Finkface

Sunwing plane was being pushed back and the WS flight was waiting to get to the gate. The collision sparked a fire causing the WS flight to evacuate. And this on a day when it hit a low of -25C at YYZ.

"A Sunwing plane has caught on fire after it clipped a WestJet aircraft at Toronto Pearson International Airport Friday evening, forcing WestJet passengers to evacuate the plane on emergency slides.

A WestJet spokesperson told Global News that while waiting to proceed to the gate, a Sunwing plane reversing from the gate struck a WestJet Boeing 737-800 carrying 168 guests and six crew members."

https://globalnews.ca/news/3949217/s...ronto-airport/

King Chung Huang

There's another video of it here:

ricski64

Ooh, somebody’s gonna be in big trouble for this.

YYCJeff

Yup - that would be Sunwing ground crew. Especially troubling is the WS flight had to evacuate using the emergency slides, into -15C weather. The flight had just arrived from CUN - big temperature difference!

The Lev

I wonder how many guests were dressed in shorts and t-shirt. Brrrrr.

Fiordland

Would that be Swissport or does someone do the ground handling for Sunwing? Not good.

arf04

smallmj

Isn't it the job of the wing walkers to ensure this doesn't happen during push back? Eek

Stranger

Too many people evacuated wth their carry on luggage.

They ought to end up in jail.

pa3lsvt

I saw video of someone in flip-flops evacuated down the slide and walking around outside. I get that on a leisure route, pax aren't that familiar with worst-case planning. This is a great example of why you wear real shoes on a flight and make sure they are tied during takeoff/landing. (I like to loosen or remove my shoes during stable flight.)

Dressing for the arrival climate is also good practice. I get that wearing a parka in CUN is a dumb idea, but adding layers from the carry-on during flight isn't a bad idea when you know record lows are on the agenda at YYZ.

Also, I suggest that any carry-on that comes down the slide is summarily confiscated and thrown into a barrel to be burned for warmth.

Frequentlander

All sound advice (especially the last part). I should also add that pax should keep their passport, wallet and phone on their person at least for take off and landing.

FlyerJ

Is there confirmation this happened? I haven’t seen it reported anywhere (but, sadly, don’t doubt it).

In an evacuation, I believe an FA is typically stationed at each exit helping pax evacuate.

What’s the process for pax who reach an exit holding their carry-on? I’m assuming there must be a protocol for FAs to follow, given that carrying baggage down the slide endangers the passenger, the passengers behind them, and could damage the slide? (Not to mention the fact that an evacuation is slowed when people stop to collect their bags and open overhead bins.)

And, yes, anyone who took their carry-on with them during an evacuation should be jailed. They endangered the lives of others. And they’re idiots.

FlyerJ

CBC’s current article confirms it: idiots were on board the flight ... deserving of jail time (or at least public shaming)...

How utterly stupid can people get. The people who did this must value their dirty clothes and vacation souvenirs more highly than the lives of the people behind them.

KDS777

Notwithstanding the discussion about removing carry on luggage when evacuating..........IMHO there was no need.

The safety briefing for the emergency seat folks is quite clear, if you see fire outside the door do not open it.

The video is straightforward, and even he guy filming it says......"it's not our plane on fire".........and so much is evident in my 2 seconds of viewing it as well. A highly trained crew member should have been able to see that first hand.

It's obvious the WS aircraft is in minimal to no danger.

The WS aircrew lost their situational awareness, panicked, and dumped the entire pax load into the freezing winter for no reason, other than to place them in more danger had the burning Sunwing aircraft had a greater issue.

The captain should have determined if there was clear way away from the scene, and it looks like there was (but I wasn't there), and simply moved forward a bit to wait for emergency services.

Hey, I like Westjet, but the crew screwed up big time here IMHO, right after the ground handlers did.

robsaw

Your post is full of massive assumptions and speculation on what MAY have happened and what potential future outcomes at the time may have been. Given contradictory statements from passengers onboard it is completely unreasonable to make ANY conclusion about what precisely occured leading up to and during the Westjet evacuation. Thankfully the TSB actually collects evidence and analyses them in detail before making conclusions.