Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 October 15

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October 15

Aircraft evacuation slides

I was watching Non-Stop on the telly last night, and in the final scene, the passengers are evacuated from the crash-landed airliner by an inflatable chute which had a series of vertical perpendicular posts along the sides like this. I was curious about the purpose of these upright parts, but our Evacuation slide doesn't mention them. Any ideas? Alansplodge (talk) 19:49, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

Throwing out wild guesses and arguing about the appropriateness of doing so.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Just a guess, but perhaps they are to keep people from going over the edge. In real world conditions, there could be rather extreme wind and/or waves, and the slide may be twisted, not straight. There's also a net on the side, to catch people who do go over the edge, but that's a last resort, and may not be part of the slide, just an add-on at the test facility. (And even if it was included with the slide, they may not have time to disentangle people from a net during an emergency.) There could also be a psychological reason, that the vertical posts look like a solid wall from the POV of a passenger about to go down, and make them less reluctant to go, and therefore faster. StuRat (talk) 19:57, 15 October 2017 (UTC) 8 minutes after the OP posts the question, you jump in with a guess? Akld guy (talk) 21:54, 15 October 2017 (UTC) 2 hours after, and you jump in with nothing useful whatsoever ? StuRat (talk) 22:09, 15 October 2017 (UTC) It would be useful if you would quit trying to be first off the block with guesses and unreferenced OR "I think it's this" posts. Akld guy (talk) 23:59, 15 October 2017 (UTC) He was correctly suggesting that I was hoping for a reference; if one can be found, I will add it to the article. Alansplodge (talk) 22:13, 15 October 2017 (UTC) Would that he had said that, rather than taking shots at another editor. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:10, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

I don't see anything in Evacuation slide that answers this question. On Google Images, there are various types with various styles. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:21, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

According to this,[1] those things are tent poles. I note that the first questioner also guessed, but he guessed right. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:26, 15 October 2017 (UTC)

Thank you Baseball Bugs, that's solved the mystery. Can anybody find anything I can use as a reference for the article please? I spent the last 20 minutes Googling with no success. Alansplodge (talk) 16:43, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

That forum uses the following source (but I haven't attempted to verify):

"Tulmar Safety Systems: Engineered for Aviation & Defence protection". www.tulmar.com. — 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:198D:93E0:4AF4:F57D (talk) 17:06, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

This looks possible - [2]. The plane is the Airbus 330 which might also lead to the manufacturer of the slides. Wymspen (talk) 17:18, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, but neither actually mentions either the canopy or the posts. Alansplodge (talk) 12:33, 17 October 2017 (UTC)

The canopy is mentioned here, but not in any detail. The slides with canopy & posts are referred to as slide/rafts, and one is shown in raft configuration. The Evacuation slide article does mention slide/rafts and canopies, but nothing about the posts. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:ACC4:13C2:F9BB:C86F (talk) 14:52, 18 October 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, I saw that but was hoping to find something that spelt it out. However, as the combined brains of the RefDesk have been unable to find one, I must assume that it doesn't exist on the internet. Thanks again for your efforts, one and all. Alansplodge (talk) 17:14, 18 October 2017 (UTC)

It's mentioned in the patent.[3]

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the device may be provided with inflatable stanchions which serve to support the canopy and hold it above the people riding in the raft, increasing their comfort and providing additional room for moving about.

ApLundell (talk) 22:42, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

I hate paging people, it feels rude, but I think this is going to be archived very shortly, so I suppose I should make sure @Alansplodge: sees it. ApLundell (talk) 23:33, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

Thank you most kindly; I never thought of searching for "inflatable stanchions". Alansplodge (talk) 08:16, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

Now added to Evacuation slide#Types. Alansplodge (talk) 11:02, 20 October 2017 (UTC)

Resolved

And here it is a day later, still on the page. I guess I don't understand how the archive bot works.ApLundell (talk) 13:30, 20 October 2017 (UTC)