The jumbojet from Singapore Airlines rolled onto grass at Changi airport today. The plane was on her way to Sydney, Australia with 446 passengers onboard while the tow-truck failed on the runway. The plane suffered from minor damage and the passengers were deplaned to board another plane. Officials said the hydraulics failed on a truck towing the plane, which was not running on its own power at the time.
This is the first A380 accident with passengers onboard. In September 2007, before its demonstration flight at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand, A380 scraped its wing tip on a hangar’s gate due to human errors, according to officials.
Just came across this YouTube, which is quite entertaining. A380 was getting his evacuation certification in Hamburg, Germany. The task was to get 853 passengers and 20 crew out of the plane within 90 seconds, using 8 out of the 16 exits.
This all happened in darkness, with only cabin emergency lights switched on. The crew and passengers did not know which exits would be blocked.
853 passengers is just the maximum number in a single-class economy configuration. The typical three-class configuation will be able to carry 525 passengers.
The regulations say that in this test:
- 35% must be aged over 50,
- a minimum 40% must be female,
- 15% female and over 50.
They did it in 77 seconds, pretty amazing. However, this is what happens in the “perfect’ world. They should have included the following passengers:
-young children
-mothers with babies
-non-ambulatory passengers
-elderly over the age of 80
-passengers who freak out and not move
These are the real people we see onboard everyday. Not the well-behaved, healthy and skinny people in the video!
Please also fill the cabin with thick smoke and sparks of fire.
