JAA group will define tests for evacuations NEW CRITERIA for cabin emergency-evacuation tests are to be defined by the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) to enable the safety of a greater variety of exit configurations to be accurately assessed, according to JAA secretary-general Klaus Koplin.
After a 12 December meeting at the JAA's Hoofddorp, Netherlands headquarters, it was expected that a ruling would be announced advising European airlines what the maximum allowable seating in Boeing's new stretched 737-800 would be following the imminent adoption of a new certification philosophy (Flight International, 13-19 December). Koplin, however, says that the meeting decided instead to set up a working group to define "acceptable test procedures" which would prove "equivalent safety".
The move would enable, for example, a manufacturer to prove that a non-standard exit configuration could be at least as safe as a standard one, and thus gain certification for a given seating capacity. The working group, to include representatives from industry as well as regulatory authorities, is set to report in March 1996.
The current rule requires that a full aircraft cabin should be able to be evacuated in 90sec using only half the exits. There are formulae, however, for determining the criteria for calculating how many extra passengers may be carried in subsequent derivatives of the original type without going through full, live test procedures, which often cause injury. These criteria are formulaic and inflexible, and under the new certification philosophies this is not acceptable.
Source: Flight International
