FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
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AVIATION MEDICINE REPORTS

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-00/11

Title and Subtitle: Evacuee injuries and demographics in transport airplane precautionary emergency evacuations

Report Date: March 2000

Authors: Hynes, M.K.

Abstract: During a nine-year period from January 1, 1988, through December 31, 1996, there were more than 500 transport airplane precautionary emergency evacuations (PEEvacs), occurring on average about once a week. Each year as many as 6,000 persons participated in these events. In many cases, passenger and crewmember injuries resulted from the PEEvacs, resulting in large personal costs to passengers and crewmembers, as well as financial costs estimated to be in excess of $11 million annually to airlines.

This study was undertaken to sample available evacuee and injury data related to a subset of those PEEvacs, including information on types and causes of evacuee injuries, and evacuee age and gender. Other demographics were sought, but that information was generally unavailable. Unique, direct contacts with airport management were used to supplement publicly available information on certain of the PEEvacs, including activation of emergency escape slides during PEEvacs, injuries caused by the PEEvacs, and outcomes.

Of the 136 airports identified as experiencing PEEvacs, 24 were selected to provide detailed data on injured evacuees for a 34-month interval lasting from December 1994 through November 1996. During this time frame, there were 109 precautionary evacuations at the 24 airports selected, i.e., approximately 70% of all reported evacuation events that occurred during the study period. Specific information on 193 persons injured during 19 of these evacuations was obtained and analyzed.

The results of this study confirm the need for improved incident reporting and continued research into preventing injuries associated with the use of emergency egress systems and precautionary emergency evacuations of transport airplanes. The results should be additionally useful when considering proposed changes to applicable regulations and to airline training programs and aircraft emergency operations.

Key Words: Emergency Egress, Evacuation, Airline Operations, Passenger Injuries, Economic Loss, Airline Economics

No. of Pages: 17