When you travel by plane, from the moment you enter the airport until you arrive at your destination, you are bombarded with instructions, rules, and information... so much so that you probably "filter" most of it out and don’t even notice it anymore.Be honest: how many times have you actually listened carefully to the flight attendants' safety briefing before departure? Let’s take a look together at some of the most important things you should remember—you never know...
Refueling and Seat Belts
It often happens that refueling is underway during boarding. Flight attendants are tasked with informing passengers of this and recommending they take their seats while keeping their seat belts unfastened (unfastened, got it?) until refueling is complete. This is because, should a fire ever break out and the aircraft need to be evacuated, a fastened seat belt would be a major hindrance.
Keep Your Seat Belt Fastened Throughout the Flight
It is not always possible to predict when the aircraft will cross areas of turbulence, and it doesn't always manifest gradually... sudden jolts, even intense ones, can occur. Keeping your seat belt fastened, even if not tight, can protect you from getting hurt.
Window Shades Open for Takeoff and Landing
This is important because, if something serious were to happen during these phases (a fire, a runway excursion, etc.), the flight attendants need to be able to immediately assess the outside situation through the windows. This allows them to inform the Captain and decide if and how to proceed with an evacuation. For the same reason, cabin lights are usually dimmed or turned off during night takeoffs and landings, as a bright cabin would make it impossible to see outside.
Locate the Nearest Exit; Leave Heels and Luggage Behind
An emergency evacuation will likely never happen to you in your lifetime, but if it does, it’s better to be psychologically prepared. It can make the difference between having an adventure to tell or getting seriously injured. You must act quickly and orderly; knowing which emergency exit is closest to you is already a great start.
You also need to accept that you must leave your carry-on luggage on board. You have to overcome your materialistic impulse: phones, laptops, documents, and valuables are all superfluous and insignificant in the face of imminent danger. The ten seconds lost by each passenger to grab a phone, multiplied by hundreds of passengers, can become long, precious minutes between you and safety. It might sound like a silly point, but you only need to look at photos of real evacuations to realize it’s a serious issue!
Even in a controlled evacuation, always assume the worst. Once the danger has passed and everyone is safe, there will be plenty of time to recover your belongings! Also, remember that if you have to exit via an emergency slide (which is nothing to be scared about, I promise!), it’s important to remove high heels. They would obstruct you and, more importantly, could puncture the inflatable slide, making it useless for the passengers behind you.
Inflate Life Jackets ONLY After Leaving the Cabin
In the event of a water landing (ditching), you will be ordered to put on your life jacket. As you know, it can be inflated automatically by pulling the toggle. What you might not know is that once inflated, it is so bulky you won’t even be able to move your neck! Now, imagine dozens of passengers trying to squeeze through the cabin with these huge yellow collars toward a small emergency exit over the wing. You’d get stuck or, if the cabin floods, you’d float toward the ceiling and be trapped. Inflate the jacket only once you are outside the plane.
Oxygen Masks: Put Yours on Before Helping Others
Planes fly at altitudes where the air is very thin; to breathe normally, the cabin is pressurized. In the rare event of a loss of pressure, masks will drop from the panel above you. Pulling one toward you activates an oxygen generator.
Even if you feel fine and think you can breathe normally, it is vital to put the mask on as soon as possible. If you don’t, you will quickly suffer from Hypoxia (lack of oxygen in the blood). The symptoms vary and can be very subtle... you could easily lose consciousness without even realizing it. So, even if you have your child, partner, or grandparent next to you: think of yourself first, then help those nearby!
DontWorryFlyHappy!