The conversation over air-traffic control radio was calmer but no less dire. “We’re on fire,” a pilot said in monotone,
as reported by Global News. “Mayday, mayday, mayday. We’re evacuating.”
The decision to flee was soon relayed to the back of the plane. A flight attendant went down the aisle
repeating: “Evacuate, evacuate.” Not everyone heard, CBC News reported, and only realized they could leave when a man stood up on his seat and yelled that the emergency exit was open.
“Grab your jacket, guys,” a man said in the video.
But even then, several passengers reported that the aisles were blocked by people searching for their overhead bags.
“It was ridiculous,” Alagheband
told CBC News. “I was literally yelling, ‘Get the F off the plane.’ ”
Everyone made it off. They slid out of the plane into subfreezing weather, onto an airfield that reeked of burned fumes.