United States Department of Transportation
i
Human Factors Associated with the Certification of Airplane Passenger Seats: Life Preserver Retrieval
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2003-05-01
[PDF-1.49 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:A series of human subject tests were conducted by the Biodynamics Research Team at the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) to investigate human factors associated with the “easy reach” requirement in FAA regulations for under-seat mounted life preservers. The protocol was designed to observe and measure the effects of human physical attributes and life preserver installation features relevant to the retrieval of life preservers. A mockup of a 30-inch pitch, economy class transport passenger seat installation was used to evaluate 4 configurations of life preserver installations. The position of the pull-strap, used to open the life preserver container, was the independent variable. One hundred thirty-two adult subjects were tested. Each subject was seated, restrained by the seat's lap belts, instructed to reach beneath the seat, open the lifer preserver container, and extract the packaged life preserver. The time for retrieval of the life vest was measured from videotapes of each test. The videotapes were also reviewed independently by 11 outside raters, who rated the difficulty for each subject on a scale of 1 (easy) to 7 (very difficult). There was significant agreement (Cronbach's alpha = 0.978) in the “ease” ratings. In comparing the ease ratings and retrieval times, an average ease rating < 3 corresponded to a retrieval time < 10 seconds. An “EASY10” benchmark, derived from these results, indicates that a life preserver retrieval time < 10 seconds should be considered easy. Two of the configurations had average ratings < 3. The installation features that distinguish the two configurations that passed the EASY10 benchmark, compared with the two that failed, were the position of the pull-strap, the pull-angle on the strap necessary to effect a quick opening of the life preserver container, and the position of the stowed life preserver relative to the front frame of the seat. The results indicate that the “easy reach” criteria should be satisfied if: 1) the pull-strap and life preserver container are no more than 3-inches aft of the seat frame, and 2) the pull-angle to quickly open the container is in the range: -50° < Q < -10°.
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