BA 777 Vegas-Gatwick on fire – passengers safe

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Viewing 15 posts - 16 through 30 (of 90 total)

  • AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34193767

    The second picture (as opposed to video) clearly shows at least one guy marching across the apron carrying what would appear to be a carry-on suitcase.

    Is there any possibility that this f*ckw*t could be prosecuted for potentially endangering other passenger’s lives by the time taken to collect his bag and then blocking an emergency exit whilst lugging it through with himself?

    Such behaviour is criminally stupid and deserves to be treated as such.


    Charles-P
    Participant

    AnthonyDunn – I would hope he is.

    I have been unfortunate enough to twice have experienced a full blown evacuation with slides blown etc and on both occasions I saw people getting down bags and duty free and trying to put on shoes while the crew and other passengers shouted at them to move.

    On the first occasions I also saw and heard a woman shouting,
    “Make way, business class, make way business class !” as we were all waiting our turn to slide out of the aircraft.

    There was some excellent research done at Sydney University funded by Qantas which looked at the reactions from people in emergency situations of this kind. They divided the population into a number of groups:

    Compliant – does as they are told without argument
    Argumentative – demands explanations and more information before action
    Aggressive – Walks over every one else, accelerated self preservation
    Statues – freeze and do not move. May need to be physically move perhaps by force.


    BigDog.
    Participant

    AnthonyDunn – 09/09/2015 10:34 BST

    …Is there any possibility that this f*ckw*t could be prosecuted for potentially endangering other passenger’s lives by the time taken to collect his bag and then blocking an emergency exit whilst lugging it through with himself?…

    Fully agree. The cabin crew are between a rock and a hard place when evacuating. Spend vital seconds remonstrating/arguing with luggage carrying passengers thus holding up the evacuation or just get people off regardless.

    It is not just the selfishness of slowing down the process but the fair chance duty free bottles will get broken at the foot of the slide making it dangerous for the shoeless.

    Prosecutions should occur whether there are injuries or not.
    CC should be able to state that passengers taking luggage will be prosecuted.

    On a side note – it is these highly professional experienced Cabin Crew that Walsh and Co are gunning at – shame on Walsh/Williams.

    http://news.sky.com/story/1548085/ba-holding-gun-to-senior-crew-claims-union


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Would the authorities not insist on examining all parts of the aircraft, INCLUDING hand baggage…?


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    @ BigDog. – 09/09/2015 10:47 BST

    Hi BigDog. I had separately come across the threat being made against LGW senior cabin crew on a “take it or leave it!” basis by BA management. The pistol is set to be fired at some point in October 2015 I believe and who knows what will result from this decision.

    Utterly bizarre but BA senior management appear almost to want to turn their inflight staffing into semi-casualised labour. We’re all aware that Mixed Fleet is predicated upon a certain % of annual churn so that BA does not have to pick up the tab for serious pension contributions and payouts but this mindset now appears to be spreading more and more widely across BA – with the notable exception, of course, of Keith Williams and his colleagues in the BA boardroom…


    canucklad
    Participant

    And remember this aircraft was only half full……

    Never mind duty free breaking at the bottom of the chute, am I correct in assuming hi-highs are banned because of the damage they can do to the chute. I submit that hand luggage could also cause damage to the chute.

    I’d add that I would also ban the use of personal headphones & devices until the “ping” goes off.

    On a recent flight I was blissfully unaware that the CC had made the announcement to prepare the aircraft for landing…..In situations like this , as Manchester and elsewhere has proved, seconds can make a difference between everybody escaping and others not !


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Due to the amount of hand baggage being taken off during the evacuation, this is NOT being classed as a text book evacuation

    http://news.sky.com/story/1549524/q-and-a-behind-the-british-airways-plane-fire


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    I have just called BAEC to register my concerns about pax taking baggage with them in exiting the plane: this delays evacuation, could potentially damage the emergency escape chutes and is a flagrant breach of the instructions given to all passengers during the pre-flight boarding process. Consequently, I have urged BA to identify those passengers who ignored lawfully given instructions and ensure that they are subject to criminal sanctions because of the potential endangerment of other passengers. An example has to be made.

    Can I ask that anyone else who is a BAEC member, and who takes onboard safety seriously, to do likewise?


    christopheL
    Participant

    As far as instructions are concerned I’m afraid the crew members who opened the wrong side doors are also to be blamed.


    peter19
    Participant

    It has been discussed here before but i think this reiterates the need for an ‘more alert’ and functional safety briefing. Where we tend to be going the other direction, wearing headphones during the video or reading papers to name some examples. Maybe these passengers who were carrying cases off would have known better if this was the case. I also think the videos need to be updated across airlines to make them more appealing and make pre take off safety features mandatory.


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    @ christopheL – 09/09/2015 15:24 BST

    It’s worth reading the Sky News commentary, that Martin provided above, about the opening of doors:

    http://news.sky.com/story/1549524/q-and-a-behind-the-british-airways-plane-fire

    And as far as updating the pre-flight safety briefing is concerned, Air NewZealand take the biscuit:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji65WI5QLZI

    Absolutely brilliant.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Until the airlines take the briefing seriously, by allowing Cabin Crew to more than ‘ask’ and perhaps less then ‘demand’, passengers to be quiet, remove headphones and put books/papers down…. during the safety briefing, nothing will change.

    I agree, a refresh of video’s may help, but certainly Cabin Crew need to be given more authority over the safety briefing presentation..


    canucklad
    Participant

    100% agree with you Martyn….
    Sadly, because these occurrences are so rare it sometimes feels as if there an air of complacency during these briefings….And I sometimes wonder that when I see a passenger being rebuked by cabin crew, it’s more about the cabin crew member feeling as if the passenger is personally being rude to them personally and not so much for not paying attention and risking others…..


    TiredOldHack
    Participant

    MartynSinclair – first thing I noticed when I saw the pix was the baggage!

    You may remember I was caught up in that evacuation on-stand of a BA 747 at Cape Town in May 2014 (slides not deployed). As Mrs TOH and myself were on the upper deck, we had a grandstand view of what was being prepared and I told her to grab her handbag and sling it round her, and I made sure I had my passport and wallet/cards.

    The crew was amazing – we all got off very fast, but one thing I will never forget is the gaggle of three or found young ladies, just inside the jetway, who stopped to wait for their friend and caused a bottleneck. I came up, put my mouth close to the ear of one, and bellowed:

    “MOVE!”

    as loudly as I could. She gave me a shocked look, and then (to her credit) realised what she was doing, and they all scuttled away.


    StephenLondon
    Participant

    On the point raised that doors on the “wrong side of the plane” were opened, the Captain has the ability to tell the crew to open only the right had side, etc., but given the uncertainty of what was going on, clearly if the crew could see no fire/smoke outside their door, they opened it.

    I am horrified at the chap who had not only one, but two bags with him. I hope he has to walk/swim back across the pond with his valuable ‘stuff’. He could have killed someone for his own selfish interests…bizarre. Grrrgh.

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