Do you know how to fly safely? The 'why' behind airline safety rules | Cruising Altitude

I fly a lot and it always drives me crazy when people aren’t following the safety instructions on planes and it got me thinking: maybe some travelers just don’t know why the rules and guidelines for what to do on airplanes are in place.

Regular flyers have heard the safety briefing a thousand times but may never have looked under the hood at the reasons behind every instruction.

Two things in particular always stuck out to me: why does it matter if you put your own oxygen mask on before helping someone else (as my mom would say: what mother would put her own mask on before helping her child?), and why do your seat back and tray table need to be up for landing? What harm could be done if they’re not?

Of course, there’s an explanation for both of those things.

“People just don’t get it,” Raychel Armstrong, vice president of Transportation Worker’s Union Local 577, the union of Allegiant Air flight attendants, told me. “Understand we’re not just asking for fun.”

In the case of needing to affix your own oxygen mask first, it’s because when an airplane cabin decompresses, the oxygen content goes way down. At altitudes above 10,000 feet, you may have only a matter of seconds to connect yourself to supplemental oxygen before you start to develop symptoms of oxygen deprivation, which can include losing consciousness. If you take time to help someone else with their mask, you may be unconscious before you’re able to put on your own.

Sorry Mom, but even the most selfless mother in the world should put her own mask on first – she won’t be much use to anyone, least of all her beloved child if she dies from hypoxia.

It’s similar for seat backs and tray tables.

I long assumed the danger from seat backs in the wrong position or tray tables not properly stowed was that someone could smash their face and get bloodied during a hard landing.

It turns out it’s because they can be obstacles to escape in an emergency.

“There have been so many incidents in the past where passengers haven’t listened in emergencies and it’s resulted in death,” Armstrong said.

Seconds matter during an evacuation and any delays to getting out of an airplane increase the risks of not surviving a crash.

Who determines safety briefing contents?

The Federal Aviation Administration sets out the basic requirements for every safety briefing, though airlines can tweak the exact wording and how the information is delivered. The FAA required safety briefings and seat-back cards beginning in March 1965. Early briefings had to include information about when and where smoking was permitted on board, how to operate the plane’s seat belts and where emergency exits were located.

Since then, the requirements have been updated to include guidance on ditching procedures for water landings and oxygen mask operation.

Who reads those? Why the airplane safety card is more complicated than you think.

Why aren’t airline safety briefings more explicit?

I’m a big believer in the “knowledge is power” philosophy, but I also understand that there’s a limit to how effective that can be.

“At some point, if you say too much, everything goes out the window because people have goldfish brains sometimes,” Armstrong said.

But beyond people’s inability to absorb lots of information all at once, a more explicit safety briefing could make many travelers more hesitant and anxious about flying.

Adam Borland, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, told me that many people are stressed when they travel, and more information about potential airplane catastrophes could make that stress worse for some.

“There may be some people that want to know every single detail, and there may be others that are like, ‘you know what? I’m not going there in my head,’ ” he said. “You provide people with the tools, but you don’t want to do it in a way that is scary.”

Armstrong said that many inflight emergencies have a surprisingly long lead time, which can help with safety preparations.

For example, if a plane experiences a landing gear failure, the pilots often know well in advance of touchdown. That gives the cabin crew time to give passengers a more explicit briefing tailored to the specific situation, which is usually more effective than the general presentation at the start of every flight.

“In those situations, you do a more detailed, ‘you and you, this is what your roles are going to be in this evacuation,’ ” she said. “You go through with the passengers. You remind them how to unfasten the seat belt.”

What else should be in the safety briefing?

Armstrong said from her perspective as a flight attendant, she wants to emphasize how much of an obstacle carry-on bags can be in an evacuation, and she said she wishes safety briefings were more explicit about that danger.

“Don’t take your stuff. If you take your stuff, somebody can die,” she said.

Passengers leaving their carry-on bags behind was considered an important factor in the 100% survival rate of the Japan Airlines A350 that crashed in Tokyo in January.

Similarly, she said passengers need to understand how important it is to heed the fasten seat belt sign.

“We had a turbulence incident in August that was awful. We had three flight attendants that hit their heads on the ceiling and broke their ankles,” she said. “If you fly into the air, there’s a good chance you can harm somebody else … You are the biggest threat to yourself (in turbulence).”

Last week's Cruising Altitude: Flight attendants aren't there to just pour drinks. What's their job?

How can you deal with travel anxiety?

Borland said anxiety around flying is extremely common, and it’s important to recognize that you’re not alone if you’re experiencing it.

“Healthy distractions, whether it’s a book, a movie, a podcast, reading, working on some sort of project while you’re there,” he said. “If you don’t, if you’re just kind of sitting there, then the brain has an opportunity to go to the worst-case scenario.”

He added that you should consult a professional if your travel anxiety is really debilitating, and he would encourage airlines to consider recognizing this common problem and some do-it-yourself relaxation mechanisms in their announcements or inflight entertainment programming. (I’ve seen some airlines with meditation and deep breathing exercise videos on their seat-back screens, which can help with just this kind of issue.)

But even if it makes you nervous, paying attention to the safety briefing is still important. Listening to those instructions could literally save your life and should, hopefully, make you feel more secure.

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Airline safety: Know the rules and why they exist | Cruising Altitude