London (CNN) -- The
attention into the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 is now shifting to two
areas.
One, why did the incident happen? They will be looking at things like
instrument landing systems, the glide slope, the approach of the Boeing 777,
the way the pilot flew the aircraft and other key aspects.
Secondly, they will be looking at the onboard training to get the
passengers off as fast as they can.
Video from passengers after the crash landing show slides deployed and
people exiting well before fire really took hold of the aircraft.
Asiana have confirmed there were 291 passengers plus 16 cabin crew
onboard flight OZ214. Looking at video of the burned out wreckage and of smoke
and fire soon after the crash, some may be surprised the casualty figures are
so low considering there were more than 300 onboard.
This is very reminiscent of an incident in Toronto in August, 2005
when an Air France plane crashed. Although there was a large fire in
that crash, all 309 passengers and crew on the Airbus A340 managed to get off.
Without ignoring the casualty figures from the San Francisco incident,
it shows that aircraft crashes like this are proving to be survivable incidents
provided there is adequate crew training and an awareness of passengers to know
what to do when there is an emergency.
And those key things: Know where your exit is, know to leave your
belongings behind and exit the plane quickly and orderly because that is the
way planes are designed.
The B777 aircraft is built so that everybody can get off the plane
within 90 seconds even if half the doors are inoperable.
And they work on that basis because as you can see in the Asiana
incident, one side of the aircraft is a lot more damaged than the other -- and
appears to be the main area of the fire -- so you wouldn't want to open the
doors on that side.
Importantly, there is an onus on passengers -- know where the emergency
exits are, don't try and take your belongings with you and take notice of and
follow crew instructions and directions.
In this image from David Eun, a
passenger on Asiana Airlines Flight 214, you can see passengers disembarking
from the plane via the inflatable slides.
If you look at the image to the left you can see several passengers with
bags -- one passenger with a carry-on roller case. Grabbing your carry-on
luggage does not assist a speedy evacuation and observations like these will
form part of a thorough safety investigation.
If there is one thing we all can take away from a tragic incident like
this, it is not to ignore those important flight safety briefings at the start
of each flight we take. When I fly, I always take note of where my nearest exit
is, whether it is three or four or whatever rows away.
Those briefings exist for a reason. We've seen as well in recent years
several airlines, such as Air New Zealand, add an
entertainment value to their safety videos, in part to try and make
sure more passengers watch them.
An incident like the Asiana crash should really reinforce the value of
being aware of safety and emergency procedures.
Most of the planes we fly today are designed so passengers can get out
within 90 seconds in an emergency. That is what we have seen in the case with
this incident in San Francisco. And while flight crew training is vital, so too
are the actions of passengers.
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