Cabin crew struggled to open emergency exits as passengers 'pushed and shoved' to get out of a plane that had landed with an engine on fire, according to an official accident report.
Some passengers on the Boeing 737 operated by low-cost carrier Ryanair were evacuated on to the side of the plane where the fire was being fought.
Six of the passengers who had climbed on to the right wing of the plane at Stansted airport were ordered back to seek alternative exits, the report from the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.
Eventually all 117 passengers on the Dublin to Stansted flight on February 27, 2002, were evacuated and the fire in the right engine extinguished. Four passengers received minor injuries in the evacuation.
The report said two cabin crew members had had difficulty opening emergency doors and that some new entrant cabin crew personnel would not have had training in operating these doors which had evacuation chutes attached.
There was some 'ambiguity' about whether the training requirements included the need to operate exits in all modes of operation. The AAIB added after the landing the cockpit crew had put the plane into a crosswind position.
"Had the right engine developed an uncontained fire, the relative wind would have exacerbated the situation and adversely affected the survivability of such an event," the report said.
The AAIB made a number of safety recommendations including asking the Irish Aviation Authority to review cabin crew training.
Published Tuesday August 3, 2004
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