Goodrich Corporation

William J Horvath

Paul Zonneveld

Leibert K Danielson

Haiwen Meng

Daniel B Wilson

An inflatable evacuation slide system ( ) is selectively deployable in either a foreshortened or lengthened configuration. The foot end ( ) of the escape slide ( ) includes a compartment ( ) containing an extensible slide portion ( ) stored in an undeployed condition. The compartment is sealed by means of conventional speed lacing ( ) held together by a single master loop ( ). A pyrotechnic cable cutter ( ) is attached to the master loop ( ) to severe it at the appropriate time thereby releasing the extensible portion of the slide. A control circuit ( ) determines whether to deploy the extensible portion based on input from a non-contacting electronic sensor ( ) such as an inclinometer.

Extensible evacuation slide

An inflatable evacuation slide for emergency evacuation of an aircraft comprises a pair of main support tubes supporting a flexible sliding surface. The main support tubes taper from a widest point near the exit opening of the aircraft to a narrowest point at the foot end of the slide. This arrangement of main support tubes, together with the toe end transverse tube and the head end transverse tube, form a quasi-trapezoidal truss structure, which is inherently more stable than the rectangular slides of the prior art.

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Chandler, AZ, United States of America

William J Horvath