The Great Escape

To research the report, McLean and Corbett interviewed 408 passengers, all of whom had flown at least once during the past two years, asking them basic questions about emergency procedures, such as the proper use of the oxygen mask. Most could not recall what they had been told during safety briefings or read on safety cards. For example, the majority did not know that someone traveling with a child should don his own oxygen mask first and then assist the child.

Ironically, a substantial number of passengers explained that they don't read safety cards or listen to instructions because they do not believe accidents are survivable. Indeed, government research shows that the typical flier believes most airliner crashes are inevitably fatal, says Dave Palmerton, a crash expert at the Oklahoma City research laboratory. "All the attention given to disasters like TWA flight 800 has created the impression that you can't survive a plane crash."

Another surprise: The most-frequent fliers knew the least. The typical "nonattender," as the FAA labels them, was described as a "well-educated young man with more than average flight experience" who suffers from overconfidence and believes that he has "heard it all." The report found that while some of those surveyed said that they tuned out safety briefings because the idea of an emergency scared them, even more said that they disregarded the announcements to avoid the embarrassment of being the only person paying attention.

Another report released by McLean last year excoriates carriers for providing passengers with too little critical safety information, both via in-flight safety cards and on their Web sites. It rated the quality of the airlines' information on a scale of one to five, and only one of the 40 largest carriers flying in U.S. airspace—Qantas—scored as high as four. Most were given essentially failing grades of one or two.

To remedy this, McLean and others are proposing solutions that range from offering prize money to passengers who pass a quiz on what they heard during the briefing to installing interactive kiosks in airport terminals where fliers can, say, get some virtual experience in opening an exit door.

As for the role of the crew, research at Cranfield University shows that "a very assertive flight crew is essential in getting everyone off," Muir says. Indeed, in reports reviewed by Condé Nast Traveler, a high number of evacuations involved fights between cabin crew and passengers who refused to relinquish their bags. An FAA study of emergency evacuations released last year revealed that nearly 50 percent of passengers attempted to carry a bag off the plane, a figure that "reflects a serious lack of knowledge about the short time available for escape." Carry-ons have caused numerous injuries to evacuees and can slow down the escape process considerably, resulting in more fatalities. Yet none of the passengers on the Air France flight who were interviewed by Condé Nast Traveler could recall a flight attendant telling them to leave their bags.