Safety Topics: Passenger Emergency Exits

Abstract

A final rule has been issued by the FAA which prohibits aircraft manufacturers and air carriers from increasing the distance between emergency exits to more than 60 feet. Existing regulations do not limit the distance and this rule is intended to ensure an opportunity for safe passenger evacuation during an emergency. The location of emergency eixts has been regulated by the FAA since 1967 by requiring the provision of an exit for every specified number of passengers and the exit being located where it would allow the most effective means of evacuation. The regulation also requires the exits to be distributed as uniformly as practicable and this has led to the underlying assumption that this results in a reasonable seat‐to‐exit and exit‐to‐exit distance. Some recent exit configurations do however, have distances that are greater than those originally envisaged. For example, the exit‐to‐exit distance that was originally 50 feet in an earlier version of the L—1011 increased to nearly 70 feet in a later model. Also, the exit‐to‐exit distance of 44 feet in the Boeing 747–100, –200 and –300 increases to nearly 70 feet in the 747–200 and 747–300 models with the No 3 exits deactivated. A recent certification request (which was refused by the FAA) proposed a derivative configuration of an aircraft with a distance substantially greater than 80 feet. These examples indicate the exit distribution requirement alone is ineffective in preventing increases in escape path distances.

Citation

Mayday (1989), "Safety Topics: Passenger Emergency Exits", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 61 No. 10, pp. 30-31. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb036856