AN AVIATION expert has warned travellers about the one pair of shoes they should never wear on a flight – as it could be life-threatening in an emergency.
CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo revealed her main recommendation when travelling was to always avoid wearing flip flops.
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She said: “Please wear sensible shoes and leave them on until after take-off.
“I see people boarding with flip flops and I think if you have to get up and run and you fall down or you can’t run, you’re not only going to hurt yourself, you’re going to hurt dozens of other people on this plane.
“So get some shoes.”
Schiavo shared her top advice following a plane crash earlier last month which miraculously saw all 21 passengers onboard survive.
The plane, packed with baseball fans, started to take off from Houston in Texas only for it to crash into a fence just 500 feet down the runway.
It then burst into flames – yet someone everyone survived.
One passenger told KHOU: “Going down the runway and just all of a sudden they slammed on the brakes.
“Things were flying around and when it finally came to a stop, they just said ‘get out, get out’ because we thought it was going to explode.”
Emergency slides were deployed and all 21 people onboard slid to safety.
Two people were taken to hospital, one with a minor back injury and another for respiratory issues.
Schiavo added that it was the evacuation rules, number of aircraft exits and non-flammable materials which saved lives on the flight.
However, wearing sensible footwear – and knowing where the emergency exits are – will help you escape during an emergency.
Aviation expert Christine Negroni also previously warned of the importance of wearing shoes during landing.
She told The Sun Online: “The riskiest time on a flight is during landing and I think it should be a rule to have shoes on during this time.
“If you escape an aircraft, the floor could be very hot or cold, it might be covered in oil or on fire, or in a cornfield – you won’t want to be barefoot.”
The chances of surviving a plane crash stands at 95 per cent, so this is not the first crash where all passengers made it out alive.
In July this year, all 19 people onboard a Russian flight from Kedrovy to Tomsk survived after it crashed in Siberia.
DON’T GO BAREFOOT
And in 2016, 17 skydivers escaped unhurt after during a flight in California when their plane nosedived before clipping a truck and then flipped over before landing upside-down.
Sun Online Travel previously revealed the advice of Dave Inch, a captain of a Boeing 787, for what to do if a plane is going down.
He said: “Remove everything sharp from your pockets, loosen your belt and remove your tie or scarf and remove high heeled shoes.
“Take glasses off for landing so they don’t fly off and are available to help you see your way out if you need them.”
After the plane has landed, travellers should then resist the temptation to run for the exit and wait in their seat until instructed.
Mr Inch said: “Stay in your seat until instructed. Do not open a door or window exit without direct instructions from a flight attendant.
“Have a piece of cloth (preferably damp) to assist in breathing if there is smoke – if there is smoke during evacuation, stay as low as possible.”
“If [it’s] a water landing, do not inflate your life vest until you are at the doorway – if you inflate it and the aircraft fills with water, you will get trapped on the ceiling and not be able to swim underwater to get out.”
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