Statistically it’s relatively rare, but the scenario is not unfamiliar: An airliner stopped on a runway, ramp or taxiway somewhere in the world, an emergency evacuation under way, and passengers grabbing their carry-on bags from overhead bins and from under seats before heading for the emergency exits and going down the escape slides.
From 2015 through 2017, the world’s passenger and cargo airlines flew 120.3 million flight sectors, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).1 During that same period there were 117 commercial jet and turboprop passenger aircraft accidents in which a cabin end state could be determined. In 48 of those accidents, the cabin end state was characterized as “evacuation (land)” or “evacuation (water).” Evacuation is defined as “passengers and/or crew evacuated the aircraft via escape slides/slide rafts, doors, emergency exists, or gaps in the fuselage; usually initiated in life threatening and/or cata…
