ABSTRACT
This graphic account from a survivor of the tragic Manchester Airport B737 fire of 1985 (King, 1988; Owen et al., 1998b) challenges a number of myths concerning survivability and human behaviour during aircraft emergency situations. The most commonly-held myth about aircraft emergencies is that they are non-survivable-if you are involved in an aircraft emergency you are as good as dead. This fatalistic view is often related to me by members of the travelling public, perplexed that these apparently non-survivable aircraft accidents involve opportunities to evacuate and hence to study.
