An aircraft safety card is a document instructing passengers on an aircraft about the procedures for dealing with various emergency conditions that might arise during the flight.

The safety cards are usually provided by airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

s on all commercial flights, usually located in the back of the seat

Airline seat

An airline seat is a chair on an airliner in which passengers are accommodated for the duration of the journey. Such seats are usually arranged in rows running across the airplane's fuselage...

 in front of each passenger. Pre-flight safety demonstrations, either conducted by the flight attendant

Flight attendant

Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...

s or through a video presentation, instruct passengers to familiarize themselves with the safety cards prior to take-off.

The cards are frequently laminate

Laminate

A laminate is a material that can be constructed by uniting two or more layers of material together. The process of creating a laminate is lamination, which in common parlance refers to the placing of something between layers of plastic and gluing them with heat and/or pressure, usually with an...

d or made of plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

 and contain instructions that are specific to the model of the airplane they are found in. The contents are usually in the form of pictures, graphically illustrating such procedures as buckling the seat belt

Seat belt

A seat belt or seatbelt, sometimes called a safety belt, is a safety harness designed to secure the occupant of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result from a collision or a sudden stop...

s, bracing for impact

Brace position

Bracing or crash position is an instruction that can be given to prepare for a crash, such as on an aircraft, the instruction to brace for impact is often given if the aircraft must make an emergency landing over land or water....

 in an airplane crash, dealing with depressurization

Cabin pressurization

Cabin pressurization is the pumping of compressed air into an aircraft cabin to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for crew and passengers when flying at altitude.-Need for cabin pressurization:...

, opening the emergency exit

Emergency exit

An emergency exit in a structure is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation, while it also provides an alternative if the route to the regular exit is blocked by fire, etc....

 door or inflating life rafts in the event of a water landing

Water landing

A water landing is, in the broadest sense, any landing on a body of water. All waterfowl, those seabirds capable of flight, and some human-built vehicles are capable of landing in water as a matter of course....

. The graphic representation allows the cards to be accessible to those speaking a different language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

 than the flight attendants, as well as children and illiterate passengers.

When in some countries' airports, aircraft safety cards are considered prohibited items in Customs declaration; unless it is for some uses like collections and more probably, aircraft safety cards are meant for aeroplane use only.

Aircraft safety cards are a collectible

Collectible

A collectable or collectible is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector . There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old...

 item among the aviation enthusiast community

Aircraft spotting

Aircraft spotting or plane spotting is the observation and logging of the registration numbers of aircraft: gliders, powered aircraft, balloons, airships, helicopters, and microlights....

, since they are a reflection of an airline, an aircraft type, a culture, and a historical period.

External links

• Directory of safety card sites