Can Bilbo Baggins keep you safe at 10,000 meters? Air New Zealand apparently thinks so: For the second time in two years, it has produced a big-budget, Middle Earth-themed, preflight safety video to grab the attention of passengers who've seen too many preflight safety videos. More than four minutes long and grandly titled "The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made," actors and orcs from the "Hobbit" films demonstrate where to stow bags, how to use a seat belt, and where the oxygen mask is located.
The video is well-made and entertaining, and it will probably sell tickets to the third and final "Hobbit" film, due Dec. 17. (Since its release a week ago, in fact, the video has racked up 8 million YouTube views.) But is there any reason to believe that such lavish productions are any more effective at ensuring passenger safety than an old-fashioned flight attendant holding up and clicking together a seat belt?
Perhaps the most comprehensive data on what airlines call preflight safety briefings comes from a 2000 U.S. National Transportation Safety Board survey of 457 passengers involved in 18 aircraft evacuations between 1997 and 1999. Of these, 52 percent claimed to have watched less than half of the briefing (and lived to tell the tale). When asked about the reasons for their inattention, 54 percent cited the fact that they'd seen such briefings before, and an additional 15 percent said the information was common knowledge.