Delta passenger deploys emergency exit slide @ LAX

Honest question, how are those slides deployed? I'm not familiar with airliners and slides, are there instructional cartoons that help a lunatic deploy one of these things or is it inside baseball. It seems like a weird juxtaposition, should only the crew know how to open the doors and pop the slides or should it be easy enough that anyone can do it in an emergency?
 
When everything is armed, they're pretty simple to deploy if you're deliberate about it.

And for good measure, as when you need them, it's going to be hot, smoky, fiery, scary, loud, dark and if you don't make it out in the first few moments of a true evacuation, we'll have to name ya "Mort"! :)
 
Honest question, how are those slides deployed? I'm not familiar with airliners and slides, are there instructional cartoons that help a lunatic deploy one of these things or is it inside baseball. It seems like a weird juxtaposition, should only the crew know how to open the doors and pop the slides or should it be easy enough that anyone can do it in an emergency?
On the 737 the slide is in a casing on the bottom of the door. The slide is armed by placing what is called a ”girt bar” into a coupled of spring loaded hooks built into the floor. If the door is opened, that bar stays in place, and the action of pushing the door yanks the slide out and eventually something in there pulls on the inflation mechanism.
 
On the 737 the slide is in a casing on the bottom of the door. The slide is armed by placing what is called a ”girt bar” into a coupled of spring loaded hooks built into the floor. If the door is opened, that bar stays in place, and the action of pushing the door yanks the slide out and eventually something in there pulls on the inflation mechanism.
So the door/slide is "armed" at some point and if it's opened the slide pops out? Again, I know nothing about any of this, the airplanes I work on have 100lb life rafts that are supposed to be tossed through windows that they just barely fit through by small weak people. 121 sounds awesome.
 
So the door/slide is "armed" at some point and if it's opened the slide pops out? Again, I know nothing about any of this, the airplanes I work on have 100lb life rafts that are supposed to be tossed through windows that they just barely fit through by small weak people. 121 sounds awesome.
Flight attendants arm the doors just before pushback.
once the doors are armed, the act of opening the door activates the slide.

On an Airbus if the door is opened from the outside while the slide is still armed, the slide won’t deploy. So SOP is for the gate agent to open the L1 door once the Flight Attendant gives the indication that the door is disarmed, just in case it wasn’t disarmed and it is in fact armed.
 
The girt bars are secured by different methods on different manufacturer planes that are so-equipped. As crash rescue, I can open a pressure door from the outside that is armed with the girt bar installed. We ladder-up to the aft side of the door, assuming the aircraft is on its landing gear and not on its fuselage, and can pop the door about a half-foot, reach in and release the aft girt bar attachment, grab hold of the bar and remove the forward portion of the bar from its holder, and disarm the door. Then we can open it from the outside if it indeed has not been disarmed. Other newer aircraft, such as the A330 and 767 variants, have automatic disabling features if the door is unlocked from the outside handle.

Different floor girt bar attachment points depicted below, and how it looks installed.

Photo credits: MikeD

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That last pic is not an airliner. It is an old, oceangoing sea vessel. Beyond that hatch are engineering spaces, and sailors alive only due to mainlining Monsters and cooler ranch Doritos, who haven't seen sunlight since 2002
 
That last pic is not an airliner. It is an old, oceangoing sea vessel. Beyond that hatch are engineering spaces, and sailors alive only due to mainlining Monsters and cooler ranch Doritos, who haven't seen sunlight since 2002

"OMG, Trevor, where's the CIDS panel?" :)
 
When everything is armed, they're pretty simple to deploy if you're deliberate about it.

And for good measure, as when you need them, it's going to be hot, smoky, fiery, scary, loud, dark and if you don't make it out in the first few moments of a true evacuation, we'll have to name ya "Mort"! :)

Sadly, in an aircraft fire where the cabin is fairly involved, survival rates are very low for those who cannot self extricate down a slide or aren't near an exit. Cabin is a Class A fire environment in and of itself, even without Class B accelerants, and once even a small fire starts, the heat build is so rapid that items begin burning and self-igniting quick. Interior temps rapidly go from 1500+ degrees near the ceiling, to about 130+ at the floor, and the toxic gases build and descend to the floor so rapidly, that survival time just due to these gases is very short. Granted, a fire of this intensity, it will crown very quickly, around 90 seconds, through the roof of the aircraft and self ventilate, but that doesn't help those onboard, especially if it flashes over first.

Rescue of persons trapped in this environment is very tough, if not nearly impossible. During my last ARFF recurrent, we were running 4 person interior teams, 2 on 1.5 inch handline followed by 2 for rescue. Inside the aircraft, after making entry through the left overwing exit in dusk conditions, visibility was about 6 inches, even with the beam of the flashlight, until reaching the fire area. Still, we were only able to make rescue of 4 persons on the exit row and a few more about one or two rows each way from there, before being about 40% air remaining and bushed from the effort of laddering the wing, hauling the hose line up there, all in full proximity gear, etc. The hose team had more air and could continue further inside, but they are fighting fire and attempting to suppress, not rescuing necessarily. This doesn't take into account the real-world of aisles blocked with persons and bodies, jam-ups near exits, maneuvering of hoselines in the confined interior area, etc. So realistically, in a cabin fire scenario with a fire starting and not controlled, unless you get out yourself; chances of being rescued from anywhere other than about a few rows from an exit are slim. And remember, with the majority of ARFF departments, manning is fairly low with some trucks only having 1 crewmember onboard, depending on the airport. For interior fires, often one or the other of rescue or interior firefighting have to be performed, unless multiple exits can be opened.

Pax have to conted with the toxic gases far before the thermal nature of the fire ever gets to them. So you'll choke to death long before you ever burn to death. It's just not an environment conducive to survival. With water use in the cabin only (no foam is used if possible), there's always the steam component which we try to avoid, but can't always be avoided.
 
Sadly, in an aircraft fire where the cabin is fairly involved, survival rates are very low for those who cannot self extricate down a slide or aren't near an exit. Cabin is a Class A fire environment in and of itself, even without Class B accelerants, and once even a small fire starts, the heat build is so rapid that items begin burning and self-igniting quick. Interior temps rapidly go from 1500+ degrees near the ceiling, to about 130+ at the floor, and the toxic gases build and descend to the floor so rapidly, that survival time just due to these gases is very short. Granted, a fire of this intensity, it will crown very quickly, around 90 seconds, through the roof of the aircraft and self ventilate, but that doesn't help those onboard, especially if it flashes over first.

Rescue of persons trapped in this environment is very tough, if not nearly impossible. During my last ARFF recurrent, we were running 4 person interior teams, 2 on 1.5 inch handline followed by 2 for rescue. Inside the aircraft, after making entry through the left overwing exit in dusk conditions, visibility was about 6 inches, even with the beam of the flashlight, until reaching the fire area. Still, we were only able to make rescue of 4 persons on the exit row and a few more about one or two rows each way from there, before being about 40% air remaining and bushed from the effort of laddering the wing, hauling the hose line up there, all in full proximity gear, etc. The hose team had more air and could continue further inside, but they are fighting fire and attempting to suppress, not rescuing necessarily. This doesn't take into account the real-world of aisles blocked with persons and bodies, jam-ups near exits, maneuvering of hoselines in the confined interior area, etc. So realistically, in a cabin fire scenario with a fire starting and not controlled, unless you get out yourself; chances of being rescued from anywhere other than about a few rows from an exit are slim. And remember, with the majority of ARFF departments, manning is fairly low with some trucks only having 1 crewmember onboard, depending on the airport. For interior fires, often one or the other of rescue or interior firefighting have to be performed, unless multiple exits can be opened.

Pax have to conted with the toxic gases far before the thermal nature of the fire ever gets to them. So you'll choke to death long before you ever burn to death. It's just not an environment conducive to survival. With water use in the cabin only (no foam is used if possible), there's always the steam component which we try to avoid, but can't always be avoided.
 
What's the number for survival of a real cargo fire? 12 mins on deck or something? I can't imagine how bad that would get, even in that time, for the back
 
That last pic is not an airliner. It is an old, oceangoing sea vessel. Beyond that hatch are engineering spaces, and sailors alive only due to mainlining Monsters and cooler ranch Doritos, who haven't seen sunlight since 2002

You want things that look like ship engineering spaces? On the MD-11 and DC-10, there is the option of laddering up into the nose wheel well if the jet is on its landing gear, and going up through the avionics bay and the steps into the cockpit just behind the Captain’s seat. Only problem is you wouldn’t be able to wear any SCBA tank or helmet, nor carry any equipment while doing it.

Pic: MikeD

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