Slide - 'Life saver' when the plane crashes

The escape slide was born decades ago, can be opened in an emergency situation for passengers to slide down safely from the plane door.

In an emergency on the ground, inflatable slides can be released from the aircraft doors, helping passengers quickly exit to safety. The technology dates back to the early jet age - the 1950s - but was preceded by a much simpler escape solution.

Employees practice emergency evacuation using a slide during the opening of EasyJet's training facility at London Gatwick Airport in 2015.

The first passenger planes had tail wheels and often had doors near the tail, low and close to the ground. Passengers only need to climb a few steps, then go to their seats. The passenger cabin is tilted up, followed by the cockpit. If the captain requests to evacuate, passengers can exit through the main door.

As commercial aircraft grew larger, the tail-wheel design became unwieldy when the aircraft needed to carry a lot of passengers and cargo. At that time, the plane with the nose wheel was introduced, the cabin was parallel to the ground, but passengers needed to walk up a long flight of stairs to reach the overhead door. In the event of an emergency, they cannot safely jump straight from the cabin to the ground. Therefore, experts have developed a rudimentary solution.

"The first method of evacuation for airplanes was to use ropes with knots to help people get off the door. This method was born long before the slide. Then they came up with a way to stretch a flat piece of cloth. between the arms. It needs to be held so people can slide down," said Tony Pope, chief engineer in charge of evacuation systems at Collins Aerospace (USA).

Those simple fabric slides evolved into today's sophisticated slides, inflated by compact pneumatic cylinders. The knotted ropes, however, remained in the cockpit, ready for use by the pilot should an emergency exit through the window or door.

Collins Aerospace and its predecessor Goodrich have been designing and manufacturing inflatable slides for decades, dating back to the 1960s Boeing 747, aka "Queen of the Sky". According to Pope, while materials and manufacturing techniques gradually improved after the first slides were introduced, the basic design of today's slides has not changed much.

The escape slide is a device to ensure safety on the plane. (Video: Collins Aerospace)

When designing the slide, the experts carefully considered the process of folding it into the plane - a process similar to packing a parachute. The US Federal Aviation Administration also developed a set of rules for slides, which are adjusted over time based on emergency slide deployments.

The regulations cover every design aspect such as strength, flammability and heat resistance of the fabric, and maximum inflation time (6 to 10 seconds) depending on the position of the slide. It must deploy properly in all weather conditions, cold - 40 C or hot 70 degrees C, in the rain with up to 2.5 cm of rain per hour and 46 km/h winds hitting the gutter. slide from a 45 degree angle around the plane. Passenger aircraft with doors 1.8 m above the ground must be equipped with a slide, and long-haul jets often have both a slide and an integrated life raft.

The shape of the plane directly affects the design of the slides. Each slide is usually unique with its location. "Sometimes we can order the same slide for multiple doors, but that's not the norm," says Pope.

The double decker Airbus A380 was a big challenge with a total of 16 slides, each decked out with eight planes. The designers had to make sure they worked together, that the upper and lower decks did not interfere with each other. The limited space to place the slide is also something they especially consider.

An Airbus A380 emergency slide (left) and a slide designed for Boeing 737.

When working with aircraft manufacturers, Collins Aerospace needed to demonstrate that all passengers and crew could exit the plane in 90 seconds or less.

"We have an evacuation speed test, where it's necessary to demonstrate that the slide can save evacuees in different conditions, like with high steps, low steps or in dark conditions." , said Pope.

Like many safety-related aviation technologies, passengers rarely see escape slides, but they can save lives when needed. This also gives motivation to the experts at Collins Aerospace, says Pope.

"I love what I'm doing - making safety gear. We don't like to see it in use and hate situations where we have to. But when we see it in action and show it to everyone on the team, they see it. Being able to do what we do is really important. That gives us all a sense of pride," he shared.