sobore

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bre...-4202793c.html

When shampoo and coffee are potential instruments of terror, it’s easy to forget the real danger of air travel is the mundane stuff of malfunctioning gear and human incompetence.
Both factors conspired to turn a routine flight from Ottawa to Winnipeg Monday morning into a scene from a bad airplane disaster comedy — where I played the unwilling minor role of “Cranky Guy in Seat 25 C.”
This is no ordinary tale of flight delays. This is a story of a smoke-filled Air Canada Jazz flight carrying 61 passengers and a crew of four that apparently learned to deal with minor emergencies by watching old episodes of Mr. Bean.

BearX220

Pretty telling story. I'm afraid it reinforces my conviction that you should never rely on the flight crew for help in an emergency, and that the old "we are here primarily for your safety" line is nonsense.

cpmairtight

Oh the humanity . . .
Between your post, and the news article, LMAO!

I'm printing and saving this.


BTW I hope that FA gets canned. Not the way she/he should have handled themselves. And there in lies the problem, are you really willing to put your life and saftey in the hands of an FA?

Xyzzy

Sounds like the FA missed the "Remain calm!" part of the safety demo.

Wally Bird

Sounds like textbook procedure to me. The captain had obviously ordered an evacuation, and there is nothing there to indicate the FA "panicked", despite the shrieking(sic). That's what they are supposed to do, you dolt.

tcook052

Yeah, agree. This article is written by a music journalist, not a hard news reporter, which is no doubt why it's more of an editorial than a "news" story. I'll leave the FA's to do their job and let this guy do his, reviewing local concerts.

usa18dca

Priceless ^

topsy1970

Don't the F/A's tell the passengers to pull and don the masks when and if the masks appear in flight during their safety demo? Isn't that what the demo is for? Some people, especially reporters are real knobs. Arent F/A's supposed to yell out commands? Or should they wisper and sing during an evacuation?
Took pilots 90 seconds to say anything? Don't they think the pilots have more important things to do and check-lists to run, than to chitter chatter with the passengers right away?
The smoke was probably created from the O2 generators as they can get very hot and burn some residual dust, just like your old toaster oven thy has not been used in months.
Nevertheless these reporters stories are good entertainment.

ContinentalFan

Sad, but I couldn't help grinning! An NHB evacuation. I wonder what the repercussions will be for that crew!

CPRich

So I'm trying to figure out the problem here and why an FA should get "canned".

"Her comic timing was excellent". Are FA's supposed to have ESP and advance notice of when a cabin is about to depressurize?

" the flight attendant told us to stay in our seats and keep our belts on" - I think this is where you should be until an evacuation is ordered. Should the FA be saying "feel free to take yor belts off and roam around freely while we work on this emergency?

"who took more than 90 seconds to inform passengers that yes, we really did need to put on those masks in order to keep breathing". Perhaps if the writer had paid attention to the safety briefing he would have known what to do with them. Are we to believe that he sat there for 90 seconds staring at this little yellow cup wondering "what the heck is that for, and why is it so hard to breath"?

"“Leave everything! Get out! Get out!” she shrieked, which is excellent advice when you’re trying to get 61 people to file out of a narrow vessel in single file. So what's better advice - "There's an emergency but please feel free to take the time to pack up your belonging, don't worry if they impede our exit, and take your time leaving the plane."?

"Then somebody tore open the rear right emergency door to make an even quicker exit off the right wing." Which is pretty much what emergency exits are for, no?

"The problem was, there was no emergency slide in place to soften the landing from the wing to the hard asphalt." When's the last time you saw an emergency slide deploy from an over-wing exit? Do you expect a slide to be deployed in the body of the wing itself?

"The deal is, there was just a little smoke" Hmmm, a few paragraphs ago you were wondering how everything could be so calm with smoke entering the cabin.

"It was probably faulty wiring or some other minor mechanical problem." So, you're an aviation mechanic also? Do you believe that the concept of assuming a worst case scenario and moving everyone to safety is just too bothersome?

"But imagine if that wacky Air Canada Jazz crew had to deal with a real emergency?" They'd probably shreik at you to leave your bags and get off the plane immediately and implore you to run away from the potentially deadly situation. And maybe save your life.

Methinks this writer knows not of what he writes.

mrdini

Ummm....
The most popular commercial airliner in use - the 737, has overwing emergency slides as shown in this image.

If memory serves right, it IS actually in the wing, or in the fuselage.

Wally Bird

AC does not operate 737s. It was a Bombardier CRJ.

CPRich

So have I gone blind? I see orange slides from the front and rear door but standard toss-out windows over the wing, with the evacuees expected to walk out on the wing and slide/jump off the edge. Where do you see a deployable emergency slide?

They don't exist. On any plane, AFAIK.

LarryJ

Larger airplanes have slides on the overwing exits, the smaller ones do not.

Bouncer

I dunno about the rest of you, but I have the status and stature to get emer exit row anytime I have to fly in back or on a one class plane.

Sure the extra legroom is nice, but I make a point of reading the card while the flight attendant makes her announcement. Doesn't matter if I've been on the same plane 3 times in two weeks. I read the card and look at the exit to make sure I know what I need to do and the most efficient order to do it in.

It may sound silly or unnecessarily serious, but if they start yelling to get off the plane, that door or window is opening exactly like it says in the card and I don't care whether they want us to use the main exit or not.

I'll probably log 500 flights before I retire (most of mine are long haul). And anytime I am in exit, I will read that card. Even if you ignore the FA, it's a good habit to get into, and it might just save your life. Do you KNOW where the exits are on your airplane? If not, why not?

Regards,
-Bouncer-