One of the few interesting articles I have rad in the local business section was about the comapny that makes the safety slides. Since the Airbus is so big, they have to run tests to make sure that people can get off the plane in the alloted FAA time.

I really wanted to go down there and volunteer - the "passengers" are local neighborhood people. How cool to slide down one of those slides.

Getting that many people on and off the plane is a major issue. Airports are also being reconfigured to handle that many passengers getting on and off during normal operation. Think about Sky Harbor in Phoenix, how many single gates have the capacity to hold 500 people waiting to get on a plane?

It's a similar issue that skyscraper designers face. How do you get the equivalent population of a small town (30,000) in and out of a building during the morning and evening rush?

I remember reading that when Boeing was designing the 747 there were considerations about the emotional impact a crash would have. The poossibility ot 400 people dying in a single crash was unheard of at the time.