How to Escape Down an Airplane Slide — and Still Make Your Connection!
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On January 17, a British Airways plane landed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport in London.
Emergency airplane evacuations happen more often than most people think: about once every 11 days in the U.S., according to a 2000 report by the National Transportation Safety Board. Some situations are more dire than others, of course, as when the plane is on fire, but in many cases, the biggest challenge of an evacuation can be the airplane slide.
Get Out Fast: If all hell does break loose, remember that one of the deadliest mistakes passengers make is to lunge for their overhead luggage. This wastes precious time and clogs the aisle with obstacles. And yet, even if the cabin is full of smoke, passengers will almost invariably reach up to get their briefcases and garment bags. Video footage of emergency evacuations often shows people sailing down the slides clutching rolling suitcases. Chloe, 24, was a passenger on the British Airways flight. "I got to the door, and I realized I was holding a bamboo hat — and just thought, what am I doing rescuing a hat from a crashed plane?" she told the Coventry Telegraph.