American Airlines flight attendants found themselves battling more than just smoke when a recent emergency evacuation turned chaotic, with passengers more concerned about their hand luggage than their own safety.
The shocking and dramatic incident, captured on video and now viral online, has sparked widespread criticism over what many are calling reckless behaviour during a potentially life-threatening situation.
The clip, first posted on Reddit by user emoemokade on the ‘aviation’ subreddit — before being shared amongst the more general subreddits later on— shows a cabin filling with smoke as flight attendants urgently instruct passengers to leave everything behind and exit the aircraft.
Despite the danger, several travellers are seen frantically opening overhead bins, determined to retrieve their carry-on bags before leaving the very crowded and hectic plane.
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The flight, an American Airlines 737 MAX departing from Denver, was forced to make an emergency stop after reports of smoke in the cabin, reportedly caused by an overheated laptop battery or a fire in the landing gear.
Newsweek reported that the Foundation for Aviation Safety confirmed the video’s authenticity, linking the smoke to a fire in the plane’s landing gear. The non-profit’s executive director, Ed Pierson, explained that Boeing 737 MAX aircraft have had “lots of problems” with landing gear components.
Pierson said: “We believe this is a tragedy waiting to happen and just one of over 30 serious defects in MAX airplanes that we have been tracking and reporting”.
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“Boeing and the [Federal Aviation Administration] should be required to explain what they are doing to fix each of these defects, and the public should be monitoring progress.”
Pierson also weighed in on the disturbing scenes captured in the footage, pointing out the unpredictable nature of emergency evacuations.
He explained: “It is easy for people to criticise these bad decisions, but you have to ask yourself how would you react if you were sitting in your seat, the plane just aborted take-off and you were now dealing with people yelling, smoke, saw flames and knew you were standing on tanks containing jet fuel? Hopefully, you and your fellow passengers would stay calm and move swiftly during the evacuation.”
Online, however, the reaction has been far from sympathetic, with thousands of Reddit users expressing anger over the passengers’ actions.
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One commenter wrote: “People are going to die before they start following rules,” while another demanded stricter repercussions: “That German family deserves to be banned by that airline for five years. They refused to comply. Doesn’t matter if the battery was out, they ignored the FAs. They held up other passengers. They should pay the price.” The Foundation for Aviation Safety also criticised the FAA’s outdated evacuation rules, which assume passengers can leave an aircraft within 90 seconds.
Pierson argued that this standard no longer reflects reality, as shrinking seat sizes and increasing passenger numbers make quick evacuations harder.
He even suggested a possible solution: “Perhaps the FAA could challenge the public into coming up with a design for a locking mechanism that could be retrofitted to aeroplanes that would allow the pilots and flight attendants to automatically lock all storage bins. Then people wouldn’t have the option.”