For the manifest tragedy that it is, the fact remains Asiana Flight 214 was a survivable accident.
Of the 307 souls on board the July 6th crash at San Francisco International, two died and 182 were transported to hospital. 123 were apparently unharmed. Absent an effective – albeit delayed – evacuation of the big Boeing 777-200ER, the tally of dead and injured could have been far, far worse.
CBS News reports U.S. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman says initially pilots instructed flight attendants not to evacuate and keep passengers in their seats. Only after one of those flight attendants saw flames outside the craft did the cockpit crew let flight attendants commence what proved to be a life-saving evacuation. It took some 90 seconds from the time the 777 skidded to a halt till the green light for the evac was given.
Asiana 214 is the latest in a series of crashes people have walked, or in one instance floated, away from. Indeed, most airline crashes are survivable. Studies by the NTSB and the European Transport Safety Council underscore the fact.
Prior to Asiana 214, the January 15, 209 ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson was the exemplar. Before that it was 2005 crash of Air France Flight 358 at Toronto Pearson International. All 297 passengers and 12 crewmembers managed to evacuate the massive A340 in between 90 and 120 seconds.
All three of these great escapes – Asiana 214, US Airways 1549 and Air France 358 – illustrate the importance of paying attention to that safety placard in the seat back in front of you. The crew knows their job, the issue is, do you know yours? Should the unthinkable happen, you need to know how to react. Begin by giving that safety card something more than a cursory glance.
“Every time I get on an airplane, I pick that safety card out, read it and study it.” The words are those of the late C.O. Miller. No mere frequent flyer, Miller was director of the Bureau of Aviation Safety at the NTSB. “Even if you’re sitting next to an exit, you should have alternate avenues of escape,” he said in an interview with this reporter. “You can’t depend on any given exit being available to you.”
Indeed, before the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration okays an airliner to carry passengers, it mandates the aircraft be able to be evacuated within 90 seconds – with half the exits blocked.
Most assume a seat in the tail is talismanic. Not so. “The tail does have, given the total spectrum of crashes…a safer position,” said Miller. But the edge is miniscule. Indeed, in the Asiana crash those in the rear of the 777 bore the brunt of the initial bone-jarring impact.
Here’s how to up your odds of staying alive. Run through your own survivability checklist:
– Find the two exits (on different sides of the cabin) closest to you. Count the rows between you and those escape portals;
– If there’s a fire crouch low as you can to the floor. That’s where the good air is. Follow the lighted paths to emergency exits;
– If you’re in an exit row, practice in your mind how to open the overwing exit. Some are heavy. Make sure you can handle it. Instead of just opening the hatch and hefting it onto the seat, some experts advocate throwing it out the opening. That way it doesn’t block the path of other passengers;
– Before you open the hatch, or an emergency exit door, look out the window to make sure there’s no fire outside. You don’t want to step out into an inferno; nor do you want to let smoke and flame into the cabin.
– Carry a leather coat with you. Use it as a temporary shield against fire. This is precisely what one flyer did in the April 4, 1977 crash of a Southern Airways DC-9. He lived.
– Listen to the flight attendants, and follow through. Don’t even think about trying to evacuate with a carry-on bag or laptop. Photos of passengers fleeing the Asiana 777 show some lugging carry-on baggage. Leave it. Mere merchandise isn’t worth it. Your life is.
– Finally, if flight attendants can’t help, don’t just sit there in semi-shock waiting for rescue. Don’t succumb to what experts call “negative panic.” Get out of the airplane fast.
