WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators want the Federal Aviation Administration to rewrite aircraft evacuation standards by taking into account real-life conditions.
Existing regulation proposes that airlines must be able to evacuate passengers within 90 seconds but make no reference to cabin capacity.
Senators Tammy Duckworth and Tammy Baldwin say the FAA's tests do not include real-life conditions. The U.S. regulator's simulations include only 60 people.
"It appalled me that it's not a realistic test. They are using groups of able-bodied people," said Duckworth, who is a double amputee.
"The current standards are not realistic, and if we're going to test then we need to have realistic parameters, he added."
In 2018, Congress ordered FAA to publish regulations setting minimum dimensions of passenger seats for safety within a year, but nothing has been unveiled by the regulator so far.
The U.S. civil aviation authority unleashed an aircraft cabin evacuation study in March this year by reviewing 26,000 comments from the public to conclude whether current seat size and spacing impact cabin evacuation in case of an emergency.
Existing laws require ethical research guidelines for human testing, restricting the use of individuals with disabilities, children, and elderly people.
