Hobby horse or Nightmare?
Occasionally, both my very own pet Hobby horse and regular travelling nightmare – cabin baggage makes the headlines. Bit like Odysseus, since childhood, doomed to wander this earth; either as a passenger or pilot – one could say I’ve done a few miles and seen many strange, wonderful and scary things during these journeys. But as a passenger, to me the sheer size and volume of ‘cabin baggage’ dragged into the aircraft and stuffed into the overhead lockers these days is, truly alarming.
“The scenes horrified aviation experts including Australian cabin safety consultant Susan Rice, who said there was no question in her mind that passengers grabbing bags would’ve cost others their life.”
Ms. Rice has that small element correct, but it is not the whole ‘survival’ story. Recently I passengered my way through four domestic sectors in the USA – (United). Two sectors miserably stuck in the middle seat of the middle row. I watched as the huge amounts of cabin baggage came inboard – there were some ‘big’ bags and cases lugged on board; then the back-packs (personal hate) etc. There I sat with my nose about 18 inches from the seat ahead hemmed in on both sides by two people either side and a clutter of bags and straps stuffed under the ‘seat ahead’. Trapped – and a veritable host of people between me and the escape hatch. How, in the seven hells is one supposed to evacuate within the certified time limit, even if 60% of ‘em leave the kitchen sink in the overhead locker?
Disembarking at the end of the journey is a painful experience; the endless wait while all and sundry mill about, with their bloody backpacks on, hauling down large suitcases and shuffling down the aisles dragging the kitchen sink behind them. I wondered why the bulky baggage was not checked in. I tried it – it took half an hour to get my bag checked in – and it cost me USD $30 to do so. It then took the best part of 90 minutes, from when the seat belt sign went off, to actually get off the aircraft, walk to the carousels, wait for my modest bag, and find my way to an exit. My bag travelled as cabin baggage from that time onward.
“For people to be standing in the aisle retrieving their bags from the overhead lockers, that could mean seconds between their own life and death,” Ms Rice said.
Here, Ms. Rice is a little short on reality. If ‘cabin baggage’ was kept to small, light articles and only allowed to be stored in the locker allocated to the seat row, then it would be a simple matter to grab the bag and head for the slide.
I’d want my brief case – passport, licences and paperwork etc; simple, stand up, reach in, grab bag, exeunt : nearest portal, away from the fire. Now, THIS is an important safety matter which is never, not ever mentioned – what if the fire is only on one side? What then? How are all these folk and their bags to be evacuated when half the exits are surrounded by fire? With or without their kitchen sink? We should all offer a silent prayer of thanks to the engineering excellence, training and skill of aircrew that make the worst case scenario such a tiny number as we hardly need worry about it. However, the worst case becomes a nightmare if there is a load of baggage strewn about the narrow aisles.
“That’s a conscious decision to hold up other people and I can’t comprehend it.”
Not true; the decision to lug two or three suitcases on board is purely selfish – in a crash situation, those same folk will be in a state of shock and disbelief; the urge to restore sanity and normality will lead them to clutch at anything belonging to their old life – the baggage. They do not want to believe that the unthinkable has happened – not to them. Nope, they’ll just grab the bags and toddle off home. If you think Karma is a bitch – wait until you meet her sister – Reality.
There, rant over, but ‘cabin baggage’ is a personal, pet hobby horse. Particularly when one has seen some of the ‘stuff’ lugged onto the aircraft as cabin baggage. But why people with ‘back packs cant ‘carry’ them in front of them when in a confined space I’ll never know – but being thumped by a back pack is a personal hate – the pure definition of mindless, selfish, stupid behaviour. No matter, the cockpit door is closed and what the eye don’t see, the heart can’t grieve over.
Toot – steam off – toot.
Occasionally, both my very own pet Hobby horse and regular travelling nightmare – cabin baggage makes the headlines. Bit like Odysseus, since childhood, doomed to wander this earth; either as a passenger or pilot – one could say I’ve done a few miles and seen many strange, wonderful and scary things during these journeys. But as a passenger, to me the sheer size and volume of ‘cabin baggage’ dragged into the aircraft and stuffed into the overhead lockers these days is, truly alarming.
“The scenes horrified aviation experts including Australian cabin safety consultant Susan Rice, who said there was no question in her mind that passengers grabbing bags would’ve cost others their life.”
Ms. Rice has that small element correct, but it is not the whole ‘survival’ story. Recently I passengered my way through four domestic sectors in the USA – (United). Two sectors miserably stuck in the middle seat of the middle row. I watched as the huge amounts of cabin baggage came inboard – there were some ‘big’ bags and cases lugged on board; then the back-packs (personal hate) etc. There I sat with my nose about 18 inches from the seat ahead hemmed in on both sides by two people either side and a clutter of bags and straps stuffed under the ‘seat ahead’. Trapped – and a veritable host of people between me and the escape hatch. How, in the seven hells is one supposed to evacuate within the certified time limit, even if 60% of ‘em leave the kitchen sink in the overhead locker?
Disembarking at the end of the journey is a painful experience; the endless wait while all and sundry mill about, with their bloody backpacks on, hauling down large suitcases and shuffling down the aisles dragging the kitchen sink behind them. I wondered why the bulky baggage was not checked in. I tried it – it took half an hour to get my bag checked in – and it cost me USD $30 to do so. It then took the best part of 90 minutes, from when the seat belt sign went off, to actually get off the aircraft, walk to the carousels, wait for my modest bag, and find my way to an exit. My bag travelled as cabin baggage from that time onward.
“For people to be standing in the aisle retrieving their bags from the overhead lockers, that could mean seconds between their own life and death,” Ms Rice said.
Here, Ms. Rice is a little short on reality. If ‘cabin baggage’ was kept to small, light articles and only allowed to be stored in the locker allocated to the seat row, then it would be a simple matter to grab the bag and head for the slide.
I’d want my brief case – passport, licences and paperwork etc; simple, stand up, reach in, grab bag, exeunt : nearest portal, away from the fire. Now, THIS is an important safety matter which is never, not ever mentioned – what if the fire is only on one side? What then? How are all these folk and their bags to be evacuated when half the exits are surrounded by fire? With or without their kitchen sink? We should all offer a silent prayer of thanks to the engineering excellence, training and skill of aircrew that make the worst case scenario such a tiny number as we hardly need worry about it. However, the worst case becomes a nightmare if there is a load of baggage strewn about the narrow aisles.
“That’s a conscious decision to hold up other people and I can’t comprehend it.”
Not true; the decision to lug two or three suitcases on board is purely selfish – in a crash situation, those same folk will be in a state of shock and disbelief; the urge to restore sanity and normality will lead them to clutch at anything belonging to their old life – the baggage. They do not want to believe that the unthinkable has happened – not to them. Nope, they’ll just grab the bags and toddle off home. If you think Karma is a bitch – wait until you meet her sister – Reality.
There, rant over, but ‘cabin baggage’ is a personal, pet hobby horse. Particularly when one has seen some of the ‘stuff’ lugged onto the aircraft as cabin baggage. But why people with ‘back packs cant ‘carry’ them in front of them when in a confined space I’ll never know – but being thumped by a back pack is a personal hate – the pure definition of mindless, selfish, stupid behaviour. No matter, the cockpit door is closed and what the eye don’t see, the heart can’t grieve over.
Toot – steam off – toot.