Behavior of Passengers on 1549
 

The comment below is from someone responding to a USA Today story. I'm wondering if anyone else out there has heard these type of comments, observed anything like it in picures from the crash, etc.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...terstitialskip

There was a bit more to the comment, but it was mostly in all caps, so I left it out.

Elsewhere in the comments section there was one that said a female passenger had, despite instruction of the FA, opened the back door of the plane. That, apparently, is why it sunk from the rear, and more quickly that it would have otherwise.

Fined 10K each? I think that's a little extreme but I wish they'd get a stern talking to from someone in the FAA or NTSB.

You know, most people don't know this, but the FAA expects the FA's to "write up" any pax who is noncompliant. This would be people who don't stow bags, don't turn off their PED as/when instructed, argue or challenge the FA's in the performance of their duties, are UP during turbulence after being explicitly instructed to return to their seats.... the list goes on.

Suffices to say in my tenure as a FA I've only ever written ONE person up to the FAA for FAR violation. If I did as expected by the FAA we'd never even leave the gate on most days. I DO wish we could all do it just for a week, I bet people would stop arguing and start following the rules once they realize there ARE consequences... it's just that for our own sanity, in an effor to be on time and for the benefit of ALL other pax we never/rarely take action.

As I understand it from reading some "private" (meaning not open to the public) pilot boards I frequent the story about the lady opening the rear door is correct. The flight crew also didn't throw the "ditch switch" which helps seal up some doors and input holes in the fuselage to make it more airtight (I don't know much about the A-320, as I am qual'd on other airplanes, so I can't say how more effective such an action would be).

So yes it seems the lady did not listen to the FA in back.

There were similar stories from the Continental Denver to Houston flight in Dec, about pax pulling down bags, all the while the plane was on fire...

Ciao,
FH

Having seen the way passengers behave in airports (i.e., "every man for himself" attitude, lack of consideration for others), I can totally believe this. :mad:

That kind of behavior is par for the course. You're dealing with human beings, many of whom are quite self-centered.

At MSP when an Airbus ran over a DC-9 at a gate & fuel was leaking into the front of the plane from the Airbus' wing tanks, the only safe exit for everyone was single file out the rear. Yet I read reports of people stopping to grab their luggage. At least nobody stopped for a cigarette.

The subject is covered in just about every pre-flight safety talk I've paid attention to, but some people just don't get it.

Kudos to whoever threw her stuff in the river. ^ If she were ahead me pulling that garbage, I'd probably throw her in, too.

I was thinking maybe the prospect of being the main course in a barbecue would squelch that kind of behavior, but I guess not.

I think I would have said, to the lady retrieving her luggage, "Hey lady, there's nothing in your bag that's worth my life. So move your effin' arse."

(copied from another forum)
Passengers were debriefed after getting off the ferries. At this time those who had baggage with them could be cited for disobeying flight crew and/or endangering the lives of others.

People in a state of shock do strange things. We were not there and ought not judge so harshly.

Sorry, but if someone does that on my crashed plane, I'm knockin' 'em out.

That's OK. I won't judge you harshly.:D

Since most of us have never been a passenger during a crash landing, I am not sure how I or others on this board would have responded had we been on this flight.

It seems obvious on calm reflection that opening the rear door could flood and sink the plane. After a crash landing, with adrenaline rushing and people panicking, it is understandable why a frightened woman tried to open the rear emergency exit.

I could see myself doing the same. Nice to have the benefit of hindsight in criticizing others.

While I agree that it is appropriate to be temperate in our use of language when we criticize others with the benefit of hindsight, it is still important that we criticize. This is how we learn from others' mistakes and may avoid the same mistake if we are in a similar situation. Adrenaline and shock will make people do strange things. The only way to overcome that is by thinking things through before they happen, so that one has a chance of letting one's brain think rather than one's adrenaline.

LOL, said with a thick Brooklyn accent.

I think that we are making much ado about nothing. What got those pax safely onto their rescue ships was the calm and orderly egress without hysteria, after a controlled landing in the HUDSON river. If upon all violent motion stopping and the overwing doors being opened and the FA announcing that it was time to start deplaning, I really have no issue with someone pulling there bag stored underneath their seat out or even an overhead if it does not incite a riot or hinder deplaning. Now that bag may not make it all the way to rescue, but if having a carry on bag deflect the hysteria that could easily come with shock and being separated from one belongings, then I would say the seconds it would take to reach under your seat and grab your laptop bag is well worth it.

People do strange things when they are in shock. How you treat a person in shock is OFTEN the difference between life and death in traumatic situations. Sorry, but if some obnoxions lady went for the rear door, was stopped by the FA's. redirected up front and she grabbed her bag along the way, that is small potatos. If that is going to calm her down and get her safely off of the aircraft then YOU would be the idiot to try and spout some FAA reg at her and endanger all of the other PAX. Once on the liferaft or whatever, if there is on other room for additional PAX, then you may need to toss a carry on overboard, but until then, big deal. Get on with the business of helping others.