Orderly exit: In the face of a real emergency, what's the first part of the plan to go out the window? Photo / Getty Images
"In the unlikely event of an emergency…" we know the drill.
In spite of Air New Zealand's best efforts to scramble the pre-flight safety presentation with Run DMC, there are certain phrases that stick in the memory.
"Help yourself to oxygen masks before you help others."
"Do not inflate your lifejacket until outside the aircraft."
"Women and children first. . . three to a life raft, and the captain goes down with the ship."
The inflight safety mantra is full of unquestionable aphorisms.
But when the proverbial hits the propeller, which rules do passengers stick to when faced with a real emergency?
If your house was on fire, you know what you'd save first. On a plane, in an emergency, the impulse to grab your carry-on luggage is just as strong. However, when evacuating a plane of 161 passengers this reaction leads to disaster.
Last month an investigation by the US National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) found that during the 2016 American Airlines flight 383 fire, the first thing to go out the emergency exit was the evacuation plan.
When the Boeing 767-300ER caught fire on the runway of Chicago O'Hare airport, the escape of 161 passengers became a scrum for carry-on luggage.
NTSB Investigators looking into the runway fire deemed the evacuation as "unnecessarily chaotic."
A contributing factor to the chaos was passengers' refusal to listen to crew instructions, and several stopping to bring their carry-on with them.
Interviews conducted with cabin crew painted a picture of a chaotic scramble for overhead compartments.
Flight attendant Sandra Carrillo recalled how passengers were trying to get bags out of the overhead bins so she told them repeatedly "don't take anything with you". However, not everyone was listening.
"Some passengers were good about it and when we told them to drop the bags and get out they did, others weren't so good," said flight attendant Anthony Au, with typical air staff understatement.
Among those who 'weren't so good' was a man who confronted crew with his bag.
"One passenger came running up the right aisle with a bag over his head," said Christina Katz of a passenger that when challenged just "kept yelling 'I'm taking it with me!'"
The NTSB report paints a picture of passengers and luggage "blocking doors", preventing people from leaving and firefighters from entering.
Of the 161 passengers evacuated from the aircraft 20 received injuries, one of them serious.
The investigation concludes that some of these injuries were caused by passengers trying to bring luggage with them.
The disgruntled crew members said it was largely down to passengers' unwillingness to leave their belongings, suggesting fines for unruly passengers.
In America it is up to the FAA to issue charges against disobedient passengers. If they do decide to press criminal charges passengers not following the cabin crew instructions can face fines of up to US$250000 ($365000).
Following the incident on flight 383, the FAA says it will consider new recommendations from the NTSB's investigations to stop similar scenes of carry-on carnage in future.
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