Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!oliveb!bunker!wtm From: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: Re: Agreeing to disagree! Message-ID: <14779@handicap.news> Date: 12 Apr 91 14:46:34 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.isc-br.com Reply-To: shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) Lines: 36 Approved: wtm@hcap.fidonet.org Fidonet: Blink Talk Conference Index Number: 14779 Darrell Shandrow wrote: > JS> OK, Darrell, next time you're on a plane, demonstrate for me - > JS> without > JS> any instructions, of course - how to operate the emergency door. > JS> These aren't car doors, folks; they're fairly complicated. >Hi. I can see you point. However, I never said that the blind person needed >no instructions on how to use the exit doors. The blind person should be given >a level of instruction that is comparable to that given to the sighted. Also, >I never said that all blind persons can handle the responsibilities associated >with an exit row seat. What you have to demonstrate is not the ability to open the door, but the ability to see if there's a fire outside that door before you fling it open and set the airplane interior on fire. The way to increase survival (the whole purpose of aircraft evacuation) is to keep the inside of the plane as habitable as possible until everyone gets out. It's also not a good idea to exit a plane into a burning pool of jet fuel and hydraulic fluid. You do not open the door onto flames. The interior of the plane is flammable and letting in a fire will set it aflame. That's why airplane doors have those little windows. Not for the great view of the scenery, but to see if it's safe to open the door for evacuation. -- Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA Of course I don't speak for NASA "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all"--Unknown US fighter pilot