Originally Posted by
bzcat
You should watch this video. It lays out the timeline pretty clearly (turn on the translation if you are not proficient in Japanese). They time stamped the event on the screen so you can follow.
Took the crew about 4 minutes to assess the situation after the plane came to a stop with cabin crew reporting fire outside various exits. All the while, the cabin crew kept the passengers calm and focused with instruction to not retrieve luggage and to cover the face with shirt or mask. Orderly evacuation begin 6 minutes after collision and was completed in 90 seconds at roughly 7:35 after collision.
The cabin crew then spent the next 10 minutes doing cabin search in a burning plane. The Captain was the last one to leave from the rear exit 18 minutes after collision, which was the time JAL mentioned in the press conference.
Basically, textbook example of how you should do an emergency evacuation and excellent display of professionalism and call to duty.
You can second guess all you want but the crew were clearly following their checklist and training. The fire did not breach the cabin and while there was smoke, it wasn't overpowering. If they hastily opened all the doors and people jumped into fire and died, you probably would be here posting exactly the opposite why they didn't wait until they assessed the situation properly.
I think if there is anything to fault here is why the fire rescue was not able to contain the fire well after the evacuation was completed.
As the video was posted upthread by
minizian I've had a chance to prepare the timeline with rough translation so you get an idea of how things developed. The passenger who recorded the first video was sitting in an aisle seat behind door L3 with his wife and daughter so I assume we can only hear the CAs by doors L3 and R3 in the video. The passenger recorded the video in the hope it might help with accident investigation.
.
The video started within seconds of the collision.
00:10 [child] “What’s this smell?”
00:15 [child] “Where’s the fire?”
00:21 [child] “I’m scared.”
00:25 [passenger] “Calm down, calm down.”
00:30 [CA] “You’ll be ok. Please calm down.”
00:34 [CA] “You’ll be ok. Please calm down.”
00:39 [child] “I want to get out quickly.”
The aircraft came to a stop about 30 seconds after the start of the video.
00:50 [CA] “Please cover your nose and mouth.”
01:13 [CA] “Please cover your nose and mouth and lower your body.”
01:31 [CA] “Please cover your nose and mouth and lower your body.”
02:04 [CA] “Don’t take your bags out.”
02:06 [CA] “Don’t take your bags out.”
02:07 [CA] “We’re checking the situation.”
There was an initial panic but after CAs told passengers to calm down the panic subsided a little.
02:48 [child] “Papa, let’s get ready to leave.”
02:51 [CA] “Please cover your nose and mouth.”
02:57 [CA] “Don’t take your bags out.”
03:01 [CA] “Please cover your nose and mouth and lower your body.”
03:16… repeatedly [CA] “Please cover your nose and mouth and lower your body.”
03:45 [CA] “Please don’t take your bags out.”
04:37 [passenger] “Lower your head.”
04:41 [passenger] “Lower your head because smoke goes up.”
04:47 [passenger] “You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine.”
04:49 [passenger] “Do what cabin crew tells you, you’ll be fine.”
05:01 [CA] “Please cover your nose and mouth and keep your body lowered.”
05:17 [CA] “Tell me which door to open.”
05:23 [CA] “Tell me which door to open.”
05:27 [CA] “It’s not open. Can’t open R3.”
05:30 [CA] “L3 is no good.”
05:34 [CA] “Is it open at the front?”
05:38 [CA] “Can you open at the back?”
05:43 [CA] “Can I open R3?”
05:47 [passenger] “Fire engines are here.”
05:48 [CA] “Can I open R3?”
05:57 [CA] “I can’t check the front.”
06:13 [CA] “They are putting out fire. You’ll be fine.”
06:20 [CA] “Move to the front, everybody.”
Evacuation started.
06:31 [passenger] “Don’t take your bags.”
06:33 [passenger] “DON’T TAKE YOUR BAGS!”
06:35 [CA] “Don’t take your bags.”
06:39 [passenger] “Move quickly.”
06:53 [passenger] “Come this way.”
06:59 [CA] “Leave your bag.”
07:02 [CA] “Two people at a time. And sit.”
07:22 [airport staff] “Move away [from the aircraft].”
The passenger was sitting behind L3 and walked all the way to the front of the cabin and left through L1 less than 7 minutes after the aircraft came to a halt. It would be interesting to find how long it took for all passengers to leave the aircraft.
Despite what some posters wrote it was probably fortunate that the CA by R3 did not use her own judgement to open the door. It wouldn’t have been safe to open it.