AA evacuates at LHR-smoke in the cabin
 

Slide deployed at the stand. APU failure, apparently.

https://mobile.twitter.com/rosshisco...951936/video/1

I don't have all the facts........In fact I have no idea what happened as I wasn't there.........but I do look forward to the 15 page diagnosis of whether the Captain made the right decision or not.

I hand the thread over to the armchair critics (what was the weather at the time?)

Saw a pic of a firetruck tending to the APU area of the tail.

Phew, that's lucky. :rolleyes:

Since this incident happened at LHR, in due course the AAIB will give us all the details and a good analysis. No point posting here until then.

Interesting to study this event in the context of the SIA fire (see thread).......in both cases we have no reason whatsoever to question the crews' decisions, but they were very different......

A wing is on fire from tip to root and no evac is ordered - and we "have no reason whatsoever to question the...decision"

This must rate as one of the most astonishing assertions of the month.

Indeed!
And the number one killer in fires is smoke. The AA evacuation was a good call.

Gatbusdriver, I suspect that you are inferring the decision to evac down the slide was made by the captain.

ManaAdaSystem; Really, out to the source of the fire, not up the airbridge to safety, away from the fire like everyone else?

But hey, we weren't there, I guess that at the back of a queue of fur quits trying to unpack their overhead locker and collect their belongings, the slide might look very appealing.

Up the airbridge is also a way to evacuate the passengers. I just made a comment on the decision to evacuate.

Are you confusing this with the SIA incident?

No he isn't. As would have been clear if you had quoted him correctly:

The OP is drawing parallels (whether valid or not) between the AAL and SIA incidents.

Sorry......I wasn't inferring anything. I just find that these days people like to second guess people's actions when they have little or no facts (see SIA thread). Funnily enough that has not happened here yet, although probably because the SIA is a much more impressive event.

...and smoke coming out from the back of the aircraft (APU).

Any reason why then, they evacuated from the far AFT exits near the tail?

The purpose of an evacuation is to get all the passengers off the aircraft as quickly and safely as possible.

Presumably it was judged that deploying the rear slides would help to achieve that by reducing the number of passengers who had to move through the aircraft to the forward entry door that was still attached to the jetty.

As it happened, only about a dozen pax left via the slides, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a bad call.

Probably more like... FA looks through door hole (as per SOP?), no hazard sighted, out they go. Half way down the slide they look over their shoulder and see the smoke. :)

Ah, was that it?

Questioning Captain Decision
 

For those armchair critics questioning Captain decisions to evacuate or not in general.

Put your self in the Captains position, actually, try to learn and look at it either way, the Captain´s decision to evacuate or not, is the right one. Why so you ask ? Because the Captain was there and under the circumstances made the decision, not easy.

That taking into account an evacuation, some of people evacuated will end up in the hospital with injuries.

Remember that an accident investigator would not dare to unsubstantiated claims until after the investigation, and would not succumb to conjecture.

AA in Seattle returns due to fire, possibly APU
 

Tower reported flames out the back. All O.K.

Same airline, same unit? Give it some extra attention on your checks.