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Comment by maxglute | Hacker News Reader

Man there needs to be some sort of amusement park where you try out common emergency safety mechanisms.

I've never broke / pulled a fire alarm, I'm sure I can, but let me.

ALSO EVERY AIRPORT SHOULD HAVE MOCK EMERGENCY AIRPLANE DOORS FOR PEOPLE TO TRY OUT.

Yes! I did a fire training course back in the old days when it involved a real fire extinguisher rather than just PowerPoint and it was interesting how many of us failed to put out a small fire in a cardboard box. You really do have to get close enough to aim at the base of the fire if you hope to achieve anything.

Also, if you fail to extinguish a fire with the first fire extinguisher, it's usually game over. It'll be much worse by the time you get back with another one.

Also a lot of people dramatically overestimate the abilities of a fire extinguisher.

A regular extinguisher will put out a bit of burning paper or your cats tail on fire, but when a set of curtains is on fire you should probably just evacuate.

I usually keep two 5 pound ABC dry chemical extinguishers and a fire blanket in my house. They will put out a LOT of fire. People make the mistake of buying way too little extinguisher and not knowing how to use them.

My brother put out a wall of gun powder and solvents using two cheap 2.5lb ABC extinguishers.

The local fire department did training at a previous place I worked where we each put out a fire with a refillable fire extengishable that squirted water instead of chemicals. I'm sure it wasn't a perfect simulation, but that strikes me as a reasonable middle ground for training non-firefighters.

The best thing is that a fire estinguisher costs like 10€, one of the small ones. You can just go light a fire where it's allowed and put it out. And maybe do it multiple times for every family member.

Still cheaper than going to the movies and more fun for the kids =)

That is a great idea. Lots of people learn CPR. Perhaps there is a market for a school that teaches basic, hands-on safety skills.

-How to put out a cooker fire with a fire blanket.

-How to use a fire extinguisher.

-How to cut a seat belt.

-How to break a window.

etc

Could be quite a fun day out. I would definitely pay for something like that for me and my family.

Your local boy scouts almost certainly have a working relationship with their local fire department that results in the FD taking them to wherever they train once every couple years and going through all those motions and more.

A 5lb dry extinguisher in the right hands can put out one of those oval stock tanks full of burning diesel, twice.

We had (optional) safety training when I worked at Square, which included CPR training, going over office evacuation procedures, etc. One of the most fun parts was they had a virtual fire extinguisher training, which involved basically a video game fire extinguisher controller to put out a fire on a tv. It’s definitely not as exciting as using a real fire extinguisher training, but can also be done in an office meeting room.

I’m still upset they didn’t let us start fires in the meeting rooms to practice using real extinguishers.

Miss working with you!

Virtual training is better than nothing. But I don't think it really compares doing IRL.

"ALSO EVERY AIRPORT SHOULD HAVE MOCK EMERGENCY AIRPLANE DOORS FOR PEOPLE TO TRY OUT."

I would pay money for this in the safety amusement park, but in real life way more people would get hurt operating the fake one at the airport than we'd help in real emergencies. Plane crashes where the emergency exit gets operated are so rare they effectively don't happen.

I had the opportunity to deploy (and use!) a slide at a Lufthansa event, super cool experience but given that just the slide deployment probably cost them over $30k I can’t really see it being a common thing.

Of course just opening an exit door replica you could do for ~free

I think mock slide deployment could be made much cheaper than 30k - e. g. high-volume compressors can be used instead of gas canisters, the materials can be cheaper because there is no weight or temperature requirements, etc.

And no bills from the coast guard. (All these devices have distress beacons that activate automatically)

Fair, since it doesn’t actually need to work well enough for emergencies you’re presumably looking at bouncy castle levels of spending.

Paying to break things is a valid business plan. In Tokyo, stressed business men can pay to break dishes by throwing them against a wall.

https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/dishing-out-anti-s...

I think the mock exit door would only be interesting with the corresponding emergency slide. The only problem is that in almost all cases where the emergency slide has been deployed and used, at least some passengers have been injured beyond a minor scrape - think severe sprains and tears, a broken bone, etc.

The purpose of the slide is to 1) empty the plane _very_ quickly 2) without causing a life threatening injury. Most people are not going to be injured using it, but some will and it's not really worth the small chance your leg gets fucked up forever from being ejected the wrong way.

Ah, you have intrusive thoughts as well. I mention it only to say that someone at my local grocery does not, based on the fact they thought to type up, print and post a sign saying PLEASE DO NOT POKE THE WATERMELONS thinking that would lead to a decrease in watermelon finger strikes.

Sounds like they're having issues with people thinking you can poke, prod, or drum on watermelons to check "ripeness" but it got lost in translation to "non-confromtstional."

Maybe? I am well aware/ don't care about watermelon ripeness because I find watermelon to be a complete waste of time 90% of the time. But now I want to poke them.

Safety mechanisms are often inherently unsafe, because they are safer than the alternative, so you don't want people playing with them. e.g. You cat cut yourself on the glass of a fire alarm, or break an ankle on an emergency exit slide.

Valid. Maybe something can be learned from using them more frequently, either by the maker or by the user.

Safety mechanisms are not inherently unsafe. A very small minority that leverage fast-deploying mechanics are, however the majority of safety is neutral. Life vests, eye protection, fall harness, emergency brake, electrical gloves, etc don't actively harm the person.

This is an obvious and simple idea and definitely should be driven by the FAA. Also, make sure the door goes somewhere cold like a freezer. Too many passengers dress for their destination airport and not their destination climate.

That is a great idea. Would be fun to play on for the kids too.

Lets not teach kids to open plane doors for fun.

No, this is backwards. Fun is trying new things (I think it's evolutionary mechanism that ensure kids are learning by default), and once the thing has been tried, it's not new anymore, so won't be tried again. Best thing we can actually do is to channel that, as OP proposed.

If only we had cheap, multi-use inflatable exit ramps that deflate, fold and stow themselves after use. Which is not a thing, apparently.

>and once the thing has been tried, it's not new anymore, so won't be tried again

There must be something in the water here, because kids here do it over and over again, usually ending up they getting hurt/nearly hurt or told to stop.

Yeah, no, that's not how it works. Need to do it many times before something is not fun. Just look at computer games.

Well, the way my parents discouraged me from smoking was, they brought a pack of cigarettes home and let me have one. Was awful, never wanted to try it again. That was an important life lesson for me.

This is how so many fires start. Kids are stupid (it's biological, brain hasn't developed, they can't help it). Fire is exciting. Then they go experiment with fire in a place you really shouldnt -> whoops, something burns down because they don't know how aggressive a fire is in real life and how hard it is to put out.

But if you give them the boyscout/camping treatment of having them light a fire so many times it becomes boring, let them play with matches, move burning logs with thick gloves and practice putting out controlled campfires safely it becomes boring, normal, and the excitement goes away.

You can't open the emergency doors while the cabin pressure is higher than outside pressure, if that's what you're worried about. And I think they don't let kids sit at the emergency exit either, because the person sitting there needs to be physically capable to remove the door, which has some weight to it.

I just dont want my kids to think its ok to play with the doors on a plane.

I don’t think anyone wants to send that message.

I guess the point is to teach how to use these mechanisms - so that there is no confusion in case an actual emergency happens.

Then don’t let them. Take responsibility for your children :)

But what if it improves everyone’s safety?

Opening doors isn’t fun. School busses would be un workable with that back door if it was.

> I've never broke / pulled a fire alarm, I'm sure I can, but let me.

Man. I did as a kid in school. I did some stupid "I am not touching it" games on the glass front and that button sucked itself in like I was opening a hatch on ISS. "Push hard" my ass. Firefighters popped up, I was so embarrassed to apologize to teachers, firefighters, school principal and even colleagues who complained for some reason about the unscheduled break. It wasn't even cold outside then!

My dad knew the right people and somehow bailed me out, but I still feel awkward passing by their main station where I also had to show up to explain myself. That was effing 35y ago, roughly!

I mean, I am mostly over it. But I wouldn't call it a win :)

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