New 747-800 Escape Slides

Received this in the post today.

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New 747-800 Escape Slides

Here is a very interesting picture of the new 747-8I with the new Air
Cruisers door 1 and upper deck escape slides deployed. We are currently
doing FAA repeatability testing on this airplane, which requires five
deployments from each door using the same slide. We are about half-way
through the tests but have to wait until late next week to finish up since
the airplane is now being prepared for it's Paris Air Show fly-in on June
20th.

The upper deck slides are a new and unique patented design that features the
arch tubes. Traditional slides use many large cross tubes and tension straps
on the bottom of the slide to give it beam strength. Beam strength prevents
the slide from buckling under the load of evacuating passengers. In this
case the slide needs to hold several thousand pounds and not buckle. This
slide is over 45-feet long. The typical arch bridge type construction
provides the necessary beam strength for a large slide at less weight and
reduced pack volume.

Good view of the racked wing tips too.