Airline passengers freaks out - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

feelgood · 10-31-2005, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Aircraft passengers angry over response to fire

CTV.ca News Staff

Some Alaska Airlines passengers are furious they weren't evacuated sooner after fireballs erupted under the starboard wing before takeoff from Calgary.

Passengers told CTV Calgary on Sunday that it took several minutes for an emergency evacuation, even though the aircraft's cabin was filling with smoke.

"The back of the plane started to fill up with smoke. I was scared," said Connie Watkins through her sniffles and tears.

Ironically, a flight attendant was in the middle of the routine reading out of safety instructions for Flight 698 for Los Angeles when the incident started.

"A big ball of flame and then smoke started all outside the plane and ultimately, it started to come inside the plane," said passenger Dennis Cornish.

"I just yelled 'Fire! Fire!' and the attendant stopped her instructions and wasn't really sure if it was a hoax or for real," added Janette Cornish.

"And then there was another big ball of fire," Dennis said.

"And the stewardess yelled to another stewardess that there was a fire. She came back and looked, and then they both looked and then they all left. And then we didn't see nobody," Watkins said.

"We were all standing up in the aisles and there wasn't nobody there at all."

At this point, passengers were screaming to be evacuated, but the escape exits remained closed.

"The stewardess again ran up to the front, and that took time. Then she came running back again and she was on the phone," Dennis said.

"Everybody was scared," Watkins said. "Everybody was jumping up trying to get off because they weren't opening the doors or anything."

The cabin continued to fill with smoke. Children were screaming and crying, and passengers were begging to get off the plane.

Finally, the crew made the call to evacuate.

"And at that time she said, 'Leave everything. We are going to evacuate by chute'," Janette recalled.

An Alaska Airlines spokesperson said the crew followed procedure.

"The elapsed time that they estimated for that to occur was about two minutes," said Caroline Boren.

"And at that time, because of the smoke in the cabin, they determined that as a precaution, they should go ahead and deploy the emergency evacuation slides."

All 138 passengers slid down the escape chutes to safety.

"It was horrible. I just thank God we were on the ground, that's all," Watkins said.

Alaska Airlines gave everyone a five-dollar gift certificate for a coffee shop and said it would help people with accommodation and rebooking their flights.

The company also said that a condition known as "torching" isn't unusual. That's when residual fuel reignites, shooting out towards the rear of the aircraft.

The cause of this accident hasn't been determined yet.

Found this one on Fark and need your opinion on this one guys.

I've seen couple aircraft engines being started up with a fireball coming out in my job at Fedex, it's not all that common I think.

There's some discussion on fark that the crew members are being blamed for this particular freak out by the passengers and I'm siding with the crew on this one for several reasons:

1. The torching procedure is normal, although it ain't normal to do it twice.
2. In the midst of people freaking out, the crew members can't figure out where exactly is the fire coming from. So, if they evacauate the plane without knowing the source, it's likely some passengers are gonna get hurt. Kinda like the saying "Out of the frying pan and into the fire"
3. Why didn't any of the passengers pop the hatch themselves? It ain't that hard people. Nobody on the plane that crashed at Toronto needed to ask the crew if they should open the hatch. "Um...the plane's on fire, should we evac?"

The crew did an excellent job, they remaind clam while everybody was freaking out.

highthief · 10-31-2005, 03:07 PM

Yeah, they say that when they deploy the slides, more people get hurt bouncing down those things and panicking upon exit than in any (relatively minor) emergency.

Willravel · 10-31-2005, 03:12 PM

I must agree, feelgood. Those are some lazy passengers. "There's smoke everywhere and a wing is on fire. There are huge EMERGENCY EXIT signs everywhere with clear directions on them. There is a brochoure right in front of me that is outlining an scape procedure. I guess I should freak out in my seat and wait for the flight attendant to tell me what to do." The fact that the author of this article is siding with the passengers is kinda funny.

Quote:

The cabin continued to fill with smoke. Children were screaming and crying, and passengers were begging to get off the plane.

Instead of wasting valuable air on begging, it might have been an interesting adventure to stand up and walk calmly to one of the doors and leave.

Quote:

Finally, the crew made the call to evacuate.

Notice also that it is never mentioned how long it was between when the problem started and when they were told they should leave.

jorgelito · 10-31-2005, 03:16 PM

I agree with your number 2. As for 3, I thought passengers were supposed to "wait for crew instructions?" I'm too sure though.

I think the crew should have calmed the people somehow. Maybe the lack of communication by the crew to the passengers escalated them to hysterics.

Though torching may be "normal", the average passenger doesn't know that and would reasonably be concerned if they saw fireballs and smoke. Any human being would.

maleficent · 10-31-2005, 03:58 PM

Based on the description from the article... the crew didn't do their job... yeah they remained calm themselves (though yelling to one another doesn't say calm to me) part of their job is to keep the passengers calm and informed. Doesn't sound like they did that. A cabin full of freaked out passengers is more dangerous than a cabin of smoke.

I usually sit in the emergency exit. I've been on a plane that filled with smoke... (more than once...) I am not opening that door unless I am directed to, or the flight attendent has been knocked out of commission.

10-31-2005, 03:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
highthief Junkie Location: Ontario, Canada	Yeah, they say that when they deploy the slides, more people get hurt bouncing down those things and panicking upon exit than in any (relatively minor) emergency. __________________ Si vis pacem parabellum.

10-31-2005, 03:58 PM	#5 (permalink)
maleficent Junkie Moderator Emeritus Location: Chicago	Based on the description from the article... the crew didn't do their job... yeah they remained calm themselves (though yelling to one another doesn't say calm to me) part of their job is to keep the passengers calm and informed. Doesn't sound like they did that. A cabin full of freaked out passengers is more dangerous than a cabin of smoke. I usually sit in the emergency exit. I've been on a plane that filled with smoke... (more than once...) I am not opening that door unless I am directed to, or the flight attendent has been knocked out of commission. __________________ Free your heart from hatred. Free your mind from worries. Live simply. Give more. Expect less.

10-31-2005, 03:16 PM	#4 (permalink)
jorgelito All important elusive independent swing voter... Location: People's Republic of KKKalifornia	I agree with your number 2. As for 3, I thought passengers were supposed to "wait for crew instructions?" I'm too sure though. I think the crew should have calmed the people somehow. Maybe the lack of communication by the crew to the passengers escalated them to hysterics. Though torching may be "normal", the average passenger doesn't know that and would reasonably be concerned if they saw fireballs and smoke. Any human being would.