Idk why everyone acts like this would be some sort of travesty. If higher seating capacity through innovative cabine layouts bring down cost and carbon emissions per passenger, I’m all for it. I’m not flying for the experience but to get to my destination. If you all care so much about spacious seating, just book business class.
You don’t design for the flight; you design for the evacuation. We learned that the hard way decades ago. This looks like it forgot all those lessons paid for by people’s lives.
Then just add additional emergency exits to the plane. Except for a higher total number of passengers I don’t see how this layout would significantly slow down evacuation otherwise. Though I’m by no means an expert.
People’s legs being in that position would negate what is considered a safe evacuation. Modern regulations stipulate that you have 90 seconds to get everyone off the plane safely with 50% of the emergency exits blocked. That’s why you’re required to be seated completely upright with your feet on the floor during takeoff and landing. So you can stand up immediately if anything goes wrong and you need to evacuate.
This accident is one of the reasons why that rule exists. We forget these things:
“It was then, just 90 seconds after the plane came to a stop, that the entire passenger cabin exploded in flame. An unstoppable wall of fire swept forward from the back of the plane, consuming everything in its path, painting every window in brilliant orange. Firefighters tried to fight it, but there was nothing they could do. Captain Cameron, who jumped from the window just seconds before the explosion, would be the last to leave the plane alive.”
