DenverBrian

What, if I open the emergency exit I set off the neutron bomb? (I'm well aware that I won't open the exit if I see fire or obstruction outside it.)

Certainly the odds that I'll ever get to such a decision point are vanishingly small, which is why I fly in the first place. However, if I were ever to find myself in a situation where smoke is filling the plane, we had a fast emergency landing and we've rolled to a stop...I. want. off. that. plane.

ludocdoc

And if there is fire on your side of the plane and the FAs plan to evacuate only on the other side? What if its just a big gasoline spill that isnt yet on fire but they still want to use other exits to avoid it?

Or if your exit is under water like the Hudson flight and they need to use only the forward exits? Rememeber THAT guy?

Or if the engine is still spinning significantly? Want to exit or maybe.. wait 60 seconds like the FAs plan?

jayer

My friend who retired as a MD-80 captain commented on how something like that happened on his next to last flight, which he explained in precise technical terms I don't pretend to remember. Translated oil smoke sucked into the cabin through the AC feed.

FLIHGH

What if the plane was about to start taxiing again and you found yourself heading onto the wing as the plane was moving? You really do not know.

kyden

http://youtu.be/lbEi4hQMw78

The video that is now circulating...

Cathay Boy

Any fireman will tell you: "you don't take chances when it comes to fire and smoke." But I guess we'll never learn this lesson until tragedy happens.

AA-Flyer-SAN

I love how everyone speculates and points accusatory fingers towards this crew when they did a wonderful job dealing with this inflight emergency. The captain was not "reckless", IMO. First off, the AC probably has upwards to 10,000 hours of flight experience - not to mention an A&P license (which basically means he KNOWS how that aircraft functions. Anyone with real flight and aircraft maintenance experience knows that the smoke coming thru the vent was just residual smoke thru the bleed air. The oxygen masks were just a "comfort" measure because they aren't SMOKE masks. If everyone in the plane was breathing fine then the smoke wasn't hazardous. Canceling the EVAC via slides would have prevented the four injuries (which resulted from people going down the slides). So let's stop the typical American way of pointing fingers and blaming and speculating lawsuits. The pilots and crew were excellent and performed the way they should have.

FLIHGH

Looking at the videos, the smoke was pretty much gone by the time the plane landed. It was not still smoking, and any smoke in the plane was from earlier in the flight.

modesto2

Correction: A&P licenses are for aircraft maintenance technicians, not pilots. Although some pilots have A&Ps, it's not very common.

Smoke in the engine could reach the cabin via the bleed air ducts that supply cabin air from the engines.

AA-Flyer-SAN

I should have said "many" have. If not they are familiar with the mechanics of the aircraft. In the end - he was correct. It was just residual smoke.

DenverBrian

You can spin what-ifs to infinity. Have at it. I was focused on the circumstances of this specific incident, which involved heavy smoke. Smoke that could very well be poisonous, not just hard to breathe.

Of course if there's fire outside and none inside, that changes the equation. Of course I'm going to take the information coming from the FAs and pilot into account. But I'm not going to disconnect my brain.

Please cite any airline accident where passengers were injured by fire by exiting to the outside the aircraft, and would not have been injured by remaining in the plane. @:-)

traveller001

Probably since cabin air while powered by the engines is a different unlinked system. Though that separate system could be corrupted by debris from an engine compressor failure.

crazy8534

I found it interesting how in the videos a lot of passengers start clapping and cheering when the plane touches down on the runway, with the FAs still clearly shouting 'Brace', albeit by then with slightly decreasing conviction.

I imagine that the reason for the 'brace' call from the cockpit was that they were landing heavy and there was a risk of an overshoot? I would definitely still want to be in the brace position if that happened!

FLIHGH

Something I've been thinking of-- was there proof that it was the FA yelling 'brace' and not a hysterical passenger?

crazy8534

I think on the video I heard the captain / FO over the tannoy saying 'brace' when they were on short final?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbEi4hQMw78