The Tokyo miracle
Last Tuesday Japan Airlines Flight 516 was cleared to land at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Everyone was seat belted and the Airbus A350 had slowed to landing speed of about 140 miles per hour. As they glided onto the runway another plane either pulled in front of them from the side or parked with its nose into the runway. The result turned into a fireball after the collision of the Airbus as it landed with the Coast Guard plane. Five of the six people on board the smaller aircraft – which had been due to deliver aid to victims of the powerful New Year’s Day earthquake – died. Everyone on Flight 516 survived, with the flawless evacuation from the cabin as it filled with smoke astounding the world and winning praise from many. Aviation experts and industry professionals told the BBC it boiled down to staff on board putting their rigorous training into practice and “well-behaved” passengers who obeyed safety protocols. “I didn’t see a single passenger fall on the ground, in any of the videos I’ve seen. None has their overhead bin 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.
According to a former flight attendant, all new crew members undergo stringent evacuation and rescue training for up to three weeks before they are allowed to serve in commercial flights. The training – which extends to how you control the tone and volume of your voice so you can be best heard by passengers – is repeated every year. “We go through a written exam, case study discussions and practical training using different scenarios. On top of this, all aircraft manufacturers must show that everyone aboard can leave the plane within 90 seconds for their planes to be internationally recognized. But even so, in real-life situations, it can be difficult to ensure that passengers do not panic. “What they achieved is harder than one can imagine. The fact that they managed to get everyone to escape is a result of good co-ordination among crew and passengers following instructions,” she said.
“I must say it was amazing. You really don’t have time to think in a situation like this, so you just do what you were trained to do.” “The flight attendants told us to stay calm and instructed us to get off the plane,” one passenger, said Satoshi Yamake, 59. Video showed passengers proceeding quickly but calmly down the inflatable evacuation slides and then jogging away from the plane. Within minutes, all passengers and crew members on the passenger jet had slid down emergency chutes to get away from the plane. In the end, just one passenger on board flight 516 sustained bruises and 13 others requested medical consultations due to physical discomfort, the airline said. “I felt relieved to find out that all the passengers were safe,” the former flight attendant said. “But when I started thinking about the emergency evacuation procedure, I suddenly felt nervous and fearful. “Depending on how the two planes collided and how the fire spread, it could have been a lot worse.” Tokyo resident Tsubasa Sawada, 28, told Reuters that there was an explosion on the plane about 10 minutes after the passengers disembarked. “I can only say it was a miracle, we could have died if we were late,” Sawada said to Reuters.
Just following instructions
After my first attempt to make a cake, the fireman told me that when it says to grease the bottom of the pan, they meant to say the inside of the pan . . .
Never literally taking cooking instructions…
It said “chill in the fridge for an hour”
I nearly died
What would be a good name for an angel that always looks up the instructions online?
*e*Manual.
A man tells his bartender, “I gave my wife instructions that I wanted to be cremated.”
“She got me an appointment for next Tuesday.”
January 9th Birthdays
1989 – Nina Dobrev, 1998 – Lauren McClain, 1994 – Ashley Argota, 1951 – Crystal Gayle
1974 – Omari Hardwick, 1955 – J. K. Simmons, 1966 – Dave Matthews, 1935 – Bob Denver