[Closed] That BA/Vegas Aircraft Fire...

Honestly, I do about one in 4, it's the same. I know where the exits are to the step really.

Pretty depressing really - be interesting to hear more witness accounts in the coming days...

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There's another photo of a guy with 2 suitcases that must have been in the overhead lockers 🙄

I couldn't believe it when I saw the passengers standing on the apron with their luggage.

+ 1

Was gobsmacked they all seemed to have trolley bags with them!

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Happily for Rolls-Royce the engine was a General Electric. Phew.

those carrying bags off should be prosecuted for endangering lives.

Some of the people have forgotten their luggage ... 😯

globalti - Member
Happily for Rolls-Royce the engine was a General Electric. Phew.

edit: ... I thought they were Pratt & Whitney PW4000? Yes? No? ([url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_%26_Whitney_PW4000 ]Quick Ref here[/url])

be worth checking where the exits are, even on similar or same family type aircraft.
Take the Airbus A319/A320/A321 family basically the same aircraft, just longer in length to carry more people.
A319 has 2 exits front and rear and 1 small exits over wing
A320 has 2 exits front and rear and 2 small exits over wing
A321 has 2 exits front and rear and NO over wing, the have extra door just in front and behind the wing (making 4 doors per side)

Then you also have to take in account Airline configs and diff specs.
Like Easyjet have a load of A319 aircraft with 2 over wing exits as they crammed in more seats and need to meet air saftey regs etc.

the usual..
Exit and shitter front
Exits 14&15
Shitters at the back with the other exit

seat in row 5 or 6 so decide if you battle the chavs or the business class for an exit, front every time, less fat people. Less idiots with kids.

None of this comes over in the briefing though

To be fair to some of the passengers and to give them the benefit of the doubt, it is OK to put a small bag on the floor under the seat in front of you, so if they evacuated it is no issue to pick it up on your way out - probably best to in case you kick it out a bit and impede someone elses exit.

The most worrying thing is that the cabin crew initially opened doors on the side of the aircraft of the burning engine thereby letting smoke into the cabin. Post ringway I would have thought that there should be a check before deciding which side of the aircraft to evacuate on since most, if not all fatalities in Ringway accident was from smoke and toxic gas inhilation.

I'm also gobsmacked by the people in the photos who seem to be standing about to watch or just calmly sauntering away.

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I'm no fireman but I'm assuming that a 777 full of aviation fuel has the potential to make quite a large bang!

It's only an engine fire and aviation fuel isn't especially flammable. This isn't the movies.

On the classic B777's there were offerings from all engine manufacturers but on the updated B777 model they are exclusively GE. In BA's fleet they have RR on their older B777 classics and GE on their newer ones (and maybe on a 2nd tranche of some B777 classics).

Also on some aircraft alrlines can spec the number of exits on their aircraft to suit their cabin configurations and how they intend to operate the aircraft e.g. high density, sort/medium haul routs vs. lower density long haul aircraft. Airlines sometimes operate sub-fleets of the same aircraft type, so could have a mix of these configurations so it is always important to familiarise yourself as it can vary between aircraft of the same type even within the same airline.

ti_pin_man - Member

those carrying bags off should be prosecuted for endangering lives.

What if the fire was in the bags?

Happily for Rolls-Royce the engine was a General Electric. Phew.

I'm at GE Greenville just now. I'll let you know how pointing it out to them goes.

It's only an engine fire and aviation fuel isn't especially flammable.

Ah right, just a fire in the engine, attached to the wing full of fuel.

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No worries.

This isn't the movies.

Neither is this.

Ah right, just a fire in the engine, attached to the wing full of fuel.

Bit of polish and it'll be fine 😯

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Looking at the photo, the fire seems to be blowing back into the plane, rather than along it.

I was under the impression that the cabin crew would open the exit [i]if they can't see fire outside[/i].

Entirely possible they opened everything to start with then decided it was actually too dangerous on the "fire side".

Yep, exactly that. That's a fair description of how it spends most of its working life.

Yeah good point, all completely normal.
I'm surprised they even bothered to evacuate them. 🙄

I'd consider myself a 'frequent flyer'. I check where the exit is relevant to where I am sitting and check for life jacket, etc. It's a habit I've got into.

I usually only take a smallish bag for hand luggage and might be tempted to grab it as I get out, assuming my seat wasn't on fire, for no other reason than my blood tester is in it and it's pretty essential for making sure my insulin pump is working OK. I'd more than likely just take the meter in reality. Anyway, thanks to the professionalism of the staff involved, everybody got out, and that's the most important thing.

Personally I make a point of first noting which is really the closest and then second, counting the number of seats infront/behind I need to go before I get there.

+1

We have to do a 'safety moment' in each and every meeting, usually something relevant, occasionally something left of field. One guy told everyone to close their eyes, then talked about something else entirely, then got people to point as where they thought the meeting room door was (about 20% actually managed to point somewhere near it).

The message being, if you think about something else whilst the safety briefing's given, even in a room/plane you've been in before, do you actually know where the exit is? And could you find it in the pitch dark, after you've bumped into a load of other people who were asleep during the presentation?

We don't have any PW engined 777 at BA. 777-200 a mix of GE & RR, 777-300 are GE.

Boblo - absolutely nothing like the Manchester British Airtours disaster. Time was the biggest factor in that, and many other ground fire incidents. Trying to manoeuvre a large wide body aircraft to get it into wind enough to make a difference can take quite a while, and may need to leave the paved surface. This may also leave the slides off the side of the runway, making broken legs/ankles far more likely, and access for the emergency services more difficult.

......just calmly sauntering away.

Lolz, have you ever walked behind a standard non exercisey person on the stairs? They're ****ed half way up, most of 'em probably ran 10 metres then seen stars in their eyes from the effort!

Cant believe we're at page 2 of this thread already and no one's hinted at banning this sort of thing on safety/risk grounds. So here we go, lets ban engines on planes, lets ban anyone daring to overtake another vehicle on their way to the airport, in fact lets ban flights to Vegas full stop - far too risky!

On the subject of evacuating on the side of the fire and the turning the aircraft to blow the fire away, note that ATC didn't say the surface wind again. Not a critisicm, having had the odd emergency in ATC myself I can understand forgetting that.

Also echo dantsw13, going off the paved surface isn't a great move to make IMO as it causes far more issues than those you are already dealing with.

Having just seen the video for the first time , it also seems that doors 2L and 3L weren't opened, due to proximity of the fire, but 1L & 4L were. Spot on in the circumstances, under time pressure IMHO.

Great result, all walked away, beautifully handled.
I'm flying down to Heathrow later, I suspect passengers will obey the seat belt sign, switch phones off when told to and maybe even listen to the safety briefing. By tomorrow, it'll be business as usual.

Always, always listen to everything said during the safety briefing. I've witnessed brave cabin crew tapping passengers on the shoulder for not paying attention.

That footage of big bags being carried out is really quite shocking (as is how much you can actually get in as cabin baggage in first place...)

when told to and maybe even listen to the safety briefing. By tomorrow, it'll be business as usual.

I reckon you're right.

Personally, tomorrow I'll be settling into seat 1A and nursing a large G&T in preparation for my 10.5 hours enjoying the hospitality of the BA cabin crew

1A transatlantic Westbound?

Wrong side if it is! K is better as it's more out of the sun for looking at Greenland. 😉

Wrong side if it is! K is better as it's more out of the sun for looking at Greenland.

Seat numbers transatlantic?

Surely you just charter your own executive jet and can sit where you like?

For those flying frequently I'd highly recommend doing the [url= http://www.britishairways.com/en-us/baft/flight-safety-awareness/flight-safety-awareness ]BA flight safety awareness course[/url].

OK, so you have to pay, but it's an interesting experience and also reinforces how seriously they take flight safety.

Personally, [s]tomorrow[/s] [b]Sunday evening[/b] I'll be [s]settling into seat 1A and nursing a large G&T in preparation for my 10.5 hours enjoying the hospitality of the BA cabin crew[/s] [b]crammed into a clockwork Dash8 for the short hop to Southampton avec FlyBe staff offering a can of Coke. [/b]

FTFY

😕

Is it okay to punch people who are still on their phone as you taxi up the runway?

zippykona - Member

Is it okay to punch people who are still on their phone as you taxi up the runway?

Or strangle them with a shoe lace from behind ... ?

Or stab them with a pen in their eyes ... ?

😈

Heading to east to Korea, so heading into the dark fairly quickly

Boblo - absolutely nothing like the Manchester British Airtours disaster. Time was the biggest factor in that, and many other ground fire incidents. Trying to manoeuvre a large wide body aircraft to get it into wind enough to make a difference can take quite a while, and may need to leave the paved surface. This may also leave the slides off the side of the runway, making broken legs/ankles far more likely, and access for the emergency services more difficult.

With that much uncontained catastrophic severe engine damage there is no way to know how much loss of directional control there may have been during the abort. I think there was a CAA directive out a few years back where the latest thinking was to remain dead straight on the runway for a reject as the areas outside the runway edge are reinforced so the fire service can quickly get to all parts of the aircraft.

Landed there the night before and then paxed out on a United Airlines earlier that morning.

Missed all the hoo-ha.

On looking at the pics, hats off to the crew and airport services. Shame on those taking luggage off. Hope they get whacked with a hefty fine for endangering lives. W@nkers.

I realise that, when about to board, I put my wallet, passport and my phone into my cabin bag (and take my book out).

If I had to evacuate a plane with what remains in the pockets of my trousers, I would be incredibly dependent on the airline and/or consulate to get home, have lunch or anything else if my cabin bag never made it out alive*.

Passport, phone and wallet stay in the pockets next time, maybe...

I realise this is extremely unlikely and scarcely something to worry about.

If I had to evacuate a plane with what remains in the pockets of my trousers, I would be incredibly dependent on the airline and/or consulate to get home, have lunch or anything else if my cabin bag never made it out alive*.

I really hope that's an attempt at humour ?

My colleague at work said the same. I personally would prefer to be off the plane without my phone, passport and wallet, than on it with them, passed out through smoke inhalation and roasting alive.

I'd like to see fines / prosecutions for the muppets in this incident to make the point that while it didn't matter substantially this time, next time might be different.

I would assume that the various consulates have action plans on the shelf for these sorts of incidents, to enable those affected to get new passports, money, etc. quickly. Might be inconvenient for a short while but better than full body 3rd degree burns.

. Might be inconvenient for a short while but better than full body 3rd degree burns.

You say that but think of the crisis of losing your Facebook friends! A little singeing is surely worth it to avoid that?

My colleague at work said the same. I personally would prefer to be off the plane without my phone, passport and wallet, than on it with them, passed out through smoke inhalation and roasting alive.

The problem with bags is they can tear the escape slide causing it to deflate. So best to leave them behind along with your Stilletto's. Clearly the actual evacuation was a relatively calm affair. If people were genuinely fearful of their lives then their bags would have been the last things on their mind.

There's a world of difference between a ladies handbag, and a full wheelie bag too.