FAA urged to address carry-on safety risks during evacuations

The head of a group representing US flight attendants wants the FAA to form a working group to develop solutions that ensure carry-on baggage will not present an obstacle to emergency aircraft evacuations. The call to address possible safety risks of overhead luggage comes in the aftermath of the May 5 emergency landing of Aeroflot flight SU124, which killed 41 people when a Sukhoi Superjet 100-95 crashed upon landing at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, 27 min. after taking off for a scheduled flight to Murmansk. In a May 8 letter to FAA acting administrator Dan Elwell,Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) national president Lori Bassani wrote that video footage and witness statements from survivors show that passengers attempted to retrieve their overhead baggage while the aircraft was going up in flames, crowding aisles and exits, and preventing others from evacuating. “The likelihood that some passengers were intent on retrieving their carry-on baggage undoubtedly contributed to the pandemonium of a stressful and panicked emergency evacuation, and tragically may have contributed to a number of deaths,” Bassani wrote. The APFA chief said that overhead baggage likely was also an issue during the US Airways “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency water landing in 2009, during which passengers were photographed holding backpacks and suitcases on the wings of an Airbus A320 as it floated in New York’s Hudson River following a bird strike.<br/>