Originally Posted by
flygirl68
Incidents, emergencies, evacuations, no two will be the same. Yes we have thorough training to follow, but it’s all about waiting, listening and looking. I’m sure the 10 minutes on the ground must have felt much longer. All of the crew want to also get home safely too.
I am impressed with the passengers on the brief footage I have seen as I didn’t really notice any panic, and even heard someone shhhhing the passengers, even though they weren’t even chatting very loudly.
There were moments of panic, sort of when you would expect. When the smoke started pouring in there was an initial bout of mild screaming and panic. A number of people shouted at everyone to calm down. In the back rows we tried to get the 'douse fabric in water and put it over your mouth and nose' message out. I was pretty sure I was dead until I felt what I decided was the pilot taking control of the plane. Totally might not have been but the plane went from a 'gliding' feeling - which was not a great feeling with a cabin full of smoke - to a 'human is controlling this big smoke filled tin can' feeling. I convinced myself that the Pilot's control indicated at least one of the engines was working. It seemed like others around me calmed down a bit around that same time.
After we landed and the doors were not opening, people lost it for a bit. Lots of yelling for someone to open the door but it didn't last long.
Third round of 'people losing their minds' was when the doors opened. Again, people 3 rows from the back exit moving towards front, grabbing their luggage, etc... One thing that was nice is there was no pushing, no stempede. At least not that I noticed.
So, there was definitely multiple freak-out moments from significant numbers of passengers but they were largely short lived. There was considerably more cooperation and concern, at least in the back.