BA plane fire: Pilots condemn the passengers who carried baggage from burning aircraft
After 170 people safely evacuated from a British Airways jet ablaze on the runway in Las Vegas, pilots lambasted passengers who insisted on carrying cabin baggage as they evacuated the plane.
A fire broke out in the port engine of the 26-year old aircraft.
The captain, Chris Henkey from Reading, brought the aircraft to a halt and ordered an evacuation using the aircraft’s inflatable slides.
Still photographs and video footage shows a number of passengers running from the burning plane with their cabin baggage, including wheeled suitcases, in breach of aviation law.
One of the passengers was Sid Langley, a retired journalist from Northamptonshire. He later posted on Facebook that he “did the right thing, grabbed wife and ran,” while “other silly buggers fiddled around” retrieving hand luggage from overhead lockers.