Originally Posted by
gooselee
Strongly disagree. The FAs are in communication with the flight deck. The flight deck has a whole bunch of monitors and dials and gizmos up there that tell them what's going on, in addition to input from FAs looking outside the windows with trained eyes. As an ordinary passenger, all you have are your five senses and how far they can reach from your immediate person.
In that 5 minute safety briefing at the beginning of each flight, I'm relatively sure you are instructed to follow all crew instructions. You are expected to react in accordance with crew instructions.
I referenced US1549 multiple times.
1) In a crash situation, no gizmo tells them anything. The crew are as clueless as the passengers as to the extent of damage outside.
2) Follow crew instructions is essential during normal operation. Once you have crashed, it is not normal operation any more. Especially for those sitting on the over wing exists, the FAs are a good 10-20 rows away.
Remember that there is a difference between acting in the absence of crew directions and acting against crew directions. No one is advocating the latter.
3) Unlike a 737, the A320 rear doors are operable in an over-water landing. The contemporaneous reports never clarify that. The bulk of the flooding happened as the the landing had ripped a hole in the fuselage and torn off cargo doors.
Also, it is never stated that the passenger acted against crew orders despite being told not to open the door. As it stands, there were no instructions and it was a valid exit per prior instructions. The fault lies with the manufacturer and airline for not clarifying those instructions.