Comment by defrost
3 years ago
As silly as it might seem, you do something enough times and oddball rare things happen .. this is an instruction intended to reduce:
* shoes | boots with sharp objects embedded in soles (glass, bent nails)
* extra spikey high heels,
* work boots with hard edged metal hooks for laces,
(etc) causing damage to both inflatable slipways and to other passengers.
How often has a passenger going down an emergancy slide caused a rip that deflated that slide?
Not very often .. and aircrew are taught to issue instructions that make that as an unlikely occurence as possible.
Also, try to swim/stay afloat with shoes ... Apart from young athletes, most people will drown within a minute
I dunno — when I go camping by canoe, I keep my hiking boots on all the time: paddling, portaging, and yes, when having a swim during a break for lunch or after making camp). A disabling injury could be fatal.
Are you "young" and "athletic", by any chance ?
And if something gets caught on the slide as you go down you could fall a dozen or more feet onto hard asphalt. Friend fell on a slide and got a compound leg fracture.