Let’s hope none of us ever have to be put in a situation where we have to evacuate an airplane but this 2006 evacuation test of an Airbus A380 makes our current plane deplaning process look like a complete waste of time. The test incredibly emptied out all 873 passengers of the plane in less than 80 seconds. Typical planes in real life take around 10 minutes. Something is not adding up!
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Boarding a plane is like joining an assault course that demands you trample old people and bat small children out of the way you with your bare fists. Possibly. But perhaps not for much longer, because a Chinese mathematician claims to have found a far more efficient way to board an airplane. More »
Anyone who’s hopped on a flight at a major airport, or even some land-based transit, knows the agonizing wait that certain agencies demand while they scan for explosives and check boarding passes. Hitachi is working with Nippon Signal and the University of Yamanachi to build a new boarding gate that hopefully kills those two security birds with one stone. As you’re swiping your boarding pass (or smartphone), the machine also scans it for particle-sized traces of explosive materials and sends the all-clear or no-go in less than two seconds. If all goes well, the system could check up to 1,200 passengers every hour at a single gate — a rate quick enough to prevent a logjam at even the busiest terminals. Our chief reservations surround its scope. Hitachi has earned enough trust to get trial installations at Narita International Airport and a Tokyo subway station this coming spring, but we have a hunch that some airport officials would demand a more thorough screening, no matter how much it’s actually needed.
Filed under: Transportation, Alt
Hitachi boarding gate can sniff explosives on passes, keep the transport queues flowing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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