Peer Review of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Study of the Effects of Passenger Seat Width and Pitch on Airplane Evacuation Performance
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Committee Conducting the Peer Review of FAA Research on the Effect of Passenger Seat Pitch and Width on Aircraft Cabin Evacuation Efficiency
Consensus and Advisory Studies Division
Transportation Research Board
Board on Human-Systems Integration
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Consensus Study Report
Transportation Research Board Special Report 358
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This study was sponsored by the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, Federal Aviation Administration.
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COMMITTEE CONDUCTING THE PEER REVIEW OF FAA RESEARCH ON THE EFFECT OF PASSENGER SEAT PITCH AND WIDTH ON AIRCRAFT CABIN EVACUATION EFFICIENCY
NANCY J. CURRIE-GREGG (Chair), Professor of Practice, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University
BRUCE BRADTMILLER, Senior Consulting Scientist, Emeritus, Anthrotech
RORY A. COOPER (NAE), Associate Vice-Chancellor, Distinguished Professor, University of Pittsburgh
BARBARA M. DUNN, Independent Safety Consultant
EDWIN R. GALEA, Professor, University of Greenwich
RUSH F. GREEN, Associate Technical Fellow, The Boeing Company (retired)
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Staff
MARK S. HUTCHINS, Study Director, Consensus and Advisory Studies, Transportation Research Board
THOMAS R. MENZIES, JR., Director, Consensus and Advisory Studies, Transportation Research Board
EMANUEL ROBINSON, Director, Board on Human-Systems Integration, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
TIMOTHY B. MARFLAK, Program Coordinator, Consensus and Advisory Studies, Transportation Research Board
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Reviewers
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
DAVID LAANANEN, Laananen Consulting LLC
KATHERINE LORD-JONES, Robson Forensic
JEFFREY MARCUS, Independent Safety Consultant
SUDHAKAR RAJULU, Consultant
MATTHEW REED, University of Michigan
CHRISTOPHER REID, The Boeing Company
GARY WEISSEL, Tronos Aviation Consulting
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by CRAIG E. PHILIP (NAE), Vanderbilt University, and WILLIAM S. MARRAS (NAE), The Ohio State
University. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
Acknowledgments
The committee wishes to thank staff from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute who contributed to its work through presentations and submitted materials.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Mark S. Hutchins managed the study and assisted the committee in the preparation of its report under the guidance and assistance of Thomas R. Menzies, Jr. Timothy B. Marflak provided administrative and logistical support. Karen Febey, senior report review officer, managed the report review process.
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Contents
Request for This Review of CAMI’s Research
Study Approach and Report Organization
2 BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE CIVIL AEROSPACE MEDICAL INSTITUTE RESEARCH PROJECT
Seat Pitch Versus Occupiable Space
Insights from Past Cabin Evacuation Research
3 REVIEW OF THE CIVIL AEROSPACE MEDICAL INSTITUTE PROJECT
Clarity and Coherence of Stated Objectives
Preface
Over the past 8 years Congress has directed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to regulate seat dimensions out of concern that airline passenger seat space is becoming too small as Americans are becoming larger on average. Sections 337 and 577 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 and then again in Section 365 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 asked FAA to issue regulations establishing minimum dimensions for passenger seats on aircraft, particularly if declining seat space can hinder emergency evacuations.
As part of its response to these concerns, FAA commissioned seat experiments and cabin evacuation time trials by the agency’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) during 2019 and 2020. The research project’s objectives, methods, and results were documented in the 2021 report Effects of Airplane Cabin Interiors on Egress I: Assessment of Anthropometrics, Seat Pitch, and Seat Width on Egress.1
Not long after the enactment of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, CAMI’s leadership asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene an expert committee to conduct an independent peer review of its evacuation research project, as documented in the 2021 report, datasets, and video recordings.
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1 Weed, D. B., et al. (2021). Effects of Airplane Cabin Interiors on Egress I: Assessment of Anthropometrics, Seat Pitch, and Seat Width on Egress. https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/2022-04/Effects_of_Airplane_Cabin_Interiors_on_Egress_I.pdf.
To conduct the study, the National Academies appointed a six-member committee of experts in experimental design, human factors, ergonomics, anthropometry, human subjects research, and aircraft evacuation testing. The committee met virtually with the sponsor twice to discuss CAMI’s research and report. These participants are listed in the acknowledgments section of this report. The committee then met virtually another 11 times to reflect on these discussions and to produce its final report.
June 2025
