I'm in uncharted waters here, but I believe that the tests are timed. Remembering that we are dealing with Federal Employees, I doubt if they either can, will or are allowed to think outside the box. If there is a time limit on the evacuation and the slides don't deploy, then there is probably no place on their evaluation sheets for anything like, "They did a great job, despite the slides not opening."
Just because they didn't complete the task, does not mean that they failed; it means that the test was not completed and therefore, inconclusive.
I have spent years fighting with Federal Regulatory Agencies. As an example, if a pesticide label says that it is for carpenter ants, and doesn't list any other types of ants, if and you use it to kill a garden ant or pharaoh ant it is a criminal offense. There is no alternative answer.
As to the race; competitors notwithstanding, if your equipment doesn't allow you to run the race, you have no recorded time. Again, presupposing that the crew is timed, there is no way to fairly judge the "race".
So, to reiterate, if the evaluation is timed and the slides don't open, how do the inspectors fill in the blanks relating to time it took?
Everyone is calling it a "Fail". I call it a redo.
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