A study on the comprehensibility of airline safety card pictorials and pictograms

Various aviation organizations have recognized the primary factor in assuring the rapid and safe evacuation of passengers from an aircraft emergency is the adequate transfer of passenger safety information, of which airline safety cards are an integral component. However, few researches are conducted for the safety card comprehension and cabin safety communication. The present study is intended to address the current state of the art for airline safety briefing cards and examines the efficacy of airline safety cards to convey the meanings of safety and emergency information. One-hundred and fifty participants were given a survey that tested the comprehension of pictorials/pictograms on a A330 safety card. The results indicate that comprehension for most of the pictorial information was uniformly low. In addition, the improvement area of safety card comprehension should focus on the pictorials/pictograms related to Evacuation (both water ditching & land), Brace Position, Life vest used in the water/night, and Fasten seat belt sign. Meanwhile, some textual clarification is suggested to add so that safety information will be more meaningful.