SIZING THINGS UP
Oklahomans will help the FAA decide how airline seat dimensions affect emergency evacuations
Starting next month, more t han 700 Oklahomans will help aviation regulators decide how airline seat dimensions affect emergency evacuations.
There search study will focus on variables that could speed up or complicate a mad dash out of an airplane and inform regulations on how tight airlines can squeeze in passengers.
Specifically, researchers are interested in the space between arm rest interiors and seat pitch, the distance between one point on a seat with the same point on the seat in front of it. Tests are scheduled to begin in November at the Federal Aviation Administration' s Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.
Stacey L. Zinke-McKee, a medical research official at FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute( CA MI ), said pulling test participants from Oklahoma's demographic will give a good representation of the average flier.
"Our goal is to see if there are any safety implications associated with varying seat pitch and width ," Z ink e-McKee said. "We want to make sure humans are protected when they fly."
Over the span of 12 days, 720 t est subjects will break into teams and be rushed out of a simulator called the FlexSim.
Officials will then review video of the evacuations and produce a report expected to be filed in the summer of 2020.
The FlexSim is a realistic simulation of a large commercial jet interior; it gives researchers the option to create smoke in the cabin and several other situations, including a water landing. The seat pitch tests, however, are designed to be simple.
"In order to keep scientific integrity, we really need to minimize the number of variables ,"
Zinke- McKee said. "So if we' re looking specifically at seat pitch and width associated with egress times, then we need to focus just on those variables."
CAMI researcher David Weed said that while the FAA has performed tests on human factors, this study will be the first of its kind.
"We' ve never done research specifically looking at seat pitch," he said. "We've always been concerned about flow rates of the doors, how fast people can get through the doors, off a slide, onto the ground."
Those results were used to write regulations on how many people can fit onto an airplane based on the number of exits. Ultimately, the FAA will set minimum passenger seat dimensions as directed last year by Congress.
T h e s t u d y w i l l n o t include data on animals, children, disabled passengers, luggage, evacuation slides or the benchmark e v a c uat i on t i me of 90 seconds.