airline lifejackets - how safe are they?

airline lifejackets - how safe are they?

Author
Discussion

Ayahuasca

Original Poster:

27,427 posts

280 months

Monday 4th June 2012
quotequote all
given that they never have a crotch strap?

They would probably not be certified safe for yachting, so how come airlines use them?

Without a crotch strap, the lifejacket is going to ride high and the survivor may slip out of it.

Also, the toggle that initiates the gas cylinder is left dangling (at least on most the demo ones) and is very likely to get snagged in the waist-strap, meaning there is a danger of in-cabin inflation.

Yachting lifejacket toggles are always concealed under a flap to prevent accidental inflation.


BliarOut

72,857 posts

240 months

Monday 4th June 2012
quotequote all
Chances are you're already dead, what does it matter biggrin

karona

1,918 posts

187 months

Monday 4th June 2012
quotequote all
I doubt that after ditching a modern airliner you'll be able to find your testicles, never mind the toggle on a life vest. Landing the jet on the Hudson River was a miraculous feat of airmanship, but there weren't many Air France life vests floating in the Atlantic a year or so back.

speedtwelve

3,510 posts

274 months

Monday 4th June 2012
quotequote all
Having them there reassures passengers that there might be hope if the airliner they're strapped into piles into the Atlantic at 400 kts.

Ayahuasca

Original Poster:

27,427 posts

280 months

Monday 4th June 2012
quotequote all
I suspect their main purpose is to make passengers feel safer. Whether they actually work is not the main concern.

LukeBird

17,170 posts

210 months

Monday 4th June 2012
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Removing the 'feeling safe' view, I guess it's because it's easy to show passengers how to use (80% of who don't listen) by the cabin crew and also fairly easy to use if you don't listen.

AlexiusG55

655 posts

157 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
quotequote all
karona said:
I doubt that after ditching a modern airliner you'll be able to find your testicles, never mind the toggle on a life vest. Landing the jet on the Hudson River was a miraculous feat of airmanship, but there weren't many Air France life vests floating in the Atlantic a year or so back.
There have been other successful ditchings, though very few as incredibly successful as the Hudson one. Notably:
A Garuda 737 in 2002, only one death.
An Aeroflot Tu-124 in the Neva River in 1963, pretty much identical to the Hudson landing- all passengers rescued with no injuries.
An Ethiopian 767 into the Indian Ocean at high speed in 1996. 125 out of 175 on board died, but that was partly because the pilot was fighting a hijacker for the controls!

bennyboydurham

1,617 posts

175 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
quotequote all
Your chance of survival in a controlled ditching is actually pretty high. The Air France A330 was already way out of control by the time it hit the deck.

The Boy Lard

461 posts

224 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
quotequote all
Don't the 'slides' turn into life rafts anyway?

So you may only need them in the 'Egyptian Hijack' scenario... Slightly out of control ditching?

Will other things float like seat cushions?

Hugo a Gogo

23,378 posts

234 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
quotequote all
The Boy Lard said:
Will other things float like seat cushions?
corpses of other passengers

Pints

18,444 posts

195 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
quotequote all
Hugo a Gogo said:
corpses of other passengers
I've seen Titanic. I know that the body just slips into the murky depths once you peel away the fingers from the floating debris.

Hugo a Gogo

23,378 posts

234 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
quotequote all
Pints said:
Hugo a Gogo said:
corpses of other passengers
I've seen Titanic. I know that the body just slips into the murky depths once you peel away the fingers from the floating debris.
oh yeah
"I'll never let go, Jack" *lets go*

G600

1,479 posts

188 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
quotequote all
The Boy Lard said:
Don't the 'slides' turn into life rafts anyway?

So you may only need them in the 'Egyptian Hijack' scenario... Slightly out of control ditching?

Will other things float like seat cushions?
Yes some do, they have canopies that can be put over them as well, bigger aircraft have dedicated life rafts as well, the passenger seat cushions don't float but the crew ones do.

mrloudly

2,815 posts

236 months

Tuesday 5th June 2012
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In answer to the O.P. Safer than none ;-)

grumpyscot

1,277 posts

193 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Life jackets serve no purpose when you fly into a mountain - unless you inflate them all and tie them round the aircraft before it hits the mountainside.

And if your body hits water at anything faster than 50mph, then you're dead!

Life jackets were invented in the days of seaplanes - you'd be better of nowadays just saying a prayer and having one last masturbation attempt on the way down........

Pothole

34,367 posts

283 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Paddy_N_Murphy said:
Chatting the other week to a Mate with a BA Dolly wife (you don't want pics) - she says you wouldn't believe how many are knicked.
people turn them into underwear?

tonyvid

9,869 posts

244 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Thanks guys, I'm flying tomorrow!

KrazyIvan

4,341 posts

176 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Ayahuasca said:
I suspect their main purpose is to make passengers feel safer.
I was always under the impression it was to give the "rescuers" a higher chance to recover the bodies from a water "landing".

indi pearl

319 posts

198 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
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Paddy N Murphys wife said,
"You wouldn't believe how many are knicked"
On a recent trip arround the Philippines on every internal flight and at the end of the safety briefing the stewardesses would say,
"Taking the life jacket is a criminal offence"
So it would appear to be a worldwide phenomena. It does raise the question however as to what the jacket thieves want them for.






anonymous-user

55 months

Wednesday 6th June 2012
quotequote all
You'd be a 1000 times better off with a smoke hood under your seat than a life jacket.