Slow Evacuation on Airplane Fire
Check this out (from CTV.ca).
Some Alaska Airlines passengers are furious they weren't evacuated sooner after fireballs erupted under the starboard wing before takeoff from Calgary.Passengers told CTV Calgary on Sunday that it took several minutes for an emergency evacuation, even though the aircraft's cabin was filling with smoke.
Here is how long it took to begin the evacuation:
An Alaska Airlines spokesperson said the crew followed procedure."The elapsed time that they estimated for that to occur was about two minutes," said Caroline Boren.
"And at that time, because of the smoke in the cabin, they determined that as a precaution, they should go ahead and deploy the emergency evacuation slides."
I realize that the crew needed to size-up the situation before deciding to evacuate the plane, but it shouldn't take two minutes, especially with smoke filling the cabin. Thank goodness nobody was injured or killed.
