Passenger education: past and future

The requirement for passenger education was introduced in an attempt to improve passenger survival rates in the event of an accident. In the majority of survivable accidents, in which loss of life occurs, the fatalities will have arisen either as a consequence of the impact or as a result of a post-crash fire. Crashworthiness initiatives are aimed at ensuring the structural integrity of the airframe, so that survival space is maintained after impact. Surviving passengers will need to evacuate quickly, because of the risk of a post-crash fire is always present. In these situations, providing passengers with information about how to behave is likely to improve their probability of survival. In the event of a fire, there are frequently only two minutes between the onset of the fire and the conditions in the cabin becoming non-survivable, due to the presence of smoke and toxic fumes. It is therefore essential that passengers are given every possible assistance to evacuate as rapidly as possible. A great deal of effort has been expended by the industry in order to ensure that all of the passengers and crew are able to evacuate an airframe quickly in the event of an emergency. Requirements include the following: a. 90 Second Evacuation Demonstratio