Growing up as children of an Airline employee indeed had its advantages. My brother and I were able to travel, with our parents of course, to places all over the world. I can even recall our trip to Mozambique in 1976, less than a year after the country gained its independence from Portugal. That trip was like an episode of the Amazing Race. We flew on United from San Francisco to Seattle, then Pan Am from Seattle to London Heathrow for a two day layover. Back at again, flying to Nairobi then picking up East African Airways for our flight to Maputo which stopped, it seemed, at every major city along the way. All in all, we were on the plane for over twenty-four hours getting to our destination. Looking back, what strikes me is the one common factor on each flight taken during that trip and every other flight I have been on; the Safety Demonstration.
As an “Employee Dependent” and later an Airline Employee, we are “encouraged” to remain attentive during the Safety Demonstration even going so far as taking out the safety pamphlet and reading along (maybe in hopes of inspiring others to do likewise). Now, after 46 years of flying commercially (I was six months of age my first flight), paying close attention to the pre-flight safety briefing and reading the pamphlet is second nature to me. I could very easily recite the briefing purely from memory but, I am still conditioned to listening and reading like it was my very first flight. Granted, some of the methods used by airlines to capture the attention of passengers are less than perfect but it’s the message that is of the utmost importance.
On any given commercial flight there are but a fraction of flight staff, Flight Attendants & Pilots, in comparison to the number of passengers. This means, in the absolute worse cases, the crew will not be able to personally rescue you. This is probably the main reason why airlines are required to give the safety demonstrations. To give the passengers the information they may need to save themselves and others.
Fatalities from catastrophic airline accidents range from the force of initial impact, blunt force trauma, and loss of blood all the way up to smoke inhalation. Surviving the initial impact does not mean you are out of danger. Getting out and clear of the aircraft is what saves you. Too many post crash investigations have revealed passengers surviving the initial crash only to perish soon after due to other un-natural causes. The deaths caused by the Ethiopian Airlines crash in the Indian Ocean (hijacked flight-pilot forced to ditch due to lack of fuel) were not all due to impact. Many passengers drowned trying to unbuckle their seat belts while others were unable exit the plane because they had inflated their life vest even before the aircraft hit the water (you’re not suppose to inflate the vest until you are out of the aircraft). Without going too much into gory details, my point is this… Some accidents are survivable IF you have and are able to retain the information provided in the safety demonstration and have read the safety pamphlet PRIOR to take-off. So it is extremely important that every passenger pays close attention during the safety demonstration and doubly important for those passengers seated in “Exit Rows”.
An Airline in the Philippines called Cebu Pacific Airways, a low-cost carrier that successfully branched into the South East Asian Market (and beyond), has come under scrutiny lately for its “creative” method of delivering their flight safety demonstrations (click for video here). I am told this “creative” method is in addition to the normal boring safety routine but, be that as it may, it has definitely raised some eyebrows here and around the world! To put it simply, the flight attendants have choreographed a dance routine with music to highlight the many safety features of the given aircraft. It’s really entertaining but, more importantly, the flight attendants have the full and undivided attention of the passengers. I’ve studied the video several times and can’t find one passenger with his or her head down. Everyone is looking up at the attendants doing the Safety Dance (Yeah, I’m old enough to remember when that song came out. I bet you’re humming that song right now in your head too). That attention may help in saving lives during an emergency and that is what counts! Don’t worry about how the message was delivered, but moreover, how much of the message is RETAINED.
I’m actually hoping more airlines will adopt this method, so long as it is in addition to the normal briefing. My vote would be for Singapore Airlines or even Thai. Sorry United. Employee seniority notwithstanding, aging flight attendants dancing through the isles is not the way I want to begin my trans-oceanic flight, thank you very much.
In all seriousness though, I must give High-Fives to Cebu Pacific and their imaginative Flight Attendants for taking something most passengers ignore and turning it into a site they can’t take their eyes off of. Retaining the information provided during the safety demonstration WILL save your life! Any method used to gain and hold the attention of the flying public during this briefing is well worth the effort. High-Fives to Cebu Pacific!
Jetlag807