Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-In poor health.) questioned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over latest airplane evacuations in a Tuesday letter.
In her letter, Duckworth referenced three recent evacuation incidents, all previously noted by the FAA, and acknowledged, “luckily, for all three incidents, skilled and extremely educated flight crews had been in a position to information all passengers to security with minimal accidents.”
“Whereas FAA has but to reveal how lengthy any of the referenced passenger evacuations took, these incidents as soon as once more elevate severe questions on FAA’s 90 second evacuation normal in addition to FAA’s assumptions about how evacuations happen in actual world circumstances (equivalent to the idea each passenger will adjust to directions to deplane with out carry-on baggage),” the Illinois senator added.
Duckworth’s letter follows a couple of notable aviation incidents within the final yr which have rattled Individuals and raised questions on air security, together with a lethal crash between an American Airways flight and an Military Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington Nationwide Airport that left no survivors.
“We’ll reply on to Sen. Duckworth,” the FAA stated in an electronic mail to The Hill on Tuesday. “Regarding evacuations: Security is our high precedence. That’s why the FAA’s message to passengers is straightforward: if it’s important to evacuate, depart your baggage behind and comply with crew directions.”
Duckworth additionally pressed the FAA to “present detailed responses to” questions in regards to the three beforehand talked about incidents, just like the size of time “to evacuate all passengers and crew” and the variety of passengers that “exited with carry-on baggage.”