I get it, those rules are written in blood. I guess I’m trying to understand the mindset behind the people who do that.
Fire on AA airplane in Denver
- Thread starter edyvw
- Start date
As an aviation professional and having experienced in flight electrical fires, engine failures, bird strikes, landing gear failures and more, I know first hand that getting out of a burning aircraft is a very good idea. However, it is also my job to get others out first. I've gone through the training where they 'fog' the actual cabin of our company jet, and we pull the emergency exits and assist people out. Even with our regular passengers such as my boss+wife and kids and friends, it was just like 'herding cats'.
People don't understand instructions and really only listen if you 'bark' at them. They panic, can't hear what you say, and don't understand. Even in training.
They had our cabin fogged so thickly, it was impossible to see anything. What an eye opener, I have little hope for the general public being able to follow directions under difficult circumstances.
People don't understand instructions and really only listen if you 'bark' at them. They panic, can't hear what you say, and don't understand. Even in training.
They had our cabin fogged so thickly, it was impossible to see anything. What an eye opener, I have little hope for the general public being able to follow directions under difficult circumstances.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
People do dumb stuff when they panic. We had that discussion about those Tesla door handles. In theory, that works great; in real life, it does not.
Going on an airplane is not a right but a privilege. An extremely complex machine that is made to fly. When things go south, they become chaotic, and everyone is in that survival mode. Everyone thinks something might go wrong with an airplane, but that guy obviously did not think: what if?
1. Get out. Even if medicine, etc. is in the bag. There are EMS folks outside; they have everything there to help if someone has an issue.
2. That kid is big! It is 8-10 years old. Let it go alone down the slide. Kids are better at that than adults. He barely stood up; he fell with her. I know the instinct, but there also has to be a rational decision-making to achieve safety. Baby, toddlers, fine, but you as an adult are not as good on a slide as a 9-year-old kid. Period. If I did things my 6yrs old and 9yrs old did, I would kill myself. And kids might do dumb stuff, but they are not dumb.
We take safety for granted. We don't think about what goes into making sure that airplane goes from point A to point B safely. We expect things to be done for us, that we are just observers, but very quickly, you can get from being a passenger to being part of that problem.
I’ll like to hear if anyone knows or read about anyone on these emergency evacuations witnessing the flight crew beside the door yelling “leave your #@cking belongings behind and single file jump off onto slide!!!” It seemed so chaotic and no one assisting outside. There has to be training on what instructions are repeated to passengers inside.
Many years ago we had a fire drill at our Catholic church. Everyone was told to head for the exits without stopping for anything, including holy water. Almost everyone stopped to bless themselves with the holy water, making it take far too long to empty the church. People just will not follow directions.
Was there enough holy water to put out a small fire?
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
I went to Catholic elementary school. I wasn't Catholic, but as students we were required to go to "first Friday" mass on the first Friday of every month regardless, so I know a little bit about Catholic practices. I do remember holy water at the exit on either side of the main door. Didn't seem like much. But I thought it was a silly joke on my part.
The training is performed in simulators with exits that work, or don’t, and smoke, noise and people who aren’t cooperating. It’s hard, and stressful. The commands are standard, and flight attendants must yell them out precisely as directed to pass the evaluation.
I can't remember which flight but one in England in the late 70's early 80's if I remember was what changed alot of emergency exit rules. The plane caught fire and passengers ended up crawling over the seats and pushing each other out of the way.
edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
Yeah, people became too selfish:
Okay yeah I take back my devils advocate
This is an older thread, but the FA in this crash did an truly great job getting everyone out.
Aeroflot 1492.
This is a lengthy read - and digs into the details of why the airplane crashed (TL;DR - lightning strike, followed by systems failure, with pilot error in how it was handled).
But skip to the end and read about the evacuation - people were grabbing their bags from the overhead bin as the airplane was on fire.
Ultimately, of the 78 people on board, 41 died in the fire.
A fire on an airplane is serious business. When flight attendants say “Move to the exit, leave everything!” They mean it.
41 people lost their lives because others on the airplane did not follow that principle and slowed the evacuation by opening the overhead bins to grab their stuff.
So, the dad who grabbed the nebulizer? A fool, who got lucky that this fire on American wasn’t as serious as the fire on Aeroflot.
This is a lengthy read - and digs into the details of why the airplane crashed (TL;DR - lightning strike, followed by systems failure, with pilot error in how it was handled).
But skip to the end and read about the evacuation - people were grabbing their bags from the overhead bin as the airplane was on fire.
Ultimately, of the 78 people on board, 41 died in the fire.
A fire on an airplane is serious business. When flight attendants say “Move to the exit, leave everything!” They mean it.
41 people lost their lives because others on the airplane did not follow that principle and slowed the evacuation by opening the overhead bins to grab their stuff.
So, the dad who grabbed the nebulizer? A fool, who got lucky that this fire on American wasn’t as serious as the fire on Aeroflot.
4WD
$50 site donor 2025
In my pockets: Passport, cell phone, and credit card good for $50k …
(adios to my bags) …
