Common Sense?
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
It’s August 2, 2005. You’re a passenger on Air France Flight 358, landing at Pearson Airport. Everything has been routine up until this point - the flight attendant was friendly enough, your pretzels were kind of stale, you’re glad the seatbelt sign is on because you’re tired of getting up for the guy in the window seat who has made fifteen trips to the toilet - when suddenly, the plane skids off the runway, crashes into a ditch and bursts into flames.
Do you a) wait for instructions from the cabin crew, b) proceed to the nearest exit, the one you located at the beginning of the trip in case of emergency, or c) clamour over everyone to rescue your Heys carry-on luggage in the overhead bin? It seems absurd that anyone would be concerned about their toiletries and socks at a time like that, but there must have been a few morons on that flight because that’s one of the Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations in a report about the incident released yesterday:
Passengers should be instructed at the start of the flight to leave all carry-on baggage behind during an evacuation because the few seconds it takes to gather personal belongings could be crucial.
D’uh! I thought this was already a part of the instructional video you’re shown as the plane is taxiing to the runway, but even so, who holds up an emergency evacuation with their Louis Vuitton pullman that’s been jammed under the seat in front of them? Someone who doesn’t have the brains God gave cheese, that’s who!
Feel free to share your “what were they thinking?” stories in the reply section below. CHEESE is your Jack Nation bonus code. It’s worth 100 points until December 14th.