From Matthew Stevens
The skyscraper rescue platform is an excellent idea
(3 November, p 24).
But it is sad that it took the tragedy of the attack on the World Trade Center to
get people to take it seriously.
Two other ideas occurred to me that could be used to complement the platform,
and they’d be cheaper. The first is simply parachutes. Stored in lockers on
floors above a certain height, they would always be ready for use in an
emergency.
The second, for floors too high for ladders but too low for parachutes, is
based on airbags. It would consist of a harness fitted with four airbags. The
escapee would strap on the harness and leap out, pressing an inflate button. The
airbags, in a tetrahedral pattern, would cushion the fall in the same way as
they did for Pathfinder on Mars. Legs might get broken but lives would be
saved.
Thornleigh, New South Wales
