Lets settle this once and for all! Does it really make a difference if your seat back is raised to the upright and locked position for take off and landing? Every time a passenger gives me the look that says, ” are you kidding me, so ridiculous!” It reminds me of a Seinfeld bit, when he talks about flying and how silly the whole seat back thing is. He stands straight up and says, “alive,” and then leans back and says, “dead.” Then repeats over and over…it’s funny…but, here’s the thing, having your seat in it’s up right position can make a difference. When you are in a situation when seconds count you don’t want anything to impede your exit. Weaving around jutting seats would slow things down.

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) mandates that every airplane must be able to be evacuated in 90 seconds or less, no matter how large the aircraft.FAA minimum crew is 1 Flight Attendant for every 50 seats. Once a year each airline must demonstrate that each aircraft in its fleet can be evacuated in the 90 seconds, if they fail they need to keep adding a Flight Attendant until this is achieved, this then becomes that air crafts new minimum crew.

Now, sit up straight and watch this video of the Airbus A380 evacuation test…and the next time you fly just put your seat up in its upright and locked position for take off and landing and know the Flight Attendants are doing there job and you’re safer for it.

Information about the Airbus evacuation test:

an evacuation test that Airbus conducted for its new A380 aircraft on Mar. 26, 2006. The test took place at Airbus in Hamburg, Germany.

• performed in complete darkness, aided only by emergency lighting
• half of the exits blocked, though neither crew nor test passengers know beforehand which ones
• test passengers reflect demographics of actual travelers (e.g., at least 40% female, at least 35% over 50)

To pass, all passengers and crew—whatever the plane’s maximum capacity—must be able to evacuate within 90 seconds. In this drill, all 853 “passengers” and 20 crew members got off the A380 within 78 seconds. The European Aviation and Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration approved the results of the trial a few days later.