The Federal Aviation Administration is urging airlines take steps to encourage passengers to leave personal items behind when evacuating aircraft during emergencies, a move following a rash of such instances and calls for action from safety investigators.
The US regulator on 19 September said it issued a Safety Alert for Operators emphasising “the adverse effects of passengers attempting to evacuate with carry-on items, which can significantly impede evacuation procedures and increase the potential for injury or fatality”.
“This… puts lives at risk,” says the FAA.
“Operational data, post-event analyses and safety reports have identified a recurring safety hazard: passenger attempts to retrieve carry-on items during evacuations. This behaviour directly affects safety by undermining evacuation efficiency,” adds FAA’s notice.
Safety investigators have long known of the problem. In 2000, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a study titled “Emergency Evacuation of Commercial Airplanes” in which it urged the FAA to develop means to “minimise the problems associated with carry-on luggage during evacuations”.
Then in 2017, the NTSB, as part of its investigation into a 2016 incident involving the evacuation of a burning American Airlines Boeing 767, recommended the FAA study and address the issue.
The FAA responded to that call in December last year, issuing a 25-page report acknowledging the problem and suggesting mitigation measures such as “lockouts on overhead bins”, better passenger education and eliminating checked bag fees. That last recommendation would presumably encourage more passengers to check bags, resulting in fewer cabin bags.
The FAA’s new Safety Alert, dated 16 September, notes that collecting bags contributes to delayed evacuations and “compromised survivability during time-critical emergencies involving smoke, fire or structural damage”.
The alert recommends airlines update emergency evacuation procedures, training and cabin announcements, including by adopting “standardised, concise messaging stating that all bags or personal belongs must be left behind with no exceptions”.
Carriers might also convey that message on signs within airports.
The bringing-luggage-during-evacuation problem has been raised by officials on many countries.
Russian investigators, for instance, determined that passengers attempting to retrieve luggage during while evacuating a flaming Aeroflot Superjet 100 in 2019 contributed to the severity of that deadly incident.
Canadian regulators in 2018 issued a safety alert advising airlines to “ensure passengers are informed to leave carry-on baggage on board the aircraft during an emergency evacuation”.
