Human Decision Making and Threat-Awareness Response During Emergency Aircraft Evacuations

Aircraft emergencies requiring evacuation present unique safety challenges to both crew and passengers due to theconfined space and the speed at which fire, extreme heatand smoke propagate. In thisscenario, where a one or two second delay can literally determine survivability, rapid evacuation is paramount. Although evacuation capability is demonstrated through requiredand controlleddrillsfor aircraft certification, during a real emergencyhuman factorsaffect passenger decision making, in some cases resulting in the decisionto retrieve personal items during actual emergency evacuations. This may pose a significant threat to post-accident survivability. This research evaluates evacuation decision making and the associated impact on passenger exit flow, during emergency evacuation scenarios. This paper provides an update on a controlled field study using a functional CRJ-100 50-seataircraftto explorethe contributingfactors affecting passengerthreat awareness and decision making during aircraft evacuations