About the Archive
Forty Years of Collecting the World's Most Overlooked Documents
What began as a single card tucked into a carry-on bag has grown into the most comprehensive archive of airline safety cards ever assembled.
3,000+
Cards in the archive
400+
Airlines represented
90
Years of aviation history
1983
Year collecting began
The Story
In the early 70s, on a flight from Hartford to Los Angeles, a young nerdy aviation enthusiast noticed something he'd never paid attention to before: the safety card in the seat pocket. It was a DC-8 card, illustrated with the careful optimism of an era that believed good design could save lives. He kept it.
Over the following decades, that single card became hundreds, then thousands. Airlines came and went — Pan Am, TWA, Swissair, Ansett, Sabena — and their safety cards became the only surviving artifacts of their in-flight identity. Each card is a time capsule: the typefaces, the illustration styles, the safety priorities of their era all preserved in laminated paper.
Today the archive holds over 3,000 cards spanning more than 400 airlines across nine decades of commercial aviation. Every card has been photographed, catalogued, and preserved. This database is the first time the full collection has been made publicly accessible.
Why Safety Cards Matter
Design History
Safety cards are among the most constrained design problems in history — communicate life-saving information clearly, in multiple languages, to a frightened passenger, in seconds. The solutions are endlessly inventive.
Airline Identity
For defunct carriers, safety cards are often the only surviving examples of their full brand system applied to print. They are the last word in airline graphic design.
Aviation History
Cards document the evolution of aircraft interiors, emergency equipment, and safety regulations across decades. A 1960s card and a 2010s card for the same aircraft type tell a story of an entire industry's transformation.
Submission Guidelines
The archive grows through contributions from collectors, aviation enthusiasts, and former airline employees around the world. If you have cards not yet in the collection, we'd love to hear from you. We will be happy to provide an Excel formatted template upon request to allow us to quickly update the database.
- High-resolution scans preferred (600 DPI or higher), photographed flat under even lighting.
- Please copy only the front side of the card. We aim to discourage folks from downloading the images and printing/selling 'fake' copies.
- As much metadata as you can provide: airline, aircraft type, approximate year, route if known. Please include any dates, form numbers, or other identifying information. We also note the type of safety card : Glossy, Paper, Cardboard, Plastic, Laminated, and Plastic Sleeves.
- Cards from defunct airlines, early jet-age carriers, and regional operators are especially welcome.
- Duplicates are fine — condition variants and print run differences are documented.
All contributors will be credited upon request in the archive record for their cards. We value your privacy and to protect the integrity of your collection.
Get in Touch
Have a card to contribute? A question about the archive? A correction to an existing record? Use the form below.
Ready to explore the archive?
Browse 3,000+ cards by airline, aircraft, or era.