Cards like these are commonly referred to in the collecting hobby as “pilot trading cards” due to their intended use for flight crews to hand them out to passengers, with a signature line on the back. These unique cards were produced over the years by Alaska’s former ad agency, Cohen-Dwyer Advertising, beginning with three sepia-tone cards in 1996. The first issued cards featured three different vintage Alaska Airlines aircraft (Bellanca Skyrocket, Douglas DC-3 and Boeing 727-90C) and were intended as promotional giveaways to celebrate Alaska’s upcoming 65th anniversary.
In the ensuing years, full-color cards were produced in the late 1990s with stylized wings logo “Alaska’s World” (an ad campaign during that era) in the upper left corner of the card. Only two Alaska cards were issued with this logo, a Boeing 737-400 and McDonnell Douglas MD-80.
Around the same time, subsidiary carrier Horizon issued a card of its Dash 8Q-200 (de Havilland DHC-8-200 turbo-prop) with a similar card format. This particular card is considered the rarest one.
Alaska and Horizon both continued with this format-gold frame with a polished gold inset for a few more cards but without the “Alaska’s World” wings logo. Among them are two different cards of the Boeing 737-900 with the gold seal “Official Launch Carrier” in the lower right corner. The first of these (below left) was issued in very limited quantities and only distributed to attendees at the May 16, 2001 Boeing delivery roll-out ceremony. It is also very rare.
Beginning in 2002, Alaska began issuing these cards in a different format with full-color layout on the card front, initially with artist images of its many different special schemes, and later with actual inflight photographs or ground views of each different aircraft type in the fleet. At the time, this was especially important to promote the company’s strong partnership with Disneyland Resort since many of its planes sported Disney schemes.
Unfortunately for the meticulous trading card collector, this is where it starts to get a bit complicated for those desiring to have the complete set. Some of the Disney cards began to show up with variations, not readily caught at first, but seen by the astute eye of true hobbyists. For example, the card with the Boeing 737-400 Magic of Disneyland (better known as the Tinkerbell scheme) was issued with four different variations-even different backs on two of them, while the Alaska Statehood cards have blue/white title variations. This is attributed to the cards being reissued in different years, or in some cases just to produce a better image.
Similarly, the card with Spirit of Make-a-Wish scheme has two different backs of the same card.
Other variations appear on the Boeing 737-400 Salmon Thirty Salmon cards and the 75th anniversary scheme 737-800 Starliner which includes two different cards. One of the most rarely seen variants of this card collection, issued in 2009, is below on the right.
The 737-400 alaskaair.com Dot Com scheme has an early gold frame card with the same image of the plane as appears later on an updated card in 2005.
Another interesting variant was a card honoring famous Olympic athlete Apolo Ohno, who became a spokesperson for Alaska Airlines for a brief time. One of its planes, a Boeing 737-800 (N596AS), was decorated with a “Follow Apolo” motif in 2010.
The last cards to be issued (see below) were in 2013, and are less common today.
From a purely technical standpoint, the Alaska Airlines cards are in a uniquely separate category from actual hobby collector cards due to their larger size (3-1/4” x 4-1/4” vs. standard baseball card size of 2-1/2” x 3-1/2”) and also of thinner card stock, but are nevertheless highly collectible. Unfortunately, the cards were never numbered, nor is their print run known, making it difficult to appraise their true value other than what may appear on eBay and other auction sites. By comparison, several other airlines have produced more traditional “baseball card size” issues (Delta, FedEx, Hawaiian, Northwest, United, and recently Frontier of wildlife on the tails of their planes), but only Delta has seen fit to number their cards consecutively so their cards are very popular with the hobbyists-especially for several early issue, low production cards that are difficult to find. Alaska did issue a set of more traditionally-sized collector cards in 1997 to celebrate its 65th anniversary. This 25-card boxed set of colorful cards includes past and present planes in Alaska’s history and comes in both standard blue titles as well as special limited edition gold embossed versions.
From the number of cards in my personal collection, with known variants and re-issued, updated versions of the same aircraft type, I calculate that there are 46 total different cards in Alaska’s odd-size collection as listed below:
Bellanca “Skyrocket”
Boeing 727-90C “Golden Nugget Jet”
Boeing 737-400 “Alaska’s World”
Boeing 737-400 “Combi”
Boeing 737-400 “Magic of Disneyland” Tinkerbell (4)
Boeing 737-400 “Salmon Thirty Salmon” (3)
Boeing 737-400 “Spirit of Alaska Statehood” (2)
Boeing 737-400 “Spirit of Disneyland” (2)
Boeing 737-400 “Spirit of Make-a-Wish” (2)
Boeing 737-400 alaskaair.com “Dot Com” (3)
Boeing 737-400 Freighter
Boeing 737-400 standard livery
Boeing 737-700 Portland “Timbers Jet”
Boeing 737-700 standard livery (2)
Boeing 737-800 “Follow Apolo” (2)
Boeing 737-800 “Spirit of Seattle”
Boeing 737-800 “Starliner 75” (2)
Boeing 737-800 alaskaair.com “Dot Com”
Boeing 737-800 ETOPS “Adventure of Disneyland Resort” Cars movie characters (2)
Boeing 737-800 ETOPS “Salmon Thirty Salmon II”
Boeing 737-800 ETOPS “Spirit of the Islands”
Boeing 737-800 ETOPS Hawaiian lei on tail
Boeing 737-800 standard livery
Boeing 737-900 “Spirit of Disneyland II”
Boeing 737-900 standard livery (3)
Boeing 737-900ER standard livery
Bombardier Q400
Douglas DC-3
McDonnell Douglas MD-80
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 “Alaska’s World”
There are also 8 total cards issued by Horizon Air:
Bombardier CRJ-700 vertical card
Bombardier Q200/Q400 vertical card
Bombardier Q400 “Celebrating 25 Years”
De Havilland DHC-8Q-200 Horizon Air wings logo
De Havilland DHC-8Q-200 “Dash 8” (2)
Fokker F28-4000 (2)
Ron Suttell, an airline historian specializing in Alaska Airlines, can be reached at rpsuttell@comcast.net.
Pan American World Airways has always been associated with the sea and things nautical. Its aircraft were called “Clippers” and many of the Clipper names had references to the sea, particularly with the Boeing 747 aircraft, which were given names such as Pride of the Sea, Champion of the Seas, Spark of the Ocean, Belle of the Sea, Crest of the Wave and Sovereign of the Seas, to name a few.
How Pan American became the “Nautical Airline” is centered on Pan American’s founder, Juan Trippe who dreamed of this idea from the beginning of his venture in establishing an airline. How Pan American was formed is a story of wheeling and dealing, mergers and acquisitions and financial and political maneuvering that is well documented in the Pan American literature, including Robert Daley’s An American Saga – Juan Trippe and His Pan Am Empire (hereinafter “Daley”), Marylin Bender and Selig Altschul’s The Chosen Instrument (hereinafter “Bender and Altschul”) and R.E.G. Davies’ Pan Am, An Airline and Its Aircraft (hereinafter “Davies”).
Suffice it to say, however, it is useful to have a little background. In the beginning, there were four interested groups, as identified by Davies. The first group, the Montgomery Group, formed Pan American Airways, Inc. (PAA). It was founded on 14 March 1927 by Air Force Majors “Hap” Arnold, Carl Spaatz, and John H. Jouett, later joined by John K. Montgomery and Richard B. Bevier, as a counterbalance to German-owned carrier “SCADTA” (Colombo-German Aerial Transport Co) that had been operating in Colombia since 1920.
SCADTA was viewed as a possible German aerial threat to the Panama Canal. Eventually, Montgomery petitioned the US government to call for bids on a US airmail contract between Key West and Havana (FAM 4) and won the contract. However, PAA lacked any aircraft to perform the job and did not have landing rights in Cuba. Under the terms of the contract, PAA had to be flying by 19 October 1927.
On 2 June 1927, Juan Trippe formed the Aviation Corporation of America (ACA) (the Trippe Group) with financially powerful and politically well-connected backing and raised $300,000. On 1 July Reed Chambers and financier Richard Hoyt (the Chambers-Hoyt Group) formed Southeastern Airlines.
On 8 July Trippe formed Southern Airlines and on 11 October Southeastern was reincorporated as Atlantic, Gulf and Caribbean Airways. Trippe then proposed a merger between these three groups and in doing so played a trump card: He and John A. Hambleton, one of his backers, traveled to Cuba and persuaded the Cuban president to grant landing rights to the Aviation Corporation, making Montgomery’s mail contract useless as a bargaining chip. After much wrangling between the groups, including a meeting on Hoyt’s yacht during which Assistant Postmaster General Irving Grover threatened that if there was no deal he would not be awarding any contract to anyone, the Aviation Corporation of the Americas was formed, operating as Pan American Airways, headed by Juan Trippe. Later the corporation’s name was changed to Pan American Airways.
(left to right) Juan Trippe, Reed Chambers and General Hap Arnold (AeroArt via PAHF).
The deadline of 19 October still loomed, however. A Fokker F-VII aircraft was selected for the operation but could not be used because Meacham’s Field in Key West was not completed and could not accommodate the aircraft. What transpired was an eleventh-hour miracle. Pan American’s representative in Miami learned that a Fairchild FC-2 monoplane was in Key West, sitting out a hurricane threat. The aircraft was owned by West Indian Aerial Express (the Fairchild Group) and a deal was made to charter the aircraft. The pilot was offered $145.50 to carry mail to Havana that had just arrived on the Florida East Coast-Atlantic Coast Line railroads. The hurricane threat disappeared, and the trip was made. The rest is history.
On 28 October 1927, the Fokker left Key West on Pan American’s inaugural international flight, carrying 772 lb. of mail. On 16 January 1928, the first passenger flight was completed on the same route. And on 28 October 1928, Pan American established its Miami base at Dinner Key.
The First Clipper
In 1931, Pan American acquired the Sikorsky S-40, the first aircraft to be designated “Clipper”. This designation came about as a result of Trippe’s fascination with ships and the sea. As a child, he had traveled to Europe on Cunard Line ships and this fascination transcended to the idea that Pan American should be a kind of nautical airline.
RMS Mauretania, a Cunard liner that Juan Trippe might have traveled on to Europe (Cunard brochure).
Along these lines, a maritime culture emerged. Andre Priester, who Trippe had previously hired as chief engineer, dressed the pilots as naval officers with gold wings pinned to their breast pockets. Gold stripes were on the jacket sleeves to show rank. The pilots also wore peaked hats with white covers and a gold strap. And, according to Daley, Priester “forbade [the pilots] to stuff or twist these caps into the dashing, high-peaked shapes so dear to most aviators’ hearts.” These naval trappings according to Bender and Altschul “served to set distance between the airline and aviation’s all too proximate history symbolized by the khaki breeches, leather puttees, jacket and helmet of the daredevil flyer. [Pan American’s] pilots were invested as engineers to whom flying was a scientific business rather than a thrilling escapade.” Pilots underwent a stringent and comprehensive training program and, according to former flying boat and retired captain Bill Nash, were required to have college degrees prior to hiring and to demonstrate proven proficiency prior to promotion in the flight deck. Nash started as a Fourth Officer before rising to Captain.
Sikorsky S-40 Southern Clipper (PAHF).
When the S-40 made its debut, it was the largest airplane built in the United States. Its maiden voyage on 19 November 1931 was from Miami to the Canal Zone carrying 32 passengers with Charles Lindbergh at the controls and Basil Rowe (formerly with the West Indian Aerial Express) as co-pilot. Igor Sikorsky, whom Trippe had earlier brought on board to design an aircraft to Pan American’s own specifications (the predecessor to the S-40, the S-38) also had some time at the controls.
Trippe named the aircraft the American Clipper. Perhaps inspired by prints of American Clipper ships hanging in his home or reaching back to his Maryland ancestry from where these swift sailing ships originated in the shipyards of Baltimore, it was, according to Bender and Altschul “appropriate then, to call the first transport ship designed for international air commerce after those magnificent vessels.” Thereafter, all Pan American aircraft were to be designated Clippers.
Clipper Pride of the Ocean at London Heathrow (Author).
Clipper Dashing Wave at Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport (Author).
The operation would be in keeping with maritime lore and custom. The pilot was called “captain” and the co-pilot “first officer”. The title “captain” implied master of the ship or chief executive of the flying boat. Speed was calculated in knots (nautical miles per hour), time in bells, and a crew’s tour of duty was a “watch”. In the cabin, according to Daley, “walls and ceilings would be finished in walnut painted in a dark stain, and the fifty passengers would sit in Queen Anne chairs upholstered in blue and orange. The carpet would be blue, and the windows equipped with rope blinds. As aboard any ship, life rings would hang from the walls of the lounge.” The stewards, according to Bender and Altschul, “were modeled in function and appearance after the personnel of luxury ocean liners. Their uniforms were black trousers and white waist-length jackets over white shirts and black neckties. Stewards distributed remedies for airsickness, served refreshments (and in the S-40, prepared hot meals in the galley of the aircraft), pointed out scenic attractions from the windows of the plane and assisted with the red tape of Customs and landing procedures.”
Cabin of the S-40 (PAHF).
Cabin of the S-42 (PAHF).
This nautical approach seemed to carry on through the entire existence of Pan American. The flight deck – bridge – was always on the top deck, as on an ocean liner. This was evident in the flying boats, including the Martin M-130, the China Clipper, the Boeing 314, the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser and the Boeing 747, with its flight deck on the upper deck of the aircraft.
Martin M-130 China Clipper (PAHF).
Boeing 314 American Clipper. Note the naval officer uniform on the pilot on top of the aircraft. (PAHF).
Boeing 377 Clipper Southern Cross (PAHF).
The flight deck of the Boeing 314 had the appearance of the bridge of a merchant ship:
Flight deck (“bridge”) of the Boeing 314 (PAHF).
Below, the SS United States and the bridge of a large merchant ship (bottom):
SS United States underway (Charles Anderson).
Bridge of a Roll On/Roll Off merchant ship (Author).
A “nautical” ambiance was also prevalent at Clipper departures, particularly from Dinner Key in Miami during the early years and Pan American’s Worldport at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport in the later years. There was an atmosphere like the departure of an ocean liner, with festivity, sense of adventure, and anticipation of a voyage to a distant place. The setting at the Worldport, particularly with the evening departures to distant destinations, included passengers and well-wishers gathered at the gate in sight of the Clipper being readied for the long voyage ahead. There was a sense of drama; the type of drama that Juan Trippe probably envisaged for each Clipper departure. The romance of traveling to faraway places was part and parcel of the Pan American experience.
The nautical element was also featured in many of Pan American’s printed brochures and posters, as well as on the cover of an annual report.
However, as the years passed, the romance of the “nautical airline” began to wear out. Perhaps Pan American tried to preserve it with the Boeing 747, but times had changed. The grand ocean liners were soon replaced by cruise ships where passengers were more interested in the on-board entertainment rather than the peaceful environment of the sea (although that can still be experienced on cargo ships). Airline passengers became more interested in getting from A to B at the lowest fare, rather than experiencing the ambiance of a flying ocean liner. Airplanes became more like buses, apart from the premium cabins, rather than airships commanding the airways. And the bridge, both on many cruise ships and on the largest passenger aircraft in the world, would no longer be on the topmost deck. The sense of command of the airways and the sea has seemed to disappear, and the bridge, “formerly sacrosanct navigational preserves”, as eloquently described by John Maxtone-Graham in Liners to the Sun, is now simply a functionary in the process of getting passengers from A to B, or in the case of a cruise ship, from A to A via port visits.
In the picture below of an Emirates Airline A380, note that the flight deck is located between the main and upper decks. Compare the flight deck location on the Boeing 747 and other earlier aircraft pictured above. And, on the newer cruise liners, the bridge is not on the highest deck, as shown here on the Holland America Line’s MS Koningsdam, where it is located four decks below the top deck.
Emirates Airline A380-800 at London Heathrow (Author).
MS Koningsdam (Kees Torn).
Perhaps Pan American the Nautical Airline was overcome by its own success. One cannot, however, deny that the idea of a nautical airline was a necessary step in the process of shrinking the globe. Now, with today’s technology, it probably is no longer needed. Happily, one tradition of the nautical airline continues: The Pilot-in-Command of an airliner is still the “Captain”.
An interesting anecdote:
Like the Boeing 377 Stratocruiser and the Boeing 747 was to Pan American, so is the A380 to Emirates Airline.
In an interview with Emirates CEO Sir Tim Clark, Andreas Spaeth noted that “probably no other airline boss since Pan Am patriarch Juan Trippe in the 1950s and 1960s, who helped shape the all-important Boeing 747, was as influential regarding what aircraft manufacturers were bringing to market than Sir Tim, a role he excels and revels in.”
Clark recalled how his parents “enjoyed the Pan Am Stratocruiser – the lounge downstairs, the dining room at the back…”
In another interview with Sam Chui, Clark explained his fascination with the double-decker airplane:
“I used to fly on the Pan-Am Boeing 377 Stratocruiser as a child; I was looking around saying, yes, you know they’ve got lounges, they’ve got a dining room downstairs etc. So in all the years, we’ve got the A380 to where that was.”
In the Spaeth interview, he recalled one of his favorite all-time aviation memories, when he set eyes upon his first jumbo jet: “It was on January 22, 1970, when Pan Am brought the 747 to Heathrow for the first time. I was 20 years old and I managed to get access to the roof of a catering building with my girlfriend to watch it land. We were all stunned.”
Little did he know then that, ultimately, he himself would play an essential role in bringing an even bigger airliner to the world stage.
Which subjects are shown on safety cards? There is a minimum set of mandatory subjects appearing on all safety cards. Additionally, there are subjects many airlines add, and some only a few carriers choose. Particularly the latter appetizes collectors who seek unique samples. This article is a structured examination of the common items, complemented with examples of those one-offs.
The mandatory items can be divided into those that apply to each flight (the routine subjects) and those for emergencies only.
Routine Subjects
The routine subjects often appear first on the cards. They include baggage stowage, seat belt use, and subject to much recent development, the use of electronic devices. Some airlines add regulations about not smoking, specifically in lavatories.
Almost all cards show baggage stowage under seats, and some also show putting it in overhead compartments. The fastening and unfastening of seat belts is a standard item on all cards. Recent restraining developments now found on cards are shoulder harnesses and seatbelt-mounted airbags. They result from stricter safety regulations introduced since the late 1980s, generally known as the “16 g” rules.
KLM 787-10: with shoulder harness.
Delta Air Lines A330: inflatable belt (top).
Singapore Airlines A380.
Some airlines add instructions to keep the safety belt fastened, or fasten it, during turbulence. Canadian North uses a telling symbol for turbulence.
Canadian North 737-300.
Another routine subject increasingly shown on safety cards is the restraint method for children and infants. Here, a difference exists between the U.S. and other continents (including Europe). The FAA prohibits the use of infant loop belts, while it is promoted in Europe. In either case, the better option is the use of a “child restraint device,” but this requires a separate seat, which not everyone is willing to buy.
Finnair ATR42: adult and infant share same seat, with infant secured to adult by a loop belt.
PrivatAir 737: infant/child in separate seat, restrained by a Child Restraint Device.
An area in which safety card contents changed significantly over the past few decades is transmitting devices. In the 1980s TVs and remotely-operated toys appeared as prohibited items on safety cards. More devices were prohibited in the 1990s and 2000s, such as illustrated on a 737-400 card from an unidentified Spanish operator (believed to be Air Europa, c. 2000).
Avianca 707, early 1980s.
Air Europa(?) Boeing 737-400, c. 2000.
Other companies listed them in text format only, such as Cubana.
Cubana Ilyushin Il-62.
In those decades there was a specific concern about such devices as Nintendo games as they could affect the airplane’s navigation equipment. The prohibition was extended to mobile telephones when they appeared, and their successor, the smartphone. The mobile phone industry reacted and created the “airplane mode” option that switches off signal transmission. This allowed passengers to use them on board. From 2010 onwards, tablets have been popular. As they also have an “airplane mode” their use onboard was also allowed. The information displayed on safety cards for electronic devices varies from virtually nil to extensive lists of what is allowed. Typically, this is split into taxi/take-off/landing phases and the cruise phase but VLM in 2017 recognized six distinct flight phases.
VLM Fokker 50, 2017: text only.
Air Europa, Boeing 787-8: icons only.
Delta Air Lines 717: both text and icons.
Emergency Subjects
Emergency subjects on safety cards address four scenarios: (1) the in-flight decompression, (2) the crash landing, (3) escape on the ground and (4) escape and survival on water. Additionally, some cards include other emergency equipment.
Oxygen
For the in-flight decompression emergency, the main concern is the provision of oxygen. Most airplanes have a system that deploys automatically. The card shows how to grab and don the mask, often with an extra panel showing an adult administering a mask to a child, but only after first securing their own mask. Some airlines add a clock to these diagrams explaining the time needed for each step. Typically, the final step – an adult donning the mask of a child – should be concluded within 10 to 15 seconds.
Azimuth RRJ-95 (this card has animal heads and tails instead of humans).
Oxygen masks should be available wherever passengers may be during the flight. Some cards specifically show oxygen masks in lavatories. An airline that grouped the lavatories on the lower deck (below the main cabin) added a page with safety instructions specific to that deck, including the use of oxygen masks in the waiting area.
MyTravel A330.
Airplanes with limited ceilings, typically turboprops, may have a non-drop-out system. Passengers need to plug a mask into an overhead outlet connected to a piping system. The masks are either handed out or need to be retrieved from under the seat.
Thai Airlines ATR 72.
DLT Fokker 50, 1988.
Yet, other airplanes do not even have that and their cards therefore lack any oxygen instructions. Next to airplanes that stay low, this also applied to some early European jets such as the BAC 1-11 and the Caravelle, in spite of their ceilings of up to 35,000 ft. Even though these airplanes suffered decompressions, the absence of oxygen did not lead to fatalities.
Brace For Impact
The main instruction associated with a crash landing is the “brace for impact” position. Airlines use a range of different positions. This not only varies for the type of person (adult, child, adult with infant, pregnant woman) but also the method of bracing varies. While most agree the body should be flexed forward, instructions on how to hold arms, hands, and feet differ. These reflect the results from various research studies into this area and the absence of internationally agreed standards. This concerns forward-facing seats; for aft-facing seats, there is more consistency.
Canadian North Boeing 737-300.
Evacuation on Land
Instructions for escape on the ground typically address four elements: (1) the path from a passenger seat to the exits, (2) the locations of the exits, (3) the opening and use of the exits, and (4) the use of a slide or other descent device.
Path to the exits
The escape path from a passenger seat to the exit is formed by the aisle, the same as used during normal operations. Many cards show a diagram of the airplane revealing the aisle, or aisles in the case of a wide body. An aisle is typically identified by a red line (rarely, it is green or another color) leading to and through the exits. For twin-aisle airplanes, some airlines identify each aisle, while others do not care and show one line symbolizing both aisles. American Airlines shows something in between. Some airlines go further and show in their diagram the floor-mounted emergency lighting which runs along the aisle, with offsprings in exit rows. Where the airplane diagram does not show the floor lighting, often the card has a separate panel explaining it.
American Airlines Boeing 777.
Condor A320, showing both aisle and floor lighting.
Exit signs help passengers identify where the exits are. The only cards I am aware of showing them are those of the Boeing 787. This airplane type has the symbol of the green running man instead of the traditional red, lettered, EXIT sign which is common in the U.S. To explain the symbol to the American audience, the FAA required the safety card explain it. Other countries, even those where the green symbol is very common, adopted this condition. EU country Poland is an example.
LOT Boeing 787.
The largest airplane without an aisle is the Trislander, a development of the ubiquitous Islander. In its absence, it has as many as five emergency exits for 16 passengers. Each exit serves one or two rows, as Aurigny (the Guernsey airline) correctly displays. Other Islander users such as OFD, which serves the Frisian islands of Germany, incorrectly suggest there is an aisle.
Aurigny Islander/Trislander: no aisle.
OFD Islander, 2014, with incorrect route.
The overall airplane diagram often is a bird’s eye-view rendering from the left front. Another way to show the aisle and exit location is a top view, either displayed horizontal or vertical. In 1984, Transavia rarely rendered an elevated view from behind.
Czech Airlines A319, 2017: bird’s eye view.
Transavia 737, c. 1984.
Exits
The next step in the escape journey to outside safety is the exit, where the main challenge is how to open it. Airliners typically have two kinds of emergency exits: non-floor level exits which are located in passenger seat rows, and floor level exits, where cabin crew sit adjacently. The non-floor level exits are always located over the wing and have a hatch that comes free from the fuselage. It is to be opened by a passenger and is therefore also known as a “self-help exit.” The exits with cabin crew next to them consist of a door, often of the hinged type.
Particularly for the first category, the hatch-type exits, instructions vary significantly. Until the mid-1980s, these exits were underrated on safety cards. But an accident on a Boeing 737-200 in Manchester, UK, in August 1985 revealed these exits are vulnerable to passengers not knowing how to open them. This highlighted the importance of properly instructing passengers seated adjacently. Some airlines, mainly in the UK where the accident had happened, ordered cabin crew to verbally brief those passengers before the flight. Other airlines, in Europe and beyond, introduced separate cards with detailed instructions, only given to passengers in those rows. They form an interesting find for collectors.
Martinair Airbus A320 overwing exit.
In yet other cases the all-airplane cards are enhanced with detailed overwing exit opening instructions. In the U.S., as discussed in Part 6, the cards display criteria for who may sit in those rows. Where in most cases the cards explain how the exits are opened, U.S. cards focus on who may open them.
The hatch-type self-help exits that come completely free are not ideal, especially when they are heavy. They can weigh as much as 30 kg/66.14 lbs (on a 767). This important information is rarely mentioned on the card. Gradually, airplane manufacturers applied designs where the weight of the hatch no longer needed to be negotiated by the passenger. They hinge open and thus require less of an effort. The first airplane type so equipped was the Boeing 737 New Generation in the late 1990s. More recently, new types such as the Airbus A220, Embraer E2 and A321neo are also so equipped. More often than not, the hinge feature is not well shown on cards, but Panamanian carrier Copa does this well.
Copa Airlines Boeing 737-800 showing overwing exits hinged open.
While the self-help exits are in view of the passengers, the door exits often are not. They are meant to be opened by cabin crew. However, safety cards still show how to open them. This is to cover the remote case that cabin crew are unable to do so. Some airlines do this in an abbreviated form, but companies that make cards for a living take pride in explaining every step. For older airplanes, this amounted to up to six or seven steps, such as shown on a Falcon Express 727 card.
Falcon Express Boeing 727 (card produced by Safeair).
Slides and Other Descent Means
On all airplanes where the exit sill is higher than 6 feet (1.8 m), there is a slide or an alternative descent means such as a set of steps. Similarly, where the escape route over the wing exceeds this distance, off-wing slides are provided. Cards show these slides twice: on the airplane diagram and in a close-up meant to emphasize their proper use: jump into the slide rather than sit on the sill and then move forward. Few airlines manage to convey this clearly, but Singapore Airlines’ attempt is a good one. The most dominant color of the slide on cards is yellow. However, since the mid-1980s, when it was found that an aluminium coating would make the slide more fire resistant, they are actually silver or grey. Some cards correctly represent this, but many still show yellow.
Singapore Airlines A380-800 jump and slide.
Norwegian 737 800 silver slide.
A good post-sliding practice for evacuees is to move away from the airplane. Very few airlines show this. I found one where the text instructs passengers to move away at least 300 meters. On propeller-equipped airplanes, a warning to stay away from the propellers is common.
TAM MD-11.
VLM Fokker 50.
Evacuation and Survival on Water
Much of what is described above, also applies to the emergency scenario where an airplane has come down in water. But there are differences: some exits cannot be used as they would be below the (theoretical) water line, life vests are provided for individual flotation and for collective flotation the slides can be used. On twin aisle airplanes the slides are formally certified for that use and then called slide-rafts. Some airlines still use separate rafts.
Many cards dedicate a separate section for the water scenario, displaying an airplane diagram similar to that for the land scenario, but now with a blue background instead of green or blank (see Czech Airlines above). Typically the same exits are shown. The slides now float, serving as rafts. For some aircraft types, the diagram shows blocked exits as they will not be above the waterline. This applies to most high-wing airplanes such as the Antonovs, ATR 42 and 72, Fokker 50, Dash 6 (Twin Otter), Dash 7, and some Dash 8 series. The high-wing BAe 146 has a different flotation pattern, as its cards show both aft exits as unusable as opposed to the forward pair, although one airline admits that the airplane may alternatively float nose low so that the forward exits may not be usable.
Lufthansa CityLine Avro RJ85.
As high-wing airplanes would list to one side, with one wing tip down in the water and the other up, they render exits on the low side unusable. On their Antonov-24 card, Air Moldova International shows this nicely with a cross section of the fuselage, but they forgot to add whether the view is looking forward or aft. In the seating diagram they added dotted lines, the meaning of which I do not understand. Any ideas?
Air Moldova International Antonov An-24.
On the Fokker 50 and Dash 8 series, even the exits on the high side may be below the waterline. Their manufacturers improvised dams or sill raisers in an attempt to prevent massive water influx during the evacuation. Some of these operate automatically, but the Fokker 50 has loose boards that need to be secured in place before opening the doors. Some Fokker 50 users show them, others do not. The right forward exit of the Q400 has a split hatch. In case of a water landing, the passenger next to it needs to secure its lower part so that it stays in place and forms a sill above the water line. This is shown on the safety card, but I doubt whether naïve passengers will obey.
Manufacturer’s Fokker 50 sample card.
Flybe Dash 8 Q400.
To my knowledge, these water barriers have never been put to practice as there were no water landings where they could have been put to use.
Interestingly, quite a few cards of airplanes regularly flying over water have no escape instructions specific to the water landing scenario at all. An example are Winair’s Twin Otters that commute between the Dutch Caribbean islands of Sint Maarten and Saba, both prone to an emergency landing on water.
Many cards use a lot of space for explaining how to don the life vest and occasionally that of children and infants. An alternative to life vests are flotation cushions. They are particularly popular in the United States.
Cape Air (Continental Connection) ATR42 flotation cushion.
They are inferior to life vests as they do not passively support the wearer but require the passenger to actively hold on to it, which in cold water is a challenge. The U.S. fondness for flotation cushions can be traced back to a ditching accident in 1956 near Seattle when a stewardess impromptu advised passengers to use their seat cushions for flotation. It prompted a U.S. requirement for seat cushions to be equipped for such use. On many domestic flights in the U.S., they are the only flotation devices on board. Few airlines have any flotation devices at all. An example is Ethiopian Airlines which does not carry them on airplanes flying only domestically. Ethiopia is landlocked and only has a few lakes.
Emergency Equipment
Airlines rarely display other emergency equipment than those described above. When they do, it is for smaller airplanes (where no cabin crew is required) or VIP airplanes. The location of fire extinguishers, first-aid kits, and portable oxygen bottles is then indicated. Russian-made aircraft form an exception. They often have a diagram showing all emergency equipment on board, including axes, ropes, ladders, megaphones, emergency beacons, and transmitters. Although dated, Balkan’s Tupolev Tu-154 1980s card is an interesting example.
Balkan Airlines Tu-154.
Unusual Features
Some airlines add items that are unique or rare, making them special finds for collectors. This includes unusual language scripts. The Latin script is not the only script that is widely used. Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Indic, and Japanese scripts are used by many people and thus frequently found. Rarer scripts include those from Arctic Canada, Georgia, and Laos. They only appear on a few cards.
Canadian North Dash 8.
Georgian Airways 737.
Xian MA60 card from a Laotian airline.
Examples of safety-related unusual subjects spotted on cards are how to use a slide with a child or infant, the prohibition to sleep on the floor, the prohibition to wear nylon stockings (for which the card is too late, as the passenger is already on board and will not change), or what to do if a smartphone is lost in a seat, or damaged.
Lufthansa A319.
Air France A320 (2016).
UTAir ATR.
KLM 787-10.
Other finds include a person reading the safety card, information about service initiation and termination times, and a warning not to take away life vests.
Avianca Fokker 100.
Air Berlin 737-700.
China Southern 737-800 Cabin Service Time.
Following a 2003 federal law, U.S. safety cards must mention the airplane’s country of assembly. The aim is protectionist: discourage imports from outside the U.S. (and specifically Airbus aircraft from Europe). But the world is not black-and-white. The rule backfired when, in 2016, Airbus started an assembly line in Mobile, Alabama, negating its original intent. As more and more aircraft are built there, safety cards saying the final assembly of an Airbus was in the USA become less unusual.
American Airlines A321: final assembly in the USA.
On a final note, I invite collectors to examine their safety cards and report which unusual features their collections hide.
This part is the final chronological edition of the history of safety cards, which, as we will see below, is now a century old. The next and last part will examine in-depth the subjects shown on the cards. The previous part ended around 1990. This part gives an overview of how safety cards evolved since then. It reviews developments in their general appearance, layout, artwork, and the special cards that emerged.
General Appearance
Under general appearance, I sort such characteristics as size and weight, orientation, folds, and paper quality. I’ll start with the latter – paper quality. Until the 1960s, safety leaflets were part of a package of documents that included menus, stickers, maps, postcards, and advertisement brochures. They were collectively held in a folder, called a flight kit, which was handed out to passengers. The safety leaflets were made of thin paper. As they were not subject to repetitive consultation by many passengers, this worked well. But when they became more common, and even mandated (see Part 4), they were no longer issued in the folder but stowed in seatbacks for repeated consultation by multiple passengers. This exposed them to wear and tear, so they needed to be more sturdy. Initially, this was done by using heavier paper. Later, cards were wrapped in plastic to provide durability, but were more commonly laminated, and eventually, printed on synthetic paper.
Size and weight – there is no standard for the size of safety cards. Many different sizes are in use, as long as they fit the seatback pocket. One of the largest was those by Ethiopian Airlines, measuring 22.5 cm by 33 cm (8.9 by 13 inches). Air France probably tops the smallest cards, at only 10 cm by 21 cm (4 by 8.3 inches). To ensure they do not disappear in the large seat pocket, Air France specifies a separate holder on seatbacks that uniquely fits their card.
Size comparison Ethiopian vs. Air France.
Consistent with size and choice of material, the weight of cards varies. Most weigh between 20 to 40 grams (0.71 to 1.41 ounces), with outliers as light as 5 grams (0.18 ounces) as is the case with Aerogaviota’s An-26) or as heavy as 88 grams (3.1 ounces) with the Qantas 747-400.
Orientation – as none of the cards are square, they have a long side and a short side. This presents a choice between displaying the contents ‘portrait’ or ‘landscape’. The former is by far the most popular; few airlines use a landscape orientation. In some cases, a combination is used, with the front being portrait and the back (or the inside in the case of folded cards), landscape.
Folds – the multi-fold leaflets of the 1960s were replaced by cards with a double or a single fold or, more frequently, no fold at all. Some airlines use a folding method resembling French doors. In the Western world, where one reads from left to right, the fold is on the left side. In countries that read from right to left, such as some Arabic countries and China, cards may be folded on the right.
Layout
Layout is a generic term including the choice of text and illustrations, the type of illustrations (photographs, drawings, etc.), color, order of presentation, headings, use of space, etc. The trend of illustrations replacing text continued in the 1990s. All cards use illustrations, most with a minimum of text and some with text in support of illustrations.
Aeromexico’s 787-9 card is unique with much text accompanying the illustrations (2016).
Text-only cards have disappeared. However, all U.S. airlines use a large amount of text to explain who may sit next to overwing exits. This is a direct result of a regulation that was introduced in 1990. Although many believe this regulation was aimed at instructing passengers how to open these self-help exits, its origin was different. That was a federal law that prohibited discrimination in air transportation based on handicap. There was an exception, though, and that was safety. The FAA defined the agility criteria exit row occupants must have to open the exit.
The airlines copy-pasted these written criteria on their safety cards. Some other countries adopted this practice and now such criteria are found on cards from Singapore Airlines, Brazilian, and Chinese airlines. Few of these airlines realize that the rule was aimed at hatches that come loose and are difficult to handle rather than easy-to-operate, powered doors such as on the A380. The text “awkward to lift, push, pull and manoeuvre,” used by Singapore Airlines, does not apply to such doors.
Singapore Airlines A380.
The use of photographs, which was quite popular in the 1970s through 1990s, particularly with U.S. airlines, has subsided. Among the last airlines to use them were American Airlines and China Eastern, but they also stopped using them. Cards using only black and white illustrations were still in limited use in the 1990s but have since disappeared. Color is the norm for the illustrations, with the card’s background normally white. In some cases, colors are used to link exit operation instructions to the exit locations on the airplane diagram.
BWIA DC-9-50, using colour coding for matching exit operation panels to the relevant exits.
The front page carries the name of the airline (or other organization, as the case may be), typically at the top, together with a description of the purpose of the card (safety information/for your safety/safety card/passenger briefing card/safety on board/safety instructions/important passenger safety information, etc).
Some airlines do not print their name. This challenges the collector to look for clues to identify the airline. This may be a code (e.g. ATL for Air Atlanta) or even a language script. Normally, the front page has safety information, but in a few cases, it is decorative only, such as by Canadian North, which uses photographs reflecting the Canadian North.
Canadian North 737-200 Combi front.
The most common form of illustrations are still drawings made by graphical designers. A new trend is computer-generated animations. An example of a computer baby is on the Xiamen 737-700 card.
Xiamen 737-700 (infant life vest).
Artwork
Artwork is about the style of the illustrations. One would think that the number of ways to show how to open a door or grab an oxygen mask is limited, but a study of safety cards proves the opposite. Each graphic artist has his or her way of rendering reality. This allows the collector to gather a nice collection of styles and fashions.
The most distinctive feature is how they portray humans. Overall, there is a slight preference for females over males. This may have to do with the dominant gender of cabin crew. The majority of persons being portrayed are white. While this makes sense for the Western world, even airlines in many other countries follow this, notably in Africa. Conversely, Japanese, Indian, and Iranian airlines are among the airlines representing local ethnicities and dress habits. In the U.S. and the UK, there is a tendency to portray persons of color. Most artists use photographs to make their drawings. As a result, some draw well-recognizable humans. The “Southwest woman” might be familiar to those who know her.
Iran Aseman Fokker 100.
Delta Air Lines Boeing 717.
Southwest 737 (1990).
Other airlines apply more generic humans or even what some call “humanoids,” figures resembling humans. In the early 1990s British Aerospace sketched humans in black with a perfect ball as head. EasyJet copied this style 35 years later. Some airlines have managed to reduce humans to just a few lines.
Other artwork expressions consist of grouping the drawings over the cards. Most use a grid pattern which allows an orderly presentation of subjects. Air Baltic on its Avro RJ 70 card uniquely uses a different, relational ordering.
Air Baltic RJ70.
Artists also set their signature through the use of color. A nice example is the 2019 generation of Aer Lingus cards, designed by an Irish graphic designer.
Aer Lingus A320 (2019).
Special cards
New Equipment
In the early 1960s airplanes were introduced with drop-out oxygen masks, and some airlines issued separate cards to explain these (see Part 3, TCA). Twenty years later, Delta printed a unique card to explain the floor lighting system, which they called “emergency exit indication.”
Delta Air Lines’ emergency exit indication.
Categories of Operator
The use of safety cards is not restricted to regular airlines but extends to other cases where persons are transported by air. As with other collectibles with a vast range of samples, some collectors focus on subsets. This may be certain airplane types, operators from specific countries only, certain periods, or categories of operators. As to the latter, there are safety cards for government operators, business and VIP operators, military transport operators, and nostalgic operators, flying such classic airplanes as the Constellation, Catalina, or even a converted B-25 bomber. Additionally, there are cards for special operations such as zero gravity flights, research flights (e.g. the SOFIA 747SP), and the flying hospital (Orbis DC-10). Airplane manufacturers make safety cards for use during demonstration flights or as an example for their clients. They even make dedicated cards for evacuation certification tests, which are a one-off.
A321 partial evac test (presumably 1993).
Often, non-airline cards display unique cabin elements. The VIP airplanes display luxury arrangements, including bedrooms with showers. One military card mentions bailout instructions.
VIP 787: bedroom, emergency equipment.
RAF E3D: backward-facing seats and bailout sign.
User Group
Initially, airlines only used one card per airplane type which was good for all passengers. Gradually, cards came about aimed at specific passenger groups. These groups include cockpit riders, non-cockpit jumpseat riders (with a warning that unauthorized access to the cockpit may be met with deadly force!), passengers in exit rows, 747 upper deck passengers, passengers in seats with seat belt mounted airbags, the sight impaired (with the card, or a book, in braille), physically handicapped, and children and infants. In the latter case, the cards are specific to life vests and handed out to the accompanying adult.
FedEx A300/A310 jumpseat.
Ural Airlines – two types of infant life vests.
Kind of Operation
Few cards are specific to the kind of operation. In the 1950s there were leaflets specific for overwater operations explaining the ditching and life rafts. In the early 1960s extra cards appeared to explain the new oxygen drop-out systems were needed for high altitude operations. These are no longer in use. A more recent area of operation-related example is the Arctic survival card as used by Greenlandair.
Greenlandair arctic survival card.
First safety leaflet?
Finally, I recently obtained a safety leaflet I believe is among the oldest ever. It was made in 1924 by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, but it does not say so explicitly. How do I know it was from that year? The leaflet gives several clues. It describes a method of communication using ground signals that pre-dated the use of onboard radios, which KLM introduced later that year. The leaflet, which is in English, is a literal translation of an earlier Dutch version which claims KLM never had a fatal accident. But by the time it had been translated into English, this was no longer true and thus now omitted. The first KLM fatal accident was in April 1924. This confirms the first safety card was issued a century ago.
