Today’s Illustration: When Time Matters

What: FAA Regulations On Evacuation

All passengers and crew of a commercial airplane must be able to evacuate with 90 seconds.
A less than “full” passenger airplane does not change the requirement.
Aircraft manufacturers must conduct live demos to prove that their airplanes can accomplish that requirement.
Why 90 seconds? — “During the research, it was found that a structurally sound cabin engulfed in flames remained habitable for around two minutes. Beyond that, the heat inside becomes so intense that a flashover condition develops. The flashover point was deemed to be the time available for evacuation.” — simpleflying
“Aircraft manufacturers must conduct a full-scale emergency evacuation demonstration and make them as realistic as possible. The test is carried out with the plane’s maximum occupancy with a full crew and a representative mix of passengers. Dolls are used to simulate children.”
“Only half the exits are used.”
“baggage, pillows, etc., are strewn in the aisles to simulate debris.”
“While the ‘passengers’ know why they are there, they are not told the evacuation plan, which doors and slides will be used, or when the demonstration will start.”
The behavior of the passengers also affects the actual ability to evacuate in 90 seconds.
Some passengers may try to retrieve their cabin baggage, even though they are told by the flight attendants to leave behind all luggage in the cabin... . . .

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Key Biblical Thoughts:

preparation
temptation
The Rapture of the Church
growth
discipleship
missions
sanctification
ready always to give an answer
time demands
accidents
trials

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Sermonic Example: There are several distinct ways to use illustrative material.

(use whatever you find useful in the above details)

. . . . That evacuation regulation is designed for the safety of the passengers. Time matters when it comes to such demanding situations. The fact is, that the time demand when facing temptations may be far shorter. Decisions are often made in but a few seconds. “Evacuation” is still the need, but the longer one hesitates, the greater the possibility that a “passenger” will try to recover some of the baggage. . . . .

. . . . That evacuation regulation is designed for the safety of the passengers. It is in regards to the most extreme situation that the FAA considers as possible when a commercial airliner accident occurs.

Obviously, 90 seconds is vital when an airliner is engulfed in a fuel fire. The situation is only getting more precarious by the second.

Nevertheless, 90 seconds is not needed in responding to all airline emergencies. For instance, were an airliner to aborts its take-off and was positioned at the end of the runway, deplaning does not require such a 90-second demand. While they can still meet that 90-second requirement, such a requirement is not carried out unless there is a threat to “life and limb.” [1]

Every emergency is different. Nevertheless, being able to deplane in 90 is still the standard because — every emergency is different! And some emergencies are about “life and limb.”

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Other Information & Links:

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1. “Decision to evacuate”

“The decision by the aircraft crew whether and when to conduct an emergency evacuation is of critical importance. The decision is usually made by the aircraft commander, although it can be taken by the next most senior officer in the case of incapacity or by the cabin crew in the event of a catastrophic crash. If there is time available, the commander will brief the cabin crew while still in flight as to the nature of the emergency and the actions that the crew will need to take before, during and after landing or ditching.

The commander will usually make the decision to evacuate after taking into consideration all factors that will enable passengers and crew to leave the aircraft in a rapid and safe manner. Communication between the cockpit and the cabin crew is vital to ensure that aircraft are not evacuated in situations where it is not safe to do so. Cabin crew should be trained that the flight crew will not usually order an evacuation until the engines have stopped running. It may be unsafe to use evacuation slides while an aircraft is at an airport terminal could be unsafe to use evacuation slides due to infrastructure and the possible proximity of service vehicles – in which case stairs may be a better alternative.

In some cases, the commander may decide that it is safer not to evacuate, such as was the case after the landing of the Qantas Airbus A380 which returned to Singapore after suffering an uncontained engine failure in November 2010. In this case, the decision was made to keep the passengers onboard the aircraft as the No 1 was still running, fuel was leaking from the left wing and fire-fighting foam was on the ground. The passengers eventually disembarked from the other side of the aircraft two hours later using steps. However, there have also been incidents in which the commander left the evacuation too late, such as an accident in 1980 when Saudi Arabia Airlines returned to Riyadh after fire broke out in a cargo compartment but which taxied to the end of the runway before beginning evacuation. All 301 occupants died in an internal fire which destroyed the aircraft.” — aerosociety

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“As consistently seen elsewhere during evacuations, our crew was forced to confront a visible minority of passengers who ignored instructions to leave luggage behind.”

“But lugging a carry-on bag down the aisle during an emergency evacuation, when seconds can mean the difference between life and death.”

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— https://simpleflying.com/aircraft-90-second-evacuation/

— https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/19/faa-faces-audit-of-airplane-evacuation-standards.html

— https://www.aerosociety.com/news/emergency-evacuation-time-for-a-rethink/