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Cranfield University to study plane evacuation behaviour

Getty Images The inside of a planeGetty Images
The study of how people evacuate planes will take place in Cranfield over six days in August

People's behaviour when they evacuate a plane is to be studied by experts.

Cranfield University, in Bedfordshire, and the University of Greenwich, London, are looking for hundreds of volunteers to take part in a trial.

By studying what people do, the findings will look to improve safety measures, organisers said.

Four hundred recruits will be filmed as they leave a stationary Boeing 737 at Cranfield's Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre.

Cranfield University A Boeing 747 plane at Cranfield UniversityCranfield University
The trial will take place on a grounded Boeing 737 plane at Cranfield University

"Researchers will explore the choices made by passengers during evacuation scenarios and investigate the influence of the cabin design upon participants' decisions," organisers said.

Zuzana Chin, from Cranfield University, said: "Understanding human behaviour during aircraft evacuation scenarios is crucial for enhancing safety measures."

The study will analyse choices made by participants aged 18 to 65.

Getty Images Exit of a planeGetty Images
People can withdraw from the experiment at any time, Cranfield University said

Volunteers need to register for the sessions between 15 and 20 August.

They will board the demonstration plane and experience an evacuation scenario, but emergency slides will not be used.

They will be filmed as they are told to leave their seats and make their way to an exit door.

Following the evacuation, they will answer a number of questions including why they chose a certain seat and why they went to a particular exit.

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