Who is in Charge and how safe are we?

[Ansett]

Having done several flights of late with in Asia and Pacific Rim I am becoming increasing alarmed at the apparent lack of control that is being displayed by Flight Attendants.

I have noticed that passengers are removing seat belts and moving about the cabin during climb and times of turbulence when the seat belt sign is clearly iluminated and indded retrieving objects from the overhead luggage compartments.

Whilst this will always happen it has been good in that staff have immediately reacted and directed said passngers to their seats, however with out being racists when flying on Asian Airlines of different names and yes including JQ Asia. The staff are unable to take control of these situations like this.

Having spoken to many flight attendents on these flights the response is well it is Asia we can not control the passengers they do what they wish!!!!

My Question is then what would happen in the event of an emergency would they be able to take control of some one say trying to open a door mid flight? if they can not even get them to sit down when the seat belt sign is on?

What do you think how safe are we?

 

[medhead]

From opening a door. Pretty damn safe. Apparently, they can't be opened in flight due to the cabin pressure. (as a general rule. I'm sure there are some exceptions to this)


Sent from the Throne

 

[Ansett]

I agree

Used the door opening as an example perhaps not the best example

Still the point is if they can not get passengers to be seated when the seat belt sign is on how will they control an emergency situation of any description?

 

[mannej]

Here is an image from an emergency evacuation of an aircraft from an unnamed airline.

What do you notice that is wrong in these pictures.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/files/2011/12/Cathay-Pacific-evacuation-02.jpg

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/C...11209-plane-evacuation-da-01.photoblog900.jpg

 

[Ansett]

Here is an image from an emergency evacuation of an aircraft from an unnamed airline.

What do you notice that is wrong in these pictures.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/files/2011/12/Cathay-Pacific-evacuation-02.jpg

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/C...11209-plane-evacuation-da-01.photoblog900.jpg

Kind of says it all doesnt it

So who is in charge and how safe are they?

 

[SeatBackForward]

Here is an image from an emergency evacuation of an aircraft from an unnamed airline.

What do you notice that is wrong in these pictures.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/files/2011/12/Cathay-Pacific-evacuation-02.jpg

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/C...11209-plane-evacuation-da-01.photoblog900.jpg

Why say its unnamed? its pretty obviously Cathay Pacific.

And I'd dare say you'd see that happening on any airline, Asian or not.

 

[mannej]

Why say its unnamed? its pretty obviously Cathay Pacific.

And I'd dare say you'd see that happening on any airline, Asian or not.

The only reference to CX is in the Crikey URL. There are people out there who wouldn't be able to identify the airline from those photos alone.

 

[SeatBackForward]

The only reference to CX is in the Crikey URL. There are people out there who wouldn't be able to identify the airline from those photos alone.

It was a CX incident in Shanghai December 2011. And yes the URL gives it away even without the photo itself.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Why say its unnamed? its pretty obviously Cathay Pacific.

And I'd dare say you'd see that happening on any airline, Asian or not.

definitely and by the time they are at the door you cant tell them not to take the bags can you, otherwise you will clog up the exit with luggage.

 

[moa999]

dazz81- Agree that once there nothing you can do, but only a few sharp edges etc to pop the safety slides and threaten everyone else.

I always think airlines should make more of leaving luggage, high heel shoes behind, and if used not inflating a safety vest until outside the plane.
but i suspect if you had an evac on QF, DJ in Australia a lot of bags and handbags would go down the slide as well.

 

[mannej]

It was a CX incident in Shanghai December 2011. And yes the URL gives it away even without the photo itself.

If you didn't have that URL showing, it would not be so obvious to all...

Accident: Cathay B744 at Shanghai on Dec 9th 2011, smoke in cabin during taxi

 

[SeatBackForward]

definitely and by the time they are at the door you cant tell them not to take the bags can you, otherwise you will clog up the exit with luggage.

The instruction should be "The bags go over the edge, you go down the slide"

 

[Ansett]

The instruction should be "The bags go over the edge, you go down the slide"

Aagin I refer back to the original post if they can not get people to sit down when the seat belt sign is on how can they get people to throw away luggage or follow instructions. It is more probable that the flight attendant would be sent over the edge first

 

[yohy?!]

the only time i have been worried by the FA level of competence has been on (rare) JQi flights with overseas cabin crew who have lacked english language skills and struggled to close aircraft doors and wheel trolleys down the aisle - i would not want to be on a packed A330 flight to Bali or coughet that ran into trouble with them in charge...

 

[harvyk]

dazz81- Agree that once there nothing you can do, but only a few sharp edges etc to pop the safety slides and threaten everyone else.

I suspect that sharp edges would do nothing to the slides... The would need to be tough enough to survive virtually anything considering that if they get used, the proverbial has already hit the fan.

I strongly suspect the reason why they discourage bags from been taken down the slides (and why high heals aren't allowed) is that these things could be a very real danger to someone at the bottom of a slide, that 7kg bag, once it has some momentum behind it could easily hurt someone down the bottom who has not yet cleared the slide (yes I know people are heavier, but ultimately you need to get people out, luggage can always be replaced), likewise high heals could be lethal once a bit of speed is up going down the slide (plus it would be more difficult getting away from the bottom of the slide, because the ground could literally be anything)

 

[samh004]

I’d imagine taking bags with you for a water landing (despite almost inevitability of aircraft sinking/breaking up and slides/raft not being that useful) would also make the rafts a bit too heavy…

If I had an iPad in the seat pocket I’d probably grab that, but it would depend what’s in my bag (seeing as it was stolen recently, not an issue anymore) as to whether I’d consider bringing it with me. Despite what the safety briefing says, I’m happy to help out, but if there’s something important to me in my bag, it’d be coming with me

That said, I wouldn’t bring 3 bags with me like in that photo

 

[Duffa]

That said, I wouldn’t bring 3 bags with me like in that photo

Why not? It's obvious he was a first class passenger!

 

[oz_mark]

Back when qf6 was evacuated it was thought one slide had deflated due to someone going down the chute with stilettos on.

Sent from my HTC Legend using AustFreqFly

 

[MEL_Traveller]

dazz81- Agree that once there nothing you can do, but only a few sharp edges etc to pop the safety slides and threaten everyone else.

I always think airlines should make more of leaving luggage, high heel shoes behind, and if used not inflating a safety vest until outside the plane.
but i suspect if you had an evac on QF, DJ in Australia a lot of bags and handbags would go down the slide as well.

I'm guessing if the crew had to prepare the cabin for a water evacuation they would go into more detail to advise pax not to inflate until outside the cabin. If the plane overshot a runway then probably while not desirable, probably not so much of an issue if pax inflated before leaving (other than clogging up the aisles).

The CX evacuation shows that everyone can get out, hand luggage included. Again not ideal, but shows it wasn't so much of an issue.

I guess with the CX evac the passengers made some sort of judgment about the seriousness of the situation. The comparison is the Chna Airlines evcuation in August 2007 where the plane was on fire with lots of smoke... in that one most (there were two exceptions I think) of the pax were outta there without cabin baggage.

As for pax getting up out of the seats while the aircraft is in climb, or if there is turbulence, well, not ideal but how much of an issue is it really? I know there are TPAC flights (usually seem to be to Japan) where there is severe turbulence and crew/pax get injured, but this is not usually during the climb period you are talking about, it usually seems to be during cruise.

As for other flights, some airlines (QF being one IIRC) turn off the seat belt sigh very early during the climb. You are then free to move around. Other airlines would have the seat belt sign on during the same period. (QF is also one of the airlines least likely to turn on the seat belt sign during turbulence, comapred to other airlines, particualrly CX and American carriers, that turn it on at the slightest bump...).

I know everyone's gonna jump on and say they have seen multiple cases of bags falling and people being thrown around... but honestly, I've never seen anything of the sort. So for me, I see the risk as being extremely low for anything bad to happen.

 

[Warks]

Have often heard a FA tell people off over the PA system without actually spotting them myself.

Always reminds me of the scene with Dirty Harry in Magnum Force when the plane has been hijacked and the pax are in his line of sight with his gun:

"SIT DOWN!"

Full clip (go to 4:45):
Magnum Force- Airplane Hijacking Scene - YouTube