The report into a Flybe flight to Alicante last year that had to be evacuated on take-off has raised concerns over the evacuation after some passengers faced a “large-drop” from the Wing.
The incident happened 28th February 2019 at Exeter Airport when the crew aborted the take-off after smoke started to fill the cabin of the Embraer E195.
Some passengers tried to evacuate the aircraft via the over wing exits but because the flaps had not fully deployed, were faced with a 2m drop to the runway.
As a result some headed back into the aircraft putting themselves in a dangerous situation and causing a bottle-neck for others trying exit via the slides.
One passenger, Andy Feaver, video the evacuation and posted it on twitter.
Not the best of starts. pic.twitter.com/2VeHYsPJwJ
— Andy Feaver (@feaver87) February 28, 2019
The flaps would have created a ‘slide’ reducing the drop to the ground but the report says they were not deployed due to the speed in which the engines were shut down.
100 passengers and 5 crew were onboard the aircraft and all escaped without injury.