Evacuation or Deplane

[Prop Job]

Good evening,

A couple of days ago there was an emergency landing at ORT in South Africa. The causes are still unknown, but basically the left main bogey on a 737-400 failed and separated on landing. The crew chose not to evacuate, but instead waited for the emergency stairs and deplaned the aircraft. I'm not trying to fault the crew's decision making - everybody walked away unhurt and that's all that really matters - but I am curious what other people would have done.

Personally I would probably have called for an evacuation. I know it increases the risk of injuries, but after structural failure like that and when the fire department deems it necessary to start foaming the aircraft, then I think it is time to get out.

From a the cabin crew's point of view, would you have initiated the evacuation yourself? Our company's policy is that the cabin crew can initiate an evacuation in case of a catastrophic event. I'm pretty sure that is an international guideline as well. Would you deem such an event "catastrophic" enough to make that decision?

Some pictures of the event can be found on this forum: http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=165007&start=60
Looking forward to hearing your inputs.

Prop Job

[Piltdown Man]

Just because you banged the aircraft into the ground you don't have to evacuate. Given a prompt turnout by the fire service, low temperatures and no fuel spilling I'd suggest that you sit tight and wait. My experience of the fire services at airports is that they are very cautious and will spray anything and everything given half a chance. The real problem though is when you do have a fire. Your passengers will gave to fight their way through foam being sprayed at a vast rate and at the same time keep their footing and not get snagged on bits of the plane as they escape. They'll also get their trolley bags, duty free, handbags etc, wet.

My preference is to sit and wait.

PM

[Airbus Girl]

I think the clause where cabin crew can elect to evacuate in a catastrophic failure is more for when the flight deck is inaccessible, or the pilots are not conscious or there is an imminent threat to life onboard.
Imagine you elect to evacuate, all doors are opened and passengers evacuate into the live engine?
In this case, the pilots would have made an assessment, backed up with outside assessment from fire crews etc., and made a decision based on that.
With one wing down, you have slides on one side at a shallow angle and on the other side at a steeper than normal angle, which would add to the chance of injury.

[Capot]

Our company's policy is that the cabin crew can initiate an evacuation in case of a catastrophic event

Let's be clear; the decision to evacuate, together with orders on how to do that (which side, exits etc) can be taken ONLY by the aircraft Captain.

The catastrophic situation where cabin staff can and must initiate evacuation is essentially one in which the most senior person left standing aboard the aircraft is the most senior of the surviving cabin crew, who becomes the Captain by default.

This situation is so catastrophic that it is probably close to the situation in which any survivors would evacuate as best they can without waiting for anyone to tell them to do so; typically this occurs when the fuselage breaks up.

When a B727 crashed on landing at Doha in 1979, with the shattered remains ending up in the fire station, a passenger who was seated just behind the point of fuselage break-up undid his seat belt when it had all come to rest, picked up his briefcase, stepped out of the wreckage, walked to the terminal, and got a cab to his hotel. He was British, of course, and well-used to preserving his sang-froid when travel in the Gulf region did not go according to plan, ie situation normal. He saw no need to bother the very busy people helping to rescue other passengers. He was one of 19 survivors of 64 occupants, and it took 24 hours of searching to locate him, and then only because he rang Gulf Air to re-confirm his onward flight to Abu Dhabi.

[Di_Vosh]

IMHO, an evacuation will always result in injuries.

If there is no need to evacuate, then a disembarkation would be the correct option.

DIVOSH!

[GS-Alpha]

You need to remember the very real dangers of the evacuation process. Initiation by someone other than the flight crew is particularly dangerous because the aircraft is highly likely to be in a very unsafe configuration. Maybe consider imagining there is a pride of hungry lions outside the aircraft? Are you better to remain within the protection of the cabin, or are you better off taking your chances with the lions? If you think you are better off staying away from the lions, then you shouldn't be initiating an evacuation - you should be contacting the flight crew and telling them what you see as accurately as possible.

[Prop Job]

Thank you to everyone for your input. It makes for some interesting reading!