In the early hours of a Wednesday morning, passengers on a Frontier Airlines flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport to Orlando experienced an abrupt evacuation while still boarding due to the detection of a strange odor within the aircraft’s cabin.
This incident involved the use of emergency slides and the jet bridge for passengers to exit the aircraft, a one-year-old Airbus A321neo. The evacuation led to minor injuries among nine of the 213 passengers, with one individual requiring hospitalization for a knee injury.
The decision to evacuate was made by the flight’s captain after a strong smell permeated the aircraft. There was no visible smoke or fire, just an invisible culprit that caused the airline to offload everyone as quickly as possible. Emergency slides are fund in a non-emergency, but also riskier than deplaning via jetbridge.
Mysterious odors aren’t uncommon and I’ve seen fume incidents especially on Airbus narrowbody aircraft.
(HT: Paddle Your Own Kanoo)
You never know with fumes so it’s not overreaction by any means. Good of Frontier crew for taking quick precautionary action.
This is why people evacuate with luggage. Nothing was wrong except some fumes. Why risk losing your luggage to theft? It’s different if there’s smoke or flames. I do something in between. I carry my passport, wallet, keys and phone with me. If I lose my other luggage, it’s not as inconvenient as losing all your keys and ID.
Here we go again. @Derek, an emergency evacuation is by definition a life or death situation. Your laptop’s PowerPoint presentation and your travel size shaving cream aren’t more important than someone else’s life. You don’t get to make that judgment call. It’s already been made for you and people who think they know better than the crew. Leave all items behind means leave all items behind, and its non-negotiable. Emergency means just that; an emergency. And yes, some fumes can be deadly.
That does not look like a Frontier plan in the video.
Ole Derek would be bitching up a storm if everyone did what he whines about not being allowed to do if he had to wait for others who do as he suggests and he ended up getting sick and/or hospitalized because he became ill breathing the fumes. Some people have no common sense and look for something to complain about…
Probably just a strange smelling fart.
Mark my words- they turned on the APU bleed under 2 minutes after start.
This is why airlines need to either
1. Actively discourage in-cabin baggage or
2. Certify evacuation times assuming pax will grab their bags before evacuation
@jns- I believe I saw on the news that the mystery was solved when they realized that “he that smelt it dealt it”
Echo other comments to @Derek, seriously why is your laptop potentially worth more than someone’s life?
If the captain decides to use emergency slides that should be respected .
@ DC
This was my first thought.
Always nice to see people loading up with their personal belongings. The delay might cost someone else their life but these people don’t care.
Or it could be an evacuation just to cover themselves for legal reasons, not because of actual danger.
Some of the Frontier passengers carried large luggage and large backpacks. I don’t advocate that. I simply advocate that you should keep your valuables in your pocket prior to boarding so you can run and not get your keys stolen. If it’s really a fake emergency, even grabbing a small canvas briefcase with your laptop might be reasonable.
On the Frontier flight, they didn’t even use the overwing exits nor the exits or slides in the rear. It really looks like a cya evacuation. They even used the jetway. It was more of an expedited deplaning than a true emergency.
Some joker crushed a stinkbomb under his heal.
This is most likely to be contaminated toxic air coming from the APU on board. Oil fumes ( containing Tri Crysl Phospate TCP ) have entered the air conditioning systems and entered the cabin. These toxic chemicals can impact the neurological receptors in the body which in turn cause damage to the cognitive responses such as speech, breathing, swallowing and most worrying decision making. which for pilots is critical ! These events occur on a regular basis however the airlines, regulatory authorities and aircraft manufacturers have chosen to ignore the evidence over the years leaving pax and crew members with life changing conditions. Possibly the only aircraft that is in service that does not suffer from this fault is the Boeing 787 which does not have ‘Bleed Air’ vents compressing the air before entering the cabin air. Please search for ‘Aerotoxic’: Poisoned Cabin Air : Toxic Air Syndrome to understand the phenomenon?
How many free flights did passengers receive and bonus miles?
I’m sure Spit Airlines was highly generous being a luxury carrier
. Emergency slides are fund in a non-emergency, …
Grammar is so 1970’s.
This is why it’s rude to fart on planes