Video footage shows passengers rushing to evacuate the burning Airbus A350 in relatively orderly fashion and with almost no carry-on luggage - an operation hailed as a "miracle" that kept everyone alive.
For years, aviation safety agencies have warned that attempting to collect carry-on luggage poses a very high risk of death during evacuation in the event of a plane crash, especially in the event of a fire.
A Japan Airlines A350 plane catches fire at Haneda International Airport, in Tokyo, Japan on January 2, 2024. Photo: Reuters
There have been many painful lessons in the past about passengers trying to retrieve their luggage while evacuating from planes. Evacuation has been a major safety priority since at least the mid-1980s, when an Airtours Boeing 737 caught fire at Manchester Airport in the UK, killing 55 people.
Investigators of the 1985 disaster said the biggest cause of death was smoke inhalation after doors were delayed in opening and escape routes were limited.
A 2000 U.S. safety study found that an evacuation flight occurred on average every 11 days for any reason. Such events usually only come to attention when there is a fire.
Improvements in door mechanisms and emergency lighting systems are increasingly being made to aircraft, but new challenges are emerging from the amount of luggage passengers are allowed to carry on board.
Air crash investigators have urged passengers to leave their belongings behind when ordered to evacuate, but passengers often ignore this advice.
In 2018, the Royal Aeronautical Society recommended automatically locking overhead bins after an emergency landing, to limit passengers' access to items.
“It’s obviously an advantage if you don’t have your own luggage,” said Steve Creamer, an aviation safety consultant and former senior director at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
"It's remarkable that they got everyone off the plane. That says a lot about the crew and the discipline of the people on board," Steve Creamer said of the passengers on the recently crashed Japan Airlines flight.
Mai Anh (according to Reuters)
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