Venezuelan regional carrier Laser Airlines evacuated a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 from Maracaibo after landing in Caracas on Sunday. Smoke flooded the cabin after the former American Airlines plane’s auxiliary power unit failed, and slides were deployed. All 91 people on board were evacuated.
The evacuation was so chaotic that several passengers were injured in the process and taken to hospitals. The plane was delayed three hours, and operated its next flight to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. While the situation was serious enough for an evacuation, this video is somewhat comical:
Following an APU failure aboard a @laserairlines MD-80, passengers were evacuated due to smoke in the cabin. Regrettably, most passengers exited with their carry-on luggage, resulting in avoidable hazards. pic.twitter.com/7FsfZ3Zkuk
— Enrique Perrella (@Enrique77W) April 29, 2024
Here’s longer video from the evacuation:
Generally the reaction on social media seems to be to laugh at the passenger who went down the slide with a carry-on bag and kept going, until they tumbled on the tarmac.
- An evacuation can be life or death. Seconds can count.
- You don’t want passengers delaying an evacuation by grabbing their carry-on bags, you don’t want anything puncturing a slide, and you don’t want things slowing down other passengers.
Surely the embarrassment of being filmed violating this norm will stop people in the future especially when they’re filmed tumbling after they do it?
The problem is that passengers also know they aren’t getting their stuff back any time soon, and also that if they take their stuff with them probably nothing bad happens to them. Maybe something bad happens to someone else, but even if that bothers them they likely aren’t thinking about it at the time.
Since people’s brains turn off, there are many people who suggest overhead bins that lock. That’s a bad idea.
- There are still plenty of underseat items passengers will bring with them
- Locking bins will slow down evacuations more as passengers stop and yank on the bins, clogging the aisles wondering why they can’t get the bins open?
I’d say a bigger problem is people filming themselves during the evacuation for social media. Here’s a passenger filming their evacuation with a carry-on bag in one hand and drink in the other two years ago.
Video shows frantic moments passengers make their way out of RedAir flight 203 after landing gear collapse & fire at MIA…some use emergency chute @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/LJKJtzLqnh
— Janine Stanwood (@JanineStanwood) June 22, 2022
I do not see a problem with a $25,000 fine at all with a picture of the person who does it.
Make it a part of the Safety video.
As a former Navy / commercial pilot if I noticed passengers bringing ANY personnel items during an evacuation . . . well, I honestly can not say what I’d do to them but what I’d like to do to them involves whips, chains, and a brief stint in the fiery furnaces of Hell itself.
Evacuation means just that. Get your behind OFF the aircraft and away from it ASAP. “Oh no, I forgot my purse,” isn’t an excuse. How about this? This off the plane and then, when it’s ablaze go BACK there to retrieve your personal belongings. I could support that.
Easiest solution is to not allow any carry-ons in the first place . The whole fiasco is totally out of control . Only people allowed to bring carry-ons ought to be the pilots and cabin crew . I say , no carry-ons , no dogs , and no improperly dressed smelly slobs .
They should make people take a quiz in the terminal before boarding. If they don’t know the basic safety stuff, don’t let them on til they do. They’re all obviously ignoring the briefing and demonstration. Look at all those morons on that SouthWorst 1380 flight that put their oxygen masks over their mouths only…
It’s Venezuela. These people know that if they leave their belongings on that plane, they will never see them again.
@alert. So no medication no breast milk no coats. Etc
@kluge. Really think that will work. People take a driving test to drive and still run red lights.
These are the same people that think the world resolves around them
@CHRIS nailed it. To leave your bag in such a place is at a minimum to throw away anything valuable in it. And neither the airline nor your insurance is likely to cover it. I completely understand passengers taking their stuff when it’s a precautionary evacuation. Telling passengers NO! isn’t going to work. To make it actually work is going to require fixing it from the airline side–much, much better security against your items walking away (say, nobody goes on the plane without a bodycam and anything removed is promptly locked up), and prompt return of anything clearly marked as yours or otherwise readily proven (say, because you have an AirTag or the like in it.) And much higher liability limits including stuff that would be excluded entirely in checked baggage.
That being said, going down the slide with a rollaboard makes no sense. Your hands aren’t free and you’re unbalanced–I would expect a tumble at the end.
Carry-ons should not go on the slide. If someone brings one, chuck it out the door away from the slide.
If someone was in front of me on and evacuation with a carry on, I’d rip it out of their hands and throw it as far away from the door in the A/C as I could.
There need to be laws that explicitly make it a felony to retrieve carry-ons during evacuation. (In the US, it may be possible to enact this at the state level.)
The punishment needs to be prison time (not just fines) due to the extreme disregard for life.
And, of course, the airlines need to impose lifetime bans on any passenger. The airlines can already do this, as they impose bans for many other reasons.
Safety briefings could say something like this: “In the unlikely event of an evacuation, you must leave your carry-on baggage behind. Failure to follow this instruction endangers the lives of you and other passengers, and will result in you being permanently banned from flying with us.” [Where laws exist, add “and may carry substantial legal consequences, including imprisonment.”]
Locking overhead bins is the answer to many problems. Lock them after everyone is onboard and unlock them when the airplane is at the gate and the seatbelt sign has been turned off.
@Loren touches on an interesting point.
What are the insurance implications if you leave your stuff on board and subsequently never see it again, is damaged, or is not intact, if you do?
Anyone here had actual experience of this scenario?
Was he carrying any ammo?