Commercial Aircraft-Cabin Egress: The Current State of Simulation Model Development and the Need for Future Research

There has been increasing interest in developing simulation models capable of analyzing commercial aircraft-cabin egress under both non-life-threatening and life-threatening scenarios. At issue is the ability to accurately simulate human behavior within non-toxic environments, as well as the debilitating effects that toxic environments (e.g., fire and smoke) have on human-decision making. A set of criteria has been identified by the Federal Aviation Administration for developing simulation models capable of analyzing commercial aircraft-cabin egress. These criteria are used to (a) compare the capabilities and limitations of four aircraft-evacuation models in existence today , (b) identify the issues that need to be addressed when developing these types of models, and (c) propose a new paradigm for developing aircraft-cabin egress models.