An Airbus A320-200N — which operated as Spirit Airlines flight 3044 — was accelerating along the runway in the process of taking off from the airport in Atlantic City to fly to its destination in Fort Lauderdale yesterday, Saturday, October 2, 2021, when a large bird entered the engine on the right side of the aircraft, caused damage to the engine, and forced the flight to be aborted.
Videos: Passengers Evacuated With Belongings After Bird Strike Disables Airplane and Causes Fire
After the airplane had safely stopped approximately 1,800 feet down the active runway, a fire then erupted under the right wing of the aircraft, which prompted members of the flight crew to order that the airplane be evacuated via the emergency exits on the left side of the airplane — which is in line with standard operating procedures — and passengers used the deployed slides to escape as emergency vehicles raced to the scene.
The source of the following video is from GrecoRoman123…
…and the source of the following video is from Your Favorite News Network:
The sources of both videos cannot be verified at this time. If and when the actual sources of both videos are found and confirmed, they will replace the ones which are currently in this article — and more videos of the incident may be added to this article if they are publicly released.
Regardless, both videos show that a number of passengers took their time to gather their belongings — some of which were large, bulky, or oddly shaped — before evacuating the aircraft as a fire was raging under the right wing outside of the airplane.
Why Evacuating With Belongings is Such an Irresponsibly Bad Idea
I have been involved with what is known as Road Warrior Training — basically condensing a fraction of the intensive training endured for weeks by flight attendants into only a day or two — at the world headquarters of Delta Air Lines multiple times; and I have descended from an aircraft simulator multiple times as well using the evacuation slide which you see in the left side of the photograph at the top of this article. I remember one time where I came to a complete stop towards the bottom of the evacuation slide simply because I did not build enough speed — and if someone behind me is barreling down the slide and cannot stop, both of us could be seriously injured.
In a controlled environment, using an evacuation slide can be fun. In an emergency situation, it is an absolute necessity which saves lives — and it must be done as free of impediments as possible.
Rather than delve into further information in this article pertaining to why evacuating an airplane with belongings is dangerous and irresponsible, please read these other articles at The Gate which cover the topic of evacuating airplanes with belongings — including:
- 5 Reasons Never to Evacuate an Airplane With Your Belongings
- 6 Steps on How to Safely Use an Evacuation Slide In the Event of an Emergency
- Should Passengers Who Evacuate With Baggage Be Fined?
- Why Do Passengers Grab Baggage Before Evacuating an Airplane?
- Some Survivors Grabbed Belongings as 41 People Perished in Airplane Crash in Russia?
- Breaking News: FlyerTalk Member Witnesses Aircraft Accident Live in Philadelphia
- Three FlyerTalk Members Give First-Hand Accounts as Passengers About Aircraft Accident in Philadelphia
Final Boarding Call
What I found ironic is that some of the passengers who evacuated with their belongings wore masks to prevent the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic — in order to save lives from trying to prevent its spread — but who cares if precious seconds which could have been saved potentially kills any fellow passengers who may not have been fortunate enough to escape the airplane because those belongings were so important.
I am not going to comment any further on that aspect of this topic, as you know my thoughts and opinions pertaining to the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic — which have not changed — if you have been a regular reader of The Gate for the past two years. I am simply thankful that no one was injured or killed from this incident, which could have turned out substantially worse.
All photographs ©2013 and ©2018 by Brian Cohen.
