Evacuation Slide - Types

Types

There are two types of aircraft evacuation slides: slides and slide/rafts. A slide is for use only on land as a means of escape, although it has sufficient buoyancy to allow passengers to hold on to a lanyard running the length of it and use it as a buoyancy aid. A slide/raft is an evacuation slide that can be used both as a means of escape in a land evacuation and as a life raft in a landing on water. Slide/rafts usually feature an erectable canopy, outer compartments to hold passengers and survival packs containing items such as leak stoppers, paddles and flares.

Slides can be single or dual lane, depending on the width of the exit, a dual lane slide being capable of evacuating a greater number of people quickly in an evacuation.

Slides and slide/rafts can be detached from the girt bar, usually by a two or three step procedures. This may, for example, involve lifting up the flap on the girt bar, and pulling the detach handle. These procedures are usually placarded red on the slide, "For Ditching Use Only". Once the slide is separated, the slide remains attached to the aircraft by a mooring line. This line will break if the airframe submerges, or can be disconnected with a pre-supplied knife or disconnect handle.

A ramp slide is an evacuation slide that has a small platform between the exit and the slide itself, and is used mainly where the proximity of the exit to an engine requires the slide to be angled away from the engine to prevent damage. Airbus A310, Airbus 340-600, Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 aircraft have ramp slide attachments for their overwing evacuation slides. The overwing exits on the Airbus A320 series, Boeing 757-variant and Boeing 767-variant aircraft also use ramp slide attachments.

Another unique type of evacuation slide is found on certain DC-9, MD-80 and Boeing 717 aircraft. This type of slide is in the aircraft's tailcone, and deploys after the tailcone is jettisoned by flight attendants, allowing for evacuation through the rear of the airframe. The procedure to use this exit may involve removing a plug-type pressure bulkhead, or a swing type door that leads directly to a walkway. At the end of the walkway is the slide pack and a manual tailcone jettison handle for use if the tailcone has not already been automatically jettisoned by opening the walkway entrance.

Certain evacuation slides do not use a slide bustle on the door as a container. Instead, the slide is "fuselage mounted" and is attached to a container located underneath or below the exit close to the aircraft exterior. This design of slide is found in the Airbus A321 aircraft at the emergency doors, and typically at all overwing evacuation slides other than the Boeing 747-400 series aircraft.

One of the newest developments in evacuation slide technology can be found on the Airbus A380, which was developed by Goodrich Aircraft Interior Products. Certain slides on board the aircraft have the Tribrid Inflation System, which is connected to a sensing system within the door. If the door is opened in emergency mode at an abnormal attitude (e.g. nose up position due to the loss of landing gear), the slide will inflate normally but will also inflate several feet of additional slide to ensure the slide reaches the ground. This contrasts with the Boeing 747 as doors found on that aircraft have no such system; should the slide not reach the ground, the doors must be blocked to prevent passenger injury.