Passengers dashed to the emergency exits of a burning Japan Airlines jet without their hand luggage, in compliance with the flight crew’s instructions.
Leaving their valuables behind was a “major factor” behind the swift evacuation of all 379 people on board, right before the aircraft was engulfed in flames on the runway of Haneda Airport in Tokyo last Tuesday, aviation experts say.
Japan Airlines Flight 516 turned into a fireball after it collided with a coastguard plane as it landed. Five of the six people on board the smaller aircraft died.
The flawless evacuation on the Japan Airlines jet has astounded the world and won praise from many. Aviation experts and flight crew tell the BBC it boiled down to the flight crew putting their rigorous training in place and “well-behaved” passengers who obeyed safety protocols.
“I don’t see a single passenger on the ground, in any of the videos I’ve seen, that has got their luggage with them… If people tried to take their cabin luggage, that’s really dangerous because they would slow down the evacuation,” said Prof Ed Galea, director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group at the University of Greenwich.
The state of the aircraft, an Airbus A350, made the evacuation difficult, Prof Galea said.
“This accident was far from ideal. The aircraft was nose down, which meant it was difficult for passengers to move,” he said.
Only three inflatable slides could be used to evacuate passengers but they were not properly deployed because of how the jet landed. The slide was very steep, which could have been dangerous.
The aircraft’s announcement system also malfunctioned during the evacuation, so the flight crew had to convey instructions using a megaphone and by shouting, Japan Airlines said.
One passenger sustained bruises and 13 others requested medical consultations due to physical discomfort, the airline said.
The Japan Airlines jet departed from Sapporo’s New Chitose airport at 16:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and landed at Haneda shortly before 18:00. The smaller coastguard aircraft was due to deliver aid to victims of a powerful New Year’s Day earthquake. An investigation into the collision is under way.