Spirit Airlines A320neo Has Engine Fire, Evacuates

Spirit Airlines A320neo Has Engine Fire, Evacuates

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As reported by The Aviation Herald, a Spirit Airlines plane experienced an engine fire and evacuation yesterday. There are two interesting aspects to the story — the actual incident, and then the video of the evacuation.

Spirit Airlines A320neo has Atlantic City incident

This involves Spirit Airlines flight 3044 from Atlantic City (ACY) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) yesterday evening (October 2, 2021). The flight was operated by a nearly two year old Airbus A320neo with the registration code N922NK.

The plane was accelerating for takeoff at Atlantic City Airport’s runway 31, though the crew rejected the takeoff at around 60 knots due to a bird strike with the right engine. This was a fairly low speed rejected takeoff, and the plane stopped just 1,800 feet down the runway. The engine caught fire due to this incident. The pilots requested fire trucks, and about a minute later they called for the aircraft to be evacuated. Everyone got off the plane without incident.

A passenger seated just behind the right wing took a video of the engine fire, and obviously I can appreciate how this must have been scary for passengers onboard.

Then there’s the evacuation video

Passengers had to evacuate the plane via emergency slides. There’s a roughly four minute video of what it was like inside the cabin during this incident, and my gosh, the passengers sure aren’t very good at following instructions.

You can hear the crew repeatedly announcing “remain seated, remain seated.” But passengers don’t remain seated, but instead get up, retrieve their items from the overhead bins, and yell “fire, fire, fire.” You can hear passengers yelling “oh sh!t, we have to get out of here,” all while the crew keeps announcing to remain seated, as fire trucks are on the way. But passengers continue to request to get off the plane, yelling “c’mon, open this door and let us out.”

Eventually (once the fire is under control) passengers are called to evacuate, and are told to avoid the right hand engines. As passengers evacuate, they’re repeatedly told to leave everything behind, and just jump on the slide. Go figure just about nobody listens, and instead most passengers take their bags.

Fortunately this wasn’t a more serious situation, but this evacuation is downright painful to watch:

  • First passengers are trying to tell the crew when the evacuation should happen, as if they have any clue what they’re talking about
  • Then when they finally are allowed to evacuate, they endanger themselves and other passengers by taking their bags with them; one lady with a bag even fell to the floor, because I guess she was trying to take too many things with her

From the perspective of the crew, it seems that they did everything they could to help passengers evacuate safely. They repeatedly told passengers to remain seated (few people listened), and repeatedly told passengers to leave carry-ons behind (they didn’t listen), so what more could the crew really do?

Bottom line

A Spirit Airlines Airbus A320neo had to be evacuated at Atlantic City Airport last night, after the engine caught fire due to a bird strike. The plane was brought to a stop and emergency services were called, and the situation was quickly contained, at which point passengers were safely evacuated.

Still, watching the way passengers acted during the evacuation is incredibly frustrating. Passengers don’t at all listen to crew instructions, both when it comes to remaining seated, and when it comes to leaving carry-on items behind. Fortunately in this situation it didn’t cost anyone their life.

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  1. Chad Guest

    The reason people grab their overhead luggage is that there is zero confidence that it will be returned intact in a timely manner. Wallets, ID’s, prescriptions, computers, etc. Passengers made their decisions based on airline past performance, the trust was lost many years ago.

  2. Mike Guest

    I am all for rules.. but i was near that engine. No way would I be sitting in that seat waiting.... no way. Also, if they did not charge so much to check baggage and if it did not take up to 45 mins to get bags to a carousel then more would opt to check bags.

    Just sayin'. Lets look at the whole picture.

  3. Richard Kudrna Guest

    I am curious why there seems to be gas exiting at speed. Was the core still running? Did the crew not get a fire warning? Is not procedure when on ground to pull fire handle at first indication? Or was that bleed air from a broken duct and not isolated? Otherwise I think it resembles oil fire. I wonder if it will be necessary to repeat bird strike or perhaps this was a very big bird such as a pelican. It all seems odd.

  4. LMLonestar21 New Member

    I have a loved one, who is a Commercial Pilot, and people have NO idea all of the work, the training, and the stress that is carried in this field by flight crews day in and day out. It’s easy to be a “Monday Morning Quarterback,” it’s MUCH harder to be the one with the ACTUAL stripes, having to make decisions on the fly, taking measure to ensure the safety of the passengers, the machine,...

    I have a loved one, who is a Commercial Pilot, and people have NO idea all of the work, the training, and the stress that is carried in this field by flight crews day in and day out. It’s easy to be a “Monday Morning Quarterback,” it’s MUCH harder to be the one with the ACTUAL stripes, having to make decisions on the fly, taking measure to ensure the safety of the passengers, the machine, AND the surrounding environment. The fact that nobody was seriously injured, the plane held up structurally to allow for disembarking, and a major disaster was averted is amazing. This is the second bird strike that I know of at this very airport in just a few months. The other one about which I know took out a wing. There’s ALWAYS something that you can learn and improve upon after such an experience. But, the fact that nothing “MORE serious” happened is a testament to those, who did their job during this crisis.

    1. CHRIS Guest

      @LMLonestar21
      I know someone who is a doctor. Would you like me to surgically repair that hernia for you?

  5. Michael Guest

    This is the perfect example of know one listing, also why dogs should be in their carriers. But the dumb passengers know everything

  6. Stephen mackler Guest

    I was a flight attendant for 35 years and we train yearly for these situations. It’s always best to remain onboard the aircraft as most injuries occur on evacuations. The fuel supply to the engine gets cut off and shuts down in this situation.There is a fire suppression system built into the engine to put out fires. At the airline I worked at we could initiate an evacuation without cockpit intervention. You have make sure...

    I was a flight attendant for 35 years and we train yearly for these situations. It’s always best to remain onboard the aircraft as most injuries occur on evacuations. The fuel supply to the engine gets cut off and shuts down in this situation.There is a fire suppression system built into the engine to put out fires. At the airline I worked at we could initiate an evacuation without cockpit intervention. You have make sure the other engine is shut down as the slide could get sucked in. Also the cabin pressurization needs to adjust. So judging the flight crew without enough knowledge about a particular aircraft is UNFAIR.

    1. LMLonestar21 New Member

      Thank you for stating this. I have a loved one, who is a Commercial Pilot, and people have NO idea all of the work, the training, and the stress that is carried in this field by flight crews day in and day out. It’s easy to be a “Monday Morning Quarterback,” it’s MUCH harder to be the one with the ACTUAL stripes, having to make decisions on the fly, taking measure to ensure the safety...

      Thank you for stating this. I have a loved one, who is a Commercial Pilot, and people have NO idea all of the work, the training, and the stress that is carried in this field by flight crews day in and day out. It’s easy to be a “Monday Morning Quarterback,” it’s MUCH harder to be the one with the ACTUAL stripes, having to make decisions on the fly, taking measure to ensure the safety of the passengers, the machine, AND the surrounding environment. The fact that nobody was seriously injured, the plane held up structurally to allow for disembarking, and a major disaster was averted is amazing. This is the second bird strike that I know of at this very airport in just a few months. The other one about which I know took out a wing. There’s ALWAYS something that you can learn and improve upon after such an experience. But, the fact that nothing “MORE serious” happened is a testament to those, who did their job during this crisis.

  7. Sandy Guest

    Response To Chris!

    Totally offended with your F/A remarks! Obviously is very telling as to who you hang out with given your remarks. Many many F/A’s take their job very seriously especially in today’s difficult environment with so many entitled and rebellious passengers as witnessed here. Oh and please explain the “Power” a F/A has, please, Totally ignored and argued with when they are only trying to conscientiously trying to do their job! There are...

    Response To Chris!

    Totally offended with your F/A remarks! Obviously is very telling as to who you hang out with given your remarks. Many many F/A’s take their job very seriously especially in today’s difficult environment with so many entitled and rebellious passengers as witnessed here. Oh and please explain the “Power” a F/A has, please, Totally ignored and argued with when they are only trying to conscientiously trying to do their job! There are good and bad apples in every profession!!!

    1. CHRIS Guest

      Sandy,
      The majority of flight attendants at US carriers are terrible. They shouldn't have the job. A way to fix this is to allow foreign competition. Start allowing SQ to operate a flight on the JFK/LAX route and see what happens.
      As for crew hotels and bars around airports and training centers.....I'm spot on.....and you know it.

  8. Robby Guest

    First and foremost, until you’re in the situation you have no right to say anything about what the flight crew or inflight crew did. Typically if there is a fire, automatically there should be an evacuation however for whatever reason, the flight crew said wait. Then you have the customers..WHO DID NOT COMPLY..it doesn’t matter if this was American Airlines, spirit, frontier, delta..customers are extremely entitled and it’s sickening. People do as they please and...

    First and foremost, until you’re in the situation you have no right to say anything about what the flight crew or inflight crew did. Typically if there is a fire, automatically there should be an evacuation however for whatever reason, the flight crew said wait. Then you have the customers..WHO DID NOT COMPLY..it doesn’t matter if this was American Airlines, spirit, frontier, delta..customers are extremely entitled and it’s sickening. People do as they please and it isn’t fair. Shout out to spirit for doing their job & getting everyone off that plane safely! Stop judging and criticizing the situation please and thank you!

  9. L Melissa Guest

    Thank goodness this plane didn’t blow up!! Since the plane was just beginning it’s route its fuel tank, near the wings, had to be full. I’m surprised that when the plane came to a complete stop and the engine was still on fire, the F/As told the passengers to remain seated! Shouldn’t they have tried to get everyone off the plane ASAP??? Why did the flight attendants waited till the fire was out before initiating...

    Thank goodness this plane didn’t blow up!! Since the plane was just beginning it’s route its fuel tank, near the wings, had to be full. I’m surprised that when the plane came to a complete stop and the engine was still on fire, the F/As told the passengers to remain seated! Shouldn’t they have tried to get everyone off the plane ASAP??? Why did the flight attendants waited till the fire was out before initiating an evacuation. If my car was on fire I wouldn’t wait till it stopped burning to exit. An airplane is no different.
    Yes, the passengers didn’t listen to instructions by grabbing their luggage. But if the passengers were rushed off the plane maybe they wouldn’t of had the time to open the over head bins in the first place.

    1. Stephen mackler Guest

      First off once the engine is shut off the fuel supply to the engine is cut off. Also the engine has a built in fire suppression system. You only want to evacuate when there is no other options as injuries occur on evacuation. The best thing is LISTEN TO THE CREW FOR INSTRUCTIONS AND FOLLOW THEM, Instead of recording it on your phone

    2. CHRIS Guest

      Because burning to death is better than twisting an ankle.

    3. Barbara Guest

      Chris you just want some attention and that’s sad.

    4. Becca Guest

      When you get out of your car you don't have a risk of being sucked into it's engine...like the bird. Too soon?!?

  10. Steven E Guest

    I find the comments about the crew to be unfair - there’s only a few crew and an angry stupid mob doing exactly what they want and not listening to instructions to remain seated, in my experience crew do take their safety responsibilities seriously after all thats the only reason they they are there.

    1. John Guest

      There was a fire they should have evacuated the airplane immediately on the ramp. They can evacuate on the side of the airplane where the fire does not exist. Unfair call to mention flight attendants getting hammered At any time. Unnecessary nasty comment. I would also like to know why the engine fire cannot be put out from the cockpit there must’ve been another faulty situation.

  11. RON Guest

    Whaddaya expect? It's Spirit Airlines we're talking about here, Ben

  12. Jj Guest

    A320 cpt wrong. Escape lines are used only in a water evacuation to assist pax walking out onto the wing. They are never used in a regular land evacuation. The owe A320 slide deploys directly of the back edge of the wing.

  13. Daynamcfly Guest

    As a 39 year flight attendant I am blown away. First leadership: no, the passengers rarely if ever “get it” - but to be legal to fly passengers, flight attendants must be able to evacuate a full aircraft in under 90 seconds…. Yes, seconds. That takes strong leadership. This is what flight attendants train for - then train again every year. No it’s not how to pour your coke or how to ask you to...

    As a 39 year flight attendant I am blown away. First leadership: no, the passengers rarely if ever “get it” - but to be legal to fly passengers, flight attendants must be able to evacuate a full aircraft in under 90 seconds…. Yes, seconds. That takes strong leadership. This is what flight attendants train for - then train again every year. No it’s not how to pour your coke or how to ask you to be civil and wear that federally mandated mask - or even seatbelt. There’s a reason so much is regulated - for just this scenario. Had they opened the exits near flames they can and do get sucked into the aircraft. This was a totally survivable incident yet they are SO fortunate are no one was killed. Dragging their bags? No freaking way. This comes from a total disconnect in what you even have crew members onboard. Next time likely not so fortunate.

    1. CHRIS Guest

      @Dynamcfly
      Yawn.
      You haven't left your jumpseat in 18 months.....permanently if Sara Nelson and AFA get their way.
      Stick to throwing 2 year-olds off of planes.....You're great at that I'm sure.

  14. TProphet Member

    The FAA needs to require aircraft manufacturers to install electronically locking overhead bins. The bins need to be automatically locked below 10,000 feet, and only open when unlocked by flight crew. This would solve 90% of evacuation issues.

  15. Snt Guest

    Reading the first few comments I can't disagree with any of them.You can hear one guy as the voice of reason but what a mess.Remained Seated..??hmm.It should have been.'We Will Evacuate The Plane In an Orderly Manner!!!Follow My Instructions!!"

  16. Endre Guest

    Fine all those who took their belongings with them. Adults learn only through their wallets.

  17. Ty Guest

    As someone in the aviation field, I know there is a “method to the madness” for lack of better phrasing. They’re most likely on an active taxiway. We don’t know how many other aircraft were possibly out there that had to be moved for the affected airplane to come to their stopping point, etc. What mainly comes to mind is situations where passengers have been let off the plane prematurely & got ran over by...

    As someone in the aviation field, I know there is a “method to the madness” for lack of better phrasing. They’re most likely on an active taxiway. We don’t know how many other aircraft were possibly out there that had to be moved for the affected airplane to come to their stopping point, etc. What mainly comes to mind is situations where passengers have been let off the plane prematurely & got ran over by the fire trucks coming to save them.

    The destinations are shakey forsure, but unfortunately people act like this on ALL flights. The flight attendants are trained to keep the cabin calm & that’s what they were trying to do. Outnumbered I’m sure they did their very best with their resources, because again we don’t have the full story.

    I’m happy everyone made it off the plane alive & kudos to the entire Spirit crew for making it out & overall saving lives.

    1. LMLonestar21 New Member

      Exactly. Can lessons be learned from this on how to handle it better next time? Absolutely. But I know the training this flight crew has had in order to make this situation go as relatively seamless as it did. Passengers, plane, and surrounding environment all came out of the crisis with no “serious” (in perspective) issues. I think that an event larger mess always avoided, and it is ONLY because of the actions taken and...

      Exactly. Can lessons be learned from this on how to handle it better next time? Absolutely. But I know the training this flight crew has had in order to make this situation go as relatively seamless as it did. Passengers, plane, and surrounding environment all came out of the crisis with no “serious” (in perspective) issues. I think that an event larger mess always avoided, and it is ONLY because of the actions taken and decisions made by the flight crew that we can say this. They should be thanked.

    2. CHRIS Guest

      @Ty
      "As someone in the aviation field"
      Ramp Rat or ticket counter?

  18. Sam Guest

    Ben, your analysis is dead wrong here. Crew took waaaay too long to order an evacuation. We are very lucky that this didn't result in a catastrophe.

    Your point on the bags is fair, but this has been documented in basically every evacuation ever.

  19. Stuart Guest

    That was a complete cluster mess of an evacuation. If that were an actual and escalating fire you can forget the last 30% of the passengers making it out alive.

    The buck stops at the top. At the point of realizing chaos in the cabin and the passengers not responding to what were pretty weka commands from the FA's, it's the pilots job to take charge, make decisions quickly, communicate them forcibly, and be...

    That was a complete cluster mess of an evacuation. If that were an actual and escalating fire you can forget the last 30% of the passengers making it out alive.

    The buck stops at the top. At the point of realizing chaos in the cabin and the passengers not responding to what were pretty weka commands from the FA's, it's the pilots job to take charge, make decisions quickly, communicate them forcibly, and be in command. I can't believe how many people are carrying multiple bags with them. It's incredible, with the FA randomly grabbing only one woman's purse, actually impeding her exit, this, after countless other passengers go down with backpacks and carry-ons.

    This is exactly why I say that flight attendants are NOT there for your safety. Have not been in years. And deserve no more of a salary than a Starbucks Barista who would have handled the situation not much differently (and without "intensive" training, lol). At least at Spirit they are probably making the same as a Starbucks barista. Senior flight attendants at legacy carriers, however, take note. You are not fooling us anymore.

    1. Ben Guest

      I agreed with your comment in full until you began stereotyping and demeaning an entire profession of people based on the actions of a few budget airline FA's. Also, I don't think that was a FA that grabbed the purse from the woman, but, conceding that the currently available information is extremely limited, I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the overall performance of the crew in this incident.

  20. Sam Guest

    The FA grabbing the lady's bag at the slide was on a power trip. Stopping her to grab her purse slowed the evacuation process down.

    FA's telling people near the wing with the engine on fire is really dumb. No way should anyone stay near a fire!!! The engine could have exploded. You don't know.

    1. George Guest

      That wasn’t the FA taking her purse. It was the guy filming the evacuation who was clearly with the woman. He grabbed her purse strap with his left hand. If it were the FA, the hand/arm would have come from the right.

      Someone who doesn’t have the common sense or situational awareness to realize the above shouldn’t be commenting on proper emergency evac procedures.

    2. Al Guest

      First of FAs are trained to grab the bags off passengers as the bags can tear the slide. Second of all there is a method to the evacuation as engines need to get shut off in order to deploy the slides. As seen in the video passengers don’t listen as always. Then if they get injured it’s not their fault. Which it is. From what I’ve seen FAs followed their procedure.

  21. BenR Guest

    Why was the call from the crew not to evacuate? All things being equal with a fire on the aircraft isn’t the safest place for everybody somewhere other than the aircraft?

    Not sure the folks in the cockpit can see the fire and understand how it is or is not spreading? Plus there is also the issue of smoke inhalation. Sorry but if I was on board I’d very much be thinking about this...

    Why was the call from the crew not to evacuate? All things being equal with a fire on the aircraft isn’t the safest place for everybody somewhere other than the aircraft?

    Not sure the folks in the cockpit can see the fire and understand how it is or is not spreading? Plus there is also the issue of smoke inhalation. Sorry but if I was on board I’d very much be thinking about this deadly fire and would want to get off https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airtours_Flight_28M

    1. A pilot Guest

      As pilots you don't just put it in park, turn off the key, and step outside. We have checklists to run. Even in the evacuation checklist it takes a bit of time. The biggest thing is securing the other engines. The one that's on fire we would deploy the engine for extinguisher made to put out an engine fire, which clearly they did. For the other, the evacuation slides go right in front of and...

      As pilots you don't just put it in park, turn off the key, and step outside. We have checklists to run. Even in the evacuation checklist it takes a bit of time. The biggest thing is securing the other engines. The one that's on fire we would deploy the engine for extinguisher made to put out an engine fire, which clearly they did. For the other, the evacuation slides go right in front of and in back of the engine. Won't do the passengers any good to go down a slide to then get hit with several hundred degree jet blast or get sucked into an engine. And yes people will do that while in a panic. Seen clearly in this video. They were also standing up trying to get off before the plane had even stopped moving.

    2. Diane McCarty Guest

      Exactly!! All of a sudden these people think they know better. People today act so over the top entitled. I’m rd sickening to hear these people who all of a sudden experts bash the crew and the airline. They have no idea what it entails to get an aircraft down and deplane safely.

    3. BenR Guest

      Thanks for the condescending reply. In the case of Flight 28M evacuation started as soon as the aircraft stopped, but still 55 died. Hence why I would have concern and why I was curious as to how and when that evacuation call is made.

  22. Vincent rainaldo Guest

    First the crew did an excellent job. The comments on here are ignorant girls several reasons.

    Secondly the passengers not listening is not unique to any route or airline. Happens on all airlines from British airways to JetBlue to Delta.

    Ignorance is rampant.

    1. Sam Guest

      You are really ignorant if you think the FA's did a good job.

      Please don't fly.

    2. AFlightAttendant Guest

      Actually you’re the idiot, Sam! Easy to sit there and criticize. Flight Attendants are told to wait for instructions from the pilots. The conditions outside aren’t always safer than inside. Take your “expertise” and shove it up your ass!!!

    3. Isleflyer Guest

      Thumbs up. Agreed.

  23. Joe Guest

    Chris-

    Stop embarassing yourself and thank the flight attendants for getting everyone off safely. Don't speak as if you were there. Don't assume you know everything about the event because you were not there. Don't believe your assessment of flight attendant training and recurrent because you obviously haven't done it. We take our training and our jobs very seriously. We are responsible for every soul on that plane. As flight attendants, seeing that video scares...

    Chris-

    Stop embarassing yourself and thank the flight attendants for getting everyone off safely. Don't speak as if you were there. Don't assume you know everything about the event because you were not there. Don't believe your assessment of flight attendant training and recurrent because you obviously haven't done it. We take our training and our jobs very seriously. We are responsible for every soul on that plane. As flight attendants, seeing that video scares us to death because we all hope we don't have to ever go through it but be are ready if we do. As for guests listening to instructions, many do listen but there are also many who don't know any better because they are new flyers dues to the lower cost of tickets due to the pandemic. It is industry wide and not limited to area, airline, or demographic.
    You should be apologizing for bad-talking a group you know nothing about.

    Joe
    Flight attendant

    1. CHRIS Guest

      Dramatic much? You guys are good at sashaying up and down the aisles. I'll give you that. Conducting a swift and orderly evacuation.....not so much. Your company's incident today shows just how undertrained and underperforming NK flight attendants really are. The company hired much different people when Ned owned it. Now, its a joke.

    2. Chris is smaurte Guest

      Airline pilot here. Chris, your comments are almost as big of a talking point as this video on all the company, pilot, and flight crew groups I am I part of. Completely due to how embarrassingly and hilariously wrong and ignorant they are. They are comedic gold. Keep em coming, please.

    3. CHRIS Guest

      Part 107 airlines don't count

    4. Sam Guest

      Clearly, you are not a pilot.

      The crew needs more training. Evacuating anyone to the right side of the plane? DUMB and DANGEROUS.

    5. George Guest

      Sam. Nobody made anyone evacuate out the right side of the plane. Just like your previous “flight attendant taking the purse” comment above, you show a complete lack of comprehension of what actually occurred in the video.

    6. Cmorgan Guest

      Cmon guys it could have been far worse there were no fights, no one was duct taped, no arrests made. Not a bad day for Spirit!

  24. Brit Guest

    Well its Spirit Airline… they are lucky the slide inflated…

  25. Ole Guest

    Chris, you are clearly clueless to the procedures concering engine fires and evacuations. The situation was under control the entire time, and for deployment of the engine extinguishing systems it is safer for pax to remain onboard than in an evacuation. When it comes to ordering the evacuation, this is not up the flight attendants but the pilots. The PIC is the decision-making authority for ordering an evacuation. The F/As can order an evacuation if...

    Chris, you are clearly clueless to the procedures concering engine fires and evacuations. The situation was under control the entire time, and for deployment of the engine extinguishing systems it is safer for pax to remain onboard than in an evacuation. When it comes to ordering the evacuation, this is not up the flight attendants but the pilots. The PIC is the decision-making authority for ordering an evacuation. The F/As can order an evacuation if deemed neccesarry in the absence of communication from the pilots, which clearly was not the case here. While it might seem scary for a pax, the situation was handled by the book and there was never any danger to pax. The concerning element in this situation, was the pax brining all their luggage out delaying the evacuation process. If this was a more time critical evacuation, lifes would have been endangered. Just look at SU1492.

    1. CHRIS Guest

      Yeah. Clearly.
      What is the FOs responsibility here again?

    2. PJ Guest

      My opinion only and I don't give a rip if you disagree. Every passenger that took a bag to evacuate should be fined $1000 and not be allowed to fly any airline for at least 6 months, maybe a year. Baggage hinders an evacuation and could cost lives.

    3. Ole Guest

      Chris, why are you asking about the first officers responsibility?

  26. Craig Guest

    The passenger behavior isn't surprising for 3 reasons:
    1) Spirit
    2) Atlantic City
    3) Ft. Lauderdale

  27. Vito Izzo Guest

    I think there should be an emergency locking mechanism to the overhead bins so they will not open in an evacuation.

  28. SV Guest

    Well seems like someone is going on a rant instead of addressing the true problem. First of all the issue here is the inability for passengers to follow simple commands. The FAs constantly made PA commands with passengers being on their own program. Go figure, it has been shown previously that passengers are ridiculously difficult to deal with in the event of an emergency such as when being told to remain seated or leave baggage...

    Well seems like someone is going on a rant instead of addressing the true problem. First of all the issue here is the inability for passengers to follow simple commands. The FAs constantly made PA commands with passengers being on their own program. Go figure, it has been shown previously that passengers are ridiculously difficult to deal with in the event of an emergency such as when being told to remain seated or leave baggage behind. People are selfish and stupid and would much rather hurt themselves or others than do what they are told. Secondly, your comment about the pilots taking too long amused me. A crew is to deal with the most immediate threat before calling for an evacuation, which they did in this case. The fire was contained and the evacuation was a precaution at this point to ensure no secondary fires or smoke entered the cockpit. The emergency was handled as it should. So before you go trying to declare your expertise because you like to fly flight simulators on your spare time, make sure you know what the hell you are talking about. Also make sure you have some actual knowledge (as in being an actual crew member) before you go spouting nonsense to the world.

    1. CHRIS Guest

      Im assuming you're a flight ATTENDANT.

  29. RF Guest

    What a poop show. This is what to expect from the flying public now. Either train to handle this reaction from passengers or make changes to not allow this behavior. At the end of the second video the person looking for their phone seemed ready to climb back on to the aircraft they just evacuated to find their precious phone.

  30. CHRIS Guest

    An absolute failure on all parts. Pilots took way too long to run the emergency/shutdown checklist. FO especially took too long to access situation which in turn made the CA late to the party of ordering the evac. F/As might as well have not even have been onboard. They did very little to facilitate a safe and orderly evacuation. They actually slightly hindered it.
    F/As these days aren't serious about what they really need...

    An absolute failure on all parts. Pilots took way too long to run the emergency/shutdown checklist. FO especially took too long to access situation which in turn made the CA late to the party of ordering the evac. F/As might as well have not even have been onboard. They did very little to facilitate a safe and orderly evacuation. They actually slightly hindered it.
    F/As these days aren't serious about what they really need to be serious about. They don't take their training and recerts seriously opting to go out and get hammered after class as show up hungover the next day. They're all about the "power" and lifestyle associated with their jobs but much less about the service aspect and in this case the potential to save a life.
    This was nothing short of an embarrassment and the entire crew should be dismissed. If the wing caught fire and spread to the fuselage, quite possibly many people would have died.

    1. CHRIS Guest

      Feel free to show me where I'm wrong.

    2. Joe Guest

      Were you in fight deck with the pilots? I think not. Do you know which pilot was doing the flying. You don't know what warnings they were or were not getting during the emergency from their instruments and how they had to react.
      You want to be shown you are wrong?
      Everything went right because every one of the people on that plane got off safely. Period. If there are changes to be...

      Were you in fight deck with the pilots? I think not. Do you know which pilot was doing the flying. You don't know what warnings they were or were not getting during the emergency from their instruments and how they had to react.
      You want to be shown you are wrong?
      Everything went right because every one of the people on that plane got off safely. Period. If there are changes to be made to make it more efficient, Spirit will certainly do so to make it even safer than it is now.
      They got it right.

    3. Hems Guest

      Based on communications it looks like the emergency checklists was completed in a normal time. The FO alone, nor does the CA alone, assess the situation. It's always done as a crew.

      The ordering of Evac is always last or second last on the checklist, because you need to shutdown the engines, incase people run into them and die or the slides gets sucked in. Before you shut them down you need to electrical power...

      Based on communications it looks like the emergency checklists was completed in a normal time. The FO alone, nor does the CA alone, assess the situation. It's always done as a crew.

      The ordering of Evac is always last or second last on the checklist, because you need to shutdown the engines, incase people run into them and die or the slides gets sucked in. Before you shut them down you need to electrical power to call for help (fire trucks), you need to state your intentions to evac because now you're letting a lot of people run free at an active airport and operations need to stop, firetrucks needs to know to be more careful.

      In a emergency the FAs DO NOT LEAVE their posts. They are at the doors where people can get out. The best they can do is tell people to stay seated to keep them from going to the overhead and clogging the aisle.

      If you're really think they were too slow, just look up some videos on Youtube. Keep in mind in simulators, everything is more compliant as in it's instantly an engine fire or any other emergencies. In real life, things aren't as instant. The fire probably developed after the plane stopped and not during the stopping, which could mean starting the a new checklist.

    4. Noah Guest

      Lol. FA here. Going on 5 years. You’re a moron. As flight attendants we take our job very serious! Passengers don’t fucking listen which makes our jobs that much harder. I think the crew did what they could and. Idk if you know that the plane has to come to a complete stop to evacuate. Can’t jump out of a moving plane. Look at these people grabbing bags… after being told not to. 90 seconds!!! That’s how fast we need people out the door. These passengers suck

    5. Stuart Guest

      Instead of attitude and taking charge with eye rolls for being interrupted by a passenger who just peaks into the galley and asks for water while you play Candy Crush and gossip, perhaps you should channel that anger to actually taking charge and being forcible during an emergency. That's called leadership and actually being there for safety. Those commands were panicked meek meows from the crew, so of course no-one listened. You are all good...

      Instead of attitude and taking charge with eye rolls for being interrupted by a passenger who just peaks into the galley and asks for water while you play Candy Crush and gossip, perhaps you should channel that anger to actually taking charge and being forcible during an emergency. That's called leadership and actually being there for safety. Those commands were panicked meek meows from the crew, so of course no-one listened. You are all good at commanding to do as little as possible. But lousy when it actually matters.

    6. KB Guest

      Chris, this isn’t flight sim pro buddy. The same reason the pilots followed a internationally recognized procedure from Airbus to extinguish the fire and make sure people don’t slide out into a burning engine is the same reason you’re still wishing you could be the one up there. You have NO clue what you’re talking about. Best of luck on your endeavors of becoming a flight attendant but please take Spirit off your list.

    7. backseat pilot chris Guest

      You lack of knowledge and understanding of how airlines operate shows how ignorant and stupid you are.

      Keep embarrassing your self it’s quiet the entertainment.

      Also it’s assess not access . Learn a thing or two.

    8. CHRIS Guest

      @backseat
      *your (not you)
      *quite (not quiet)
      Also, yourself is one word. Not "your self"
      Dumbass

    9. Markus Guest

      Chris You obviously have no idea what you are talking about! Firstly the CPT makes the call when to evacuate! They are busy doing shutdowns and checks, Did you see the passengers following Crew instructions? NO! Everyone was up getting there bags. No one listens Maybe Watch when Emairates evacuated there 777 in Dubai pax were hindering the Evacuation with Baggage! Not only do they block aisles but they can also puncture slides. Before you...

      Chris You obviously have no idea what you are talking about! Firstly the CPT makes the call when to evacuate! They are busy doing shutdowns and checks, Did you see the passengers following Crew instructions? NO! Everyone was up getting there bags. No one listens Maybe Watch when Emairates evacuated there 777 in Dubai pax were hindering the Evacuation with Baggage! Not only do they block aisles but they can also puncture slides. Before you judge the crew maybe walk a mile in there shoes! And remember one day you just may need them should they become unwell, or if you need to evacuate. You think it’s all about the glitz and Glamour maybe go do a groundschool the A320 has approx 120 Pieces of equipment and you must know how to use each piece, preflight checks, precautions, durations etc! But someone so arrogant as you thinks it’s all about the Tea and coffee!!!!

    10. AHardPhil2Swallow Guest

      Aww Chrissy!! Clearly you’ve received a TBNT (Thanks But No Thanks) from NK and many other airlines… its clear you are a whole CLOWN! Stick to what you know.. now Go back to the circus!

    11. CHRIS Guest

      AHardPhil2Swallow

      You swallow Phil when he's hard?

  31. Ulisesrguez Guest

    Just your typical Spirit passengers...

  32. Victor Guest

    Same for that EK flight that caught fire upon landing in DXB some years back. Everyone and their grandmother onboard started grabbing their things upon evacuation and the fire was much more serious than this one. It was an miraculous no one onboard got injured in that incident!!

    1. CHRIS Guest

      No.

      Doesn't matter. CA takes over unless they were already flying that leg.

      Master warning/Master caution, fire #2 engine audible with bell.

      Anything else?

  33. Carol Guest

    As a Flight Attendant of over 12 years myself, I commend this crew for doing a great job in this evacuation and remaining so calm. We are trained to be the last ones off the aircraft. We need to ensure that all passenger have evacuated even the disabled and special assist travelers, in many cases we need to either carry or help these special assist passengers in any and every way towards the emergency exit....

    As a Flight Attendant of over 12 years myself, I commend this crew for doing a great job in this evacuation and remaining so calm. We are trained to be the last ones off the aircraft. We need to ensure that all passenger have evacuated even the disabled and special assist travelers, in many cases we need to either carry or help these special assist passengers in any and every way towards the emergency exit. I did see there were first responders that ran to the slide when there began to be a build up at the bottom of the slide. The flight attendants need to wait for communication from the flight deck first before initiating the evacuation so that people don't get sucked into the engines. Flight crew and inflight crew need to assess conditions and determine whether or not it's safer to remain in the cabin. People, for the love of God, PLEASE leave you bags always! Wait for instruction from the crew,leave everything and evacuate quickly but calmly. Once people start taking their bags the outcome could be deadly. Your bags are now blocking people from evacuating, your bag could tear the slide or raft(if you're in water). People will trip over your bags and get trampled over and possibly die. Good job crew and thank God this wasn't a worse scenario. Stay safe everyone. ♡

  34. Jeff Guest

    Someone’s gotta say it, but think about the clientele flying from Atlantic City to Fort Lauderdale on Spirit. You know exactly why they didn’t listen.

    1. SBS Guest

      Atlantic City airport is home to the FAA Technical Center. Spirit is one of the few airlines that fly there. If someone need to go there on business, nothing beats the convenience of a non-stop flight directly to the office.

    2. David Diamond

      The average person flying that route isn't trying to get to the FAA Technical Center.

  35. Regis Guest

    Shouldn't there had been a FA at the bottom of the chutes to assist/catch the passengers sliding down? Then directing them to a safe place far from the plane? Seems like more than one made a hard lending and pax were all around the aircraft until the fire fighters showed to take command. Don't have the whole video of the incident but it seems the FAs did not do a very good job at reassuring/directing/informing/managing...

    Shouldn't there had been a FA at the bottom of the chutes to assist/catch the passengers sliding down? Then directing them to a safe place far from the plane? Seems like more than one made a hard lending and pax were all around the aircraft until the fire fighters showed to take command. Don't have the whole video of the incident but it seems the FAs did not do a very good job at reassuring/directing/informing/managing the passengers and situation during this evacuation. Looks like it was everyone for themselves there until the FD showed up.

    1. Lisa Guest

      No. FA's are trained to evacuate the plane first and the last to actually leave making sure the safety of everyone on the plane/assisting those who need help getting off. Depending on the scenario (this one did not have time to prepare for an evacuation), they would instruct people to help at the bottom.

    2. SV Guest

      It would be the FO who goes outside to assist whenever he is done with his duties in the cockpits. The FAs would have instructed the first passengers that left to help others, but I am almost sure that they ran off in a selfish manner.

  36. Aaron Guest

    Looks like the people sitting in the emergency exit rows (at least on the port side) totally abandoned their duties and did not deploy the over wing emergency slide.

    1. Regis Guest

      They should only do so upon being instructed by the crew. It does not look like any FA told them to do it.

    2. Lisa Guest

      It isn't safe to deploy emergency exits when the engine is on fire. Also, not all exits have slides depending on the aircraft. An over wing exit doesn't usually have a slide it is escape ropes and you have to climb down.

    3. CHRIS Guest

      The 320 has slides on the ow.

    4. George Guest

      Lisa,

      You’re partially correct. Some aircraft don’t have slides, but the majority do. Certification of slide vs. no slide is based on the height at the base of the door. The entire A320 family most definitely has slides. The ropes you’re referring to are the “life lines”. They can be attached to an anchor point in the frame of the emergency exit when the door is open and another anchor point on the wing. Their...

      Lisa,

      You’re partially correct. Some aircraft don’t have slides, but the majority do. Certification of slide vs. no slide is based on the height at the base of the door. The entire A320 family most definitely has slides. The ropes you’re referring to are the “life lines”. They can be attached to an anchor point in the frame of the emergency exit when the door is open and another anchor point on the wing. Their sole purpose is to give the passengers something to hang onto and aid in their stability as they step out on the wing prior to going down the slide.

      - An A320 Captain

    5. Jj Guest

      A320 cpt wrong. Escape lines are used only in a water evacuation to assist pax walking out onto the wing. They are never used in a regular land evacuation. The owe A320 slide deploys directly of the back edge of the wing.

    6. Jj Guest

      Wrong. An A320 has slides at the overwing exit. No exit has a rope accept in the cockpit to climb out the window.

  37. rcex Guest

    Perhaps airlines should show video of this, or something similar, before takeoff, as a warning of how not to do things. Or, on airlines without video screens, make it part of the safety announcement (more than just a passive, "we're here for your safety" but a more direct, "follow our instructions, or you could lose your lives".)

    1. Joe Guest

      The problem is so many of them are on their phones or tablets and ignore safety briefings, be it live or on video

    2. Hank Guest

      Sadly, I’m not at all surprised that people won’t follow instructions, even to save their lives or the lives of others, when it comes to evacuations or vaccinations.

  38. Mike Guest

    This is so hard to watch for several reasons. While I can appreciate how troubling it must be to see flames coming out of an aircraft engine, pilots will use an extinguishing agent once the aircraft is stopped. During this time, you can see the flight attendants instructing the passengers to remain seated (which several passengers are clearly disregarding - welcome to travel in 2020-2021).

    While this procedure is being carried out, your pilots...

    This is so hard to watch for several reasons. While I can appreciate how troubling it must be to see flames coming out of an aircraft engine, pilots will use an extinguishing agent once the aircraft is stopped. During this time, you can see the flight attendants instructing the passengers to remain seated (which several passengers are clearly disregarding - welcome to travel in 2020-2021).

    While this procedure is being carried out, your pilots are also communicating with cabin crew and evaluating whether or not it is safer to remain on board or evacuate. If a fire can be extinguished and there are no hazards in the cabin, it may be safer to stay in the cabin. From the video you can see people tripping as they exit the slide - injuries are almost always assured during an evacuation.

    In this situation, the crew deemed it necessary to evacuate and called for this once they secured the aircraft (shut down engines), ensuring it would be safe for passengers to safely exit. Unfortunately, passengers were not following instructions. When a crew calls for an evacuation, it is because they believe the safety of your life is in jeopardy by remaining on board - so please trust the professionals who have thousands of hours of experience and undergo routine training for these situations.

    Grabbing your carryon bag endangers others for several reasons:
    - it slows the evacuation process
    - there is the potential to puncture a slide, which in turn, would inhibit a method of egress.
    - cause you to trip/loose balance as you go down / exit slide.

    Again, I can empathize with how scary this situation must have seemed to some passengers, however, disregard for the simplest of safety instructions can not go unnoticed. The passengers who disregarded instructions, should at a minimum, be prohibited from flying until they take some form of passenger safety course. The FAA should develop an educational program for passengers who choose not to follow crew instructions - I think they could learn more from this than simply fining them (at least on the first occurrence).

  39. Thomas Billington Guest

    BS. On the ground with a fire, evacuate

    1. George Guest

      This isn’t always the case. Particularly with an engine fire. If the fire can be extinguished with the fire suppression system, it’s often the safer course of action to NOT evacuate. Attempting to put out an engine fire on the ground is the first action. An evacuation will be ordered if it cannot be fully extinguished.

  40. CAROLYNNE LOREK Guest

    The mystique of a F.A. job is dead gone. With mass communication on internet, everyone is an expert.

  41. Fabian Guest

    It's hard to believe people don't learn / listen. I remember when the Superjet-95 in Moscow crashed. It costs peoples life when others try to get their luggage.
    They should somehow make the overhead bins lockable.
    Note for myself: Try to set near an emergency exit on all the flights.

    1. Victor Guest

      Same for that EK flight that caught fire upon landing in DXB some years back. Everyone and their grandmother onboard started grabbing their things upon evacuation and the fire was much more serious than this one. It was an miraculous no one onboard got injured in that incident!!

    2. Markus Guest

      All Pax carrying a Bag should cop a Huge fine, Or be charged with with conduct endangering life.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

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Craig Guest

The passenger behavior isn't surprising for 3 reasons: 1) Spirit 2) Atlantic City 3) Ft. Lauderdale

2
CHRIS Guest

An absolute failure on all parts. Pilots took way too long to run the emergency/shutdown checklist. FO especially took too long to access situation which in turn made the CA late to the party of ordering the evac. F/As might as well have not even have been onboard. They did very little to facilitate a safe and orderly evacuation. They actually slightly hindered it. F/As these days aren't serious about what they really need to be serious about. They don't take their training and recerts seriously opting to go out and get hammered after class as show up hungover the next day. They're all about the "power" and lifestyle associated with their jobs but much less about the service aspect and in this case the potential to save a life. This was nothing short of an embarrassment and the entire crew should be dismissed. If the wing caught fire and spread to the fuselage, quite possibly many people would have died.

2
Jeff Guest

Someone’s gotta say it, but think about the clientele flying from Atlantic City to Fort Lauderdale on Spirit. You know exactly why they didn’t listen.

2
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