deaf…I can’t help wondering if Theresa May has the same problem…??? x
I think I flew about twice a month during my 8 year stay in Indonesia (often between Jakarta -> Bali, or the Jakarta -> Singapore visa run) so after about 3 months I could dream the damn safety briefing for the generic stuff, and another month after I could dream the specifics for the most often used planes with regards to exits and stuff like that.
Then again I’m oddly adept at memorizing useless trivia (well… maybe not entirely useless) and recalling it at will so, yeah. 2 cents.
I used to fly fairly regularly for work and always, always, always listened to the safety demo. One reason was that I thought how seriously the airline crew take passengers’ safety and for the stewards to see them reading, listening to music, ignoring the safety demonstration is just … well fairly insulting at worst and at best ignorant. But the main reason I listened was because, you just never knew if you might be needed to act in that emergency and then what would you do? Start rummaging around in the seat pocket for the instructions? I’d prefer to be the first with that oxygen mask on, the first in line for the doors with my lifejacket on. And that’s what comes with being prepared. So yes, even now, I put down my book and listen intently. You never know.
One of the ‘unexpected reactions’ in an evacuation - is the fact that passengers ‘forget’ they are wearing a seatbelt and try desperately to leave their seat, not being able to understand why they can’t! A bit like a ‘dream’ sequence - trying to run somewhere but getting absolutely nowhere
It’s the reason crew will shout something along the lines of ‘unbuckle your belt and come this way !!’ during an evacuation.
Bit like the safety announcements on ferries-which we’ve used so often you tend to disregard them. Until one night I woke in the cabin and smelt smoke-followed by the alarm being sounded. Fortunately (!) it was the funnel which had caught fire-although it did necessitate sitting around in life jackets for 3 hours and arriving in Zeebrugges 8 hours late. However I was heartened by 1-the calmness and efficiency of the crew and 2- the amount of boats that appeared - within a relatively short space of time - near the ferry.
Years ago a friend who worked as an air steward told me to always check the exits. So I do. Can’t say I’m a nervous flyer but I don’t take it for granted. Always want to here that family members have arrived safely etc. And I loath long haul
However I do notice some companies make the effort to make the announcements less than totally boring. Virgin did this many years ago and I flew BA this summer and their announcement was really quite entertaining. I think it’s to their credit that they make an effort to keep us safe.
Though can I quote the amazing Billy Connelly? “A plane has crashed into a mountain in Peru. Luckily all the passengers were wearing their seat belts …,.”
