Impact of baggage collection behaviour on aircraft evacuation

Abstract

Recent reports of emergency aircraft evacuations have highlighted an increasing tendency amongst evacuees to ignore clear safety warnings and to collect and carry personal items of baggage during egress. However, relatively little work has so far been done on quantifying the impact of such behaviour on the evacuation process. In this paper, we report the results of validated simulation experiments (using the Boeing 777 wide-body aircraft), which confirm that even a relatively low level of baggage collection can significantly delay evacuation. Our platform provides one possible framework for the investigation of processes and mitigation tactics to minimise the impact of baggage collection behaviour in future.