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The point that I am trying to make is that those in back without professional knowledge become seriously concerned when they see a tailpipe fire.
And the cockpit crew on occasion has been slow to realise the seriousness of the situation in other cases.
At Calgary, following the uncontained engine failure, approximately 45 seconds elapsed before the cabin attendant in-charge was able to enter the flight deck to tell the flight crew there was a fire. The flight deck door had been locked in accordance with standard company procedures. (A84H0003)
Meanwhile, the aft cabin attendant attempted to notify the flight deck of an engine fire by using the aircraft interphone system. Although the signal tone was heard on the flight deck, it went unanswered because the first officer mistook the tone for that associated with the passenger cabin attendant call button. The aft cabin attendant contacted the cabin attendant in-charge stationed at the front of the aircraft via the interphone. He advised the cabin attendant in-charge that there was a fire and the aircraft should be stopped. The cabin attendant in-charge did not confirm that the information had been received and understood; consequently, the aft cabin attendant did not know if he had been successful in transmitting this vital message.
Inadequate communication between the cabin and the flight deck resulted in a significant delay before the flight crew was aware of the existence and seriousness of the fire and contributed to the fact that the evacuation was not initiated until one minute 55 seconds following the rejected take-off.
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/reports/air/...p?print_view=1 I like to think that the 1984 YYC incident produced changes in SOPs after a reject, but I do faintly recall from newspaper reports at the time that a pax was the first to open a door.
The success of the evacuation was attributed in part to the fact that almost all the passengers were frequent air travellers familiar with the Boeing 737 and that there were no children, elderly, or disabled passengers on the flight.
I would prefer to cite from the original CASB report, but its successor, TSB Canada, does not seem to make them available.