Opinion: Nok Air keeping the passengers on a skid off plane for more than an hour was inexcusable

[webfact]

 

By Erich Parpart

 

90 seconds is how long a manufacturer of a new aircraft has to demonstrate that all passengers can be evacuated in an emergency or else the plane would not be allowed to fly.

 

That is one of the reasons why cabin crews are being trained to evacuate an entire aircraft in less than 90 seconds, after the order to evacuate is made.

 

The person to make the decision on when to evacuate is the captain.

 

In the case of the Sunday night incident at Mae Fah Luang International Airport in Chiang Rai, the decision to evacuate the passengers was made more than an hour after the 7-year-old Nok Air flight DD108 skidded off the runway.

 

Full story: https://www.thaienquirer.com/42274/opinion-nok-air-keeping-the-passengers-on-a-skid-off-plane-for-more-than-an-hour-is-inexcusable/

 

-- © Copyright Thai Enquirer 2022-08-02

 

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[Harsh Jones]

An hour is not that long in airport hours anymore.  

[law ling]

4 minutes ago, Harsh Jones said:

An hour is not that long in airport hours anymore.  

Indeed, but here passengers were kept on the plane without air-con and lights.

[Harsh Jones]

1 minute ago, law ling said:

Indeed, but here passengers were kept on the plane without air-con and lights.

Oh well that is insane then. 

[jacko45k]

2 minutes ago, law ling said:

Indeed, but here passengers were kept on the plane without air-con and lights.

Awful treatment..... like being kidnapped. BA used to do it at Heathrow to me often.....no gate open or other such crxp. 

[SAFETY FIRST]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The person to make the decision on when to evacuate is the captain

It's clear that the captain is Incompetent. 

 

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, law ling said:

1 hour ago, Harsh Jones said:

An hour is not that long in airport hours anymore.  

Indeed, but here passengers were kept on the plane without air-con and lights.

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

[brianthainess]

The least they could have done was to open doors for air, without the passengers asking. For those with long memories; maybe waiting for the black paint to turn up. 

[Hamus Yaigh]

26 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

I read the full story in o/p and no where does it say the flight from DMK took 4 hours! If anything it took 7 years? Such is the standard of news reports we rely on.

 

>> "the decision to evacuate the passengers was made more than an hour after the 7-year-old Nok Air flight DD108 skidded off the runway."

[ozfarang]

51 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

It's clear that the captain is Incompetent. 

 

That's correct. He maybe able to fly the aircraft but is incapable of making decisions in an emergency. Might lose his face. TIT

[trainman34014]

Of course they were kept onboard so that nobody could tell The World what had happened.  People's comfortable lives are not important in Thailand....only FACE !!

[realfunster]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

 

It was a flight from Don Muang to Chian Rai, doubtful it was a four hour flight ?

I can't see four hours mentioned anywhere in the linked article, where do you get that from ?

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

There is no mention at all of it having been a four hour flight. You made that up. The flight originated in Bangkok, so about an hours flying time.

[Bangkok Barry]

3 minutes ago, trainman34014 said:

Of course they were kept onboard so that nobody could tell The World what had happened.  People's comfortable lives are not important in Thailand....only FACE !!

Have you heard of mobile phones and the internet?

[bigupandchill]

The cost of replacing the slides probably comes out of the captains wages.

[KannikaP]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

I just did read it, and there is no mention of a four hour flight....well not on the story I read.

[KhunBENQ]

18 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Have you heard of mobile phones and the internet?

Even before a domestic flight touches the runway the beep beep ring ring starts ????

[Gulfsailor]

What a nonsense article! If the airplane is not in imminent danger the safest place for the passengers is on board. Using stairs is always preferable over using the slides, as it’s very common for broken ankles and legs to happen when using these. And then you’ve got all these people roaming around and wandering off. So the pilot followed aviation protocols exactly, by turning everything off, and waiting to get the stairs fitted (which unfortunately didn’t work), and then only allowing the number of people off the plane by slide who could be transferred away by van immediately.

the pilot may have <deleted> the landing (an investigation will clear that up), but from what I read he did everything right after that. 

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

If this has been written the author must have been intoxicated.

Flight departed 20:03, 18 minutes after schedule.

Plane landed 21:05, 5 minutes after schedule.

 

 

[stereolab]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

The plane skidded off the runway, therefore, an immediate slide evacuation should have taken place. They could lose their license over this failing. 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, Harsh Jones said:

An hour is not that long in airport hours anymore.  

That's not the point.

 

The aircraft has been damaged, the pilot doesn't know exactly what has ben damaged and therefore can't be 100% sure there's no chance of fire.

 

Therefore first very urgent action :  passengers and crew should be very quickly offloaded, using the slides, as quickly as possible and herded well away from the aircraft.

 

Pilot would/should know the above, correct training* should have embedded the above deep into his brain as an instant reaction.

 

Further he would be/should be well aware that very quick removal of the passengers/crew is absolutely required (no maybe - no 'up to the pilot') by various international and Thai protocols, regulations and laws. 

 

The pilot, airport management and operations supervisors and the airline management would also know that in these circumstances other aircraft would not be allowed to take off or land. 

 

Operational regulations would / should require that the airport / the airline is ready to very quickly implement a fully structured plan to get buses, vans etc., to the aircraft and get the passsengers to the airport passenger terminal buildings within a few minutes. And also be ready to quickly give comfort, support, reassurance that there is no further risk, provide coffee etc.

 

The reports seen so far look nothing whatever like the above.

 

Seems to me the pilot should be charged along with snr., managers of the airline and the airport. 

 

A different slant, I wonder what interntional airlines would think about this 'event'.

 

*Training - Not re pilots just in terms of cabin crew; I recall many years ago it was revealed that many of the cabin crew of a Thai airline had not attended 'compulsory' training for many years re cabin crews responsibilities in an incident like this. 

[josephbloggs]

3 hours ago, brianthainess said:

And after it skidded of the runway while landing after a 4 hour flight. READ the FULL story !

Oh dear.  Oh dear.

[Gulfsailor]

1 hour ago, scorecard said:

That's not the point.

 

The aircraft has been damaged, the pilot doesn't know exactly what has ben damaged and therefore can't be 100% sure there's no chance of fire.

 

Therefore first very urgent action :  passengers and crew should be very quickly offloaded, using the slides, as quickly as possible and herded well away from the aircraft.

 

Pilot would/should know the above, correct training* should have embedded the above deep into his brain as an instant reaction.

 

Further he would be/should be well aware that very quick removal of the passengers/crew is absolutely required (no maybe - no 'up to the pilot') by various international and Thai protocols, regulations and laws. 

 

The pilot, airport management and operations supervisors and the airline management would also know that in these circumstances other aircraft would not be allowed to take off or land. 

 

Operational regulations would / should require that the airport / the airline is ready to very quickly implement a fully structured plan to get buses, vans etc., to the aircraft and get the passsengers to the airport passenger terminal buildings within a few minutes. And also be ready to quickly give comfort, support, reassurance that there is no further risk, provide coffee etc.

 

The reports seen so far look nothing whatever like the above.

 

Seems to me the pilot should be charged along with snr., managers of the airline and the airport. 

 

A different slant, I wonder what interntional airlines would think about this 'event'.

 

*Training - Not re pilots just in terms of cabin crew; I recall many years ago it was revealed that many of the cabin crew of a Thai airline had not attended 'compulsory' training for many years re cabin crews responsibilities in an incident like this. 

Are you a pilot or have experience with aviation safety guidelines? I’m asking because the evacuation guidelines set by the airlines that I’m familiar with, along with those set by Boeing and Airbus, do not agree with you in regard to when an emergency evacuation should be conducted. 

[webfact]

CAAT investigating Nok Air accident, passengers complain about time taken to leave the aircraft

 

 

The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) said in a press release yesterday (Monday) that it has summoned officials and pilots of Nok Air and officials of Mae Fah Luang-Chiang Rai airport to provide an explanation of the incident tomorrow.

 

The pilot insists that he complied strictly with the emergency evacuation checklist, said the CAAT, adding that airport fire trucks arrived at the plane within a minute of being alerted that the plane had skidded off the runway.

 

The CAAT was also told by airport officials that they normally use an aerobridge to move passengers from an aircraft to the passenger terminal, so there are only a limited number of buses available to transfer passengers.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/caat-investigating-nok-air-accident-passengers-complain-about-time-taken-to-leave-the-aircraft/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-08-02

 

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[motdaeng]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The pilot insists that he complied strictly with the emergency evacuation checklist, said the CAAT, adding that airport fire trucks arrived at the plane within a minute of being alerted that the plane had skidded off the runway.

 

stock in a dark aircraft after an accident and seeing the fire trucks waiting next to you  ...

i am sure that let everyone clame down!!!

[Maybole]

Since there was no chance of fire and the weather outside was heavy rain, the best place was inside the relatively intact aircraft. Also it would be difficult to get evacuating busses to the aircraft quickly on a dark  night  and muddy airfield.. Furthermore, having observed several evacuations on to airfields in the past, I can assure you that passengers tend to scatter and trying to find them all in the dark is difficult.

[motdaeng]

3 minutes ago, Maybole said:

Since there was no chance of fire and the weather outside was heavy rain, the best place was inside the relatively intact aircraft. Also it would be difficult to get evacuating busses to the aircraft quickly on a dark  night  and muddy airfield.. Furthermore, having observed several evacuations on to airfields in the past, I can assure you that passengers tend to scatter and trying to find them all in the dark is difficult.

"Since there was no chance of fire" 

 

i like your statement ... i think, a fire risk still remains ...

why have been there the fire trucks? because in case of a fire ... !!!

 

please, show me a similar evacuation which took one hour, thank you.

[Artisi]

6 hours ago, bigupandchill said:

The cost of replacing the slides probably comes out of the captains wages.

Maybe there weren't any slides - flogged off to someone's needy mate.... 

[Gulfsailor]

2 hours ago, motdaeng said:

"Since there was no chance of fire" 

 

i like your statement ... i think, a fire risk still remains ...

why have been there the fire trucks? because in case of a fire ... !!!

 

please, show me a similar evacuation which took one hour, thank you.

Just Google ‘runway excursion’, and click on images. Seeing a plane with slides deployed is the exception.

A plane doesn’t just blow up or catches fire when skidding into the grass, just as your car won’t blow up when you skid of the road into some grassy area. 

[zzaa09]

10 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

It's clear that the captain is Incompetent. 

 

The captain and Nok Air's general protocol and practices in these types of situations. 

Shouldn't surprise that they weren't trained for these assorted emergency circumstances if or when they arise. 

 

Guess we'll be boycotting Nok Air from here on in.