Human Factors Aspects of Emergency Egress from a Business Jet

Past research has shown that although occupants often survive crash impacts of business jet aircraft, they are often injured either in the course of egress or because they are unable to evacuate. A physical task analysis was performed to evaluate procedures for emergency egress from a typical business jet to demonstrate how possible human factors problems can be identified. First, the tasks required for the flight crew to evacuate via all possible routes were determined. Second, each task was divided into a series of physical elements, such as reach and grasp, corresponding to each movement or exertion. Third, physical aspects of the aircraft affecting performance of each element such as location and force, were measured. The physical requirements of each element were compared with available human factors data, to rate its difficulty. Selected aspects of the analysis are discussed.