Passengers on an Air China flight to Los Angeles were serenaded with a wonderful warning: “Drop everything! Evacuate immediately! The plane will explode!”
On Monday, Air China flight 983, operated by a Boeing 777, took off from Beijing toward Los Angeles at 9:13 PM. As the aircraft flew over eastern Russia, suddenly warning alarms sounded in the cockpit. A fire had been detected in the cargo hold. Pilots opted to land the plane, choosing Anadyr, Russia’s eastern-most town.
The aircraft landed at 2:55 A.M. and passengers were quickly rushed off with a flight attendant yelling the warning above as slides deployed. It was a cool -4ºF (-20ºC) outside…
All 188 passengers were taken inside the terminal where most sat waiting for Air China to send a replacement aircraft. Food, drinks, and medical care were provided, though no injuries were reported.
As for the fire, it turns out it was a big false alarm. In a statement apologizing for the mishap, Air China said:
Examinations after landing showed the cargo compartment was in normal condition and there was no sign of fire. We therefore came to an initial conclusion that the alarm was triggered due to malfunction.
CONCLUSION
Ok, so false alarm and no injuries. Why write about it? Because of that warning. Maybe it was meant to ensure people would not take their carry-on bags out (many still did), but it just seems to me that such a response would cause more panic and actually retard rather than hasten the evacuation.
And I don’t mean to second guess the pilots here, but wouldn’t a sudden and unexpected fire alarm warrant investigation before a diversion?
Again, I’m just glad everyone was okay. But please folks, in case of an emergency, leave all carry-on bags behind. I’m warning myself as well…
image: Aleksandr Markin / Creative Commons 2.0
Since when did this culture begin caring about others. Everyone for themselves and somehow things will work out. Be sure to push aside children, women and old people as you get out. An orderly evacuation is too much regulation.
I was on this flight and was incredibly impressed by how helpful everyone was to each other-getting them off the plane, across the snow field, huddling together for warmth and sharing supplies and spaces for the 20 hrs we were stuck there. Children, pregnant women and the elderly were the first ones put on the buses to get out of the cold and the first ones to be put back on the new plane.
The complaints I have are with the lack of communication of status updates from the crew and Air China taking 20 hours to get us out of there.
Thank you for sharing.
Completely agree, probably one of the saddest parts of Chinese culture.
From what I have read on Aviation Herald earlier, before you posted this, is that they actually responded as to procedure. The most important being to divert to the nearest suitable airport.
With that I see your point in that did they really need to do an emergency evacuation? I think given what is required at this decision point – an inspection by airport emergency crews to see if a fire does exist – prompted the reaction. That is, where they were, given the lack of comparable emergency crews to, say, Anchorage, do you really want to take a chance considering the location and limited experience of those crews? At this point enough time had elapsed that if there was a fire things could go south very fast.
It’s like a Doctor I guess. I personally like one that is ballistic and tests everything, assuming the worst. Some people prefer one more sanguine. The conclusion here is that everyone is safe (albeit a bit cold!). That’s what is important.
Relax dude. Those words, if yelled in Chinese, is perfectly appropriate for the situation and Chinese people are unlikely to panic at hearing them 😀
“wouldn’t a sudden and unexpected fire alarm warrant investigation before a diversion?”
I’m pretty sure the passengers on Swissair 111 would say “no”…
Aren’t “sudden and unexpected” fire alarms precisely the ones to worry about? I mean, that’s the point of having alarms in the first place.
Totally agreed. How to do perform a physical investigation on an unpresurrized compartment?
The pilots did absolutely nothing wrong, perfect decision making I would say.
I think the pilots made the right decision to divert absolutely – recall that a CX flight even diverted to a semi-abandoned US military runway in Shemya in similar circumstances – the priority has to be to get the plane on the ground ASAP in this situation (we learned that after Swissair 111 someone else here mentioned too).
That announcement however is another level of stupid – I certainly think it would have caused much more panic (and danger to passengers) than a calm but urgent evacuation command.
Having evacuated a plane on fire and watching people try to take their carryons I understand it…
The decision to divert asap was absolutely correct. In the case of a fire, you have 20 min to get on ground or its game over.
Look at the crash of the UPS 747F near Dubai for an informative example.
How much investigating can you do before landing and evacuating the plane? Is there video monitoring of the cargo hold? Can you send a crew member “downstairs” as in some of the action movies set on planes? Even if you could, SHOULD you? Or if there might be a fire in the hold, would keeping it closed be the thing to do?
“but wouldn’t a sudden and unexpected fire alarm warrant investigation before a diversion?” … WOW! I enjoy reading most of your stuff, but this comment is showing your entitlement. Lets ask the passenger/families of these flights for some insight of when a plane should divert due to fire or stay in the air for further investigation? Value Jet 592, Swiss Air 111, Air Canada 797, UPS 6, Saudi 163 etc…
I rather have 20+ hours of inconvenience than having my family plan my funeral.
Speaking professionally.
If you have a smoke alarm in the cargo compartment you have no choice but to assume the worst. Swiss Air and Value Jet demonstrated just how fast onboard fires can get ugly. So the diversion was absolutely the right call.
That being said I’m not sure I would have evacuated in those circumstances. You have to assume that shoving everyone down the slides is going to break an ankle or two. And given the weather outside your potentially putting people in another life theatening situation by sending them outside. Consequently I’d personally be biased against an evacuation without more than just a cargo smoke alarm.
Assuming you have no secondary indications I’d be looking for ways to confirm that fire. Many airports have thermal imagers that would allow ARFF to see heat in the cargo bins and if available I’d certainly make use of that resource. But if they didn’t have anything like that I think I would have waited until a normal deplaning was possible and then once everyone is off you inspect the cargo areas. That gives you the added advantage of being able to put people back on the plane if you can confirm there is no danger. You might even be able to continue the flight if you can MEL the affected cargo bin.
So diversion yes. Full blown evac..No
I should also mention that there is no way while airborne once you get a Cargo smoke indication to confirm that indication. Consequently when the alarm goes off you have to consider it as being real until you get on the ground.