reventor, thanks for clarifying your meaning of 'irrelevant'- sure they probably could have done it on their own, but my point was, without a trained, assertive individual who knows what could have happened... in an intact, full cabin such as this it seems that the cc kept things from turning into a panic, had the doors open within seconds (try that when you've never operated a door before, no matter how much you read the cards)
My comment re: the rear doors, to paraphrase the article, basically the pax opened the rear door (however that happened, I don't know- only one FA at the back so could have been just too fast/strong for the FA) water started coming in, FA managed to convince pax to exit via fwd and closed door...
I suppose we shall see once it all comes out. I'd just hazard a guess- wouldn't you feel more comfortable knowing you have a trained, experienced crew rather than Joe Bloggs who flies twice a month on your plane??? It's sort of like saying, oh, maybe we had a commercial lear jet pilot on board- sure they know a thing or two about the aircraft but it doesn't substitute for hands on experience!
Beausoleil- yes, it is type dependent. Even a 737 will differ depending on type
B737-400- main doors (fwd and aft) only
B737-800- overwing exits and fwd doors only
The card is the clue
