Japan plane's miraculous escape and other heroic air evacuations

Japan Airlines Flight 516 exploded into flames after colliding with a Coast Guard jet as it landed. However, everyone survived, thanks to the cabin staff who swiftly assessed the situation and took all the right steps. They were quick in deciding which of the eight emergency exits were safe for use. Then, they issued short commands like “leave your luggage” and “not this door”, to direct the passengers, as they are trained to do. Experts have hailed the crew ’s simple decision not to allow anyone to take their possessions, which proved to be the major factor behind the fast evacuation, with the last person escaping just before the aircraft was engulfed in flames on the runway. Such miraculous evacuations are extremely rare. “I heard an explosion about 10 minutes after everyone and I got off the plane,” 28-year-old Tsubasa Sawada told Reuters. “I can only say it was a miracle, we could have died if we were late.” Sadly, five of the six people on board the smaller aircraft — which had been due to deliver aid to victims of the powerful New Year’s Day earthquake — died. As the passengers escaped ‘hell’ of Japan jet fireball, here are three other heroic air evacuations: Air France Airbus A340 survived runway overshoot in Toronto On 2 August, 2005, an Air France Airbus A340 arriving from Paris overshot the runway and landed in a ravine just outside Toronto’s Lester B Pearson International Airport. All 297 passengers and 12 crew members were able to evacuate before a fire consumed most of the fuselage. The operation took under two minutes, with around 40 people suffering only minor injuries. Officials praised the crew for the speedy evacuation, with the co-pilot singled out for checking the plane before exiting last and advising rescue crews. Miracle at Haneda Pilot Chesley Sullenberger was hailed as a hero in January 2009 for saving all 155 passengers and crew on US Airways flight 1549 by conducting a miraculously soft landing in the Hudson River. The Airbus had just taken off from New York’s LaGuardia airport for Charlotte in North Carolina when both engines stopped, apparently after a collision with birds.

Following an extraordinarily skilful landing, frantic passengers scrambled out onto the airplane wings, the chilly river water lapping at their feet. Ferryboats steamed to the rescue as the aircraft slipped under the water. New York governor David Paterson hailed the near-disaster as the “Miracle on the Hudson”. The story was made into the movie Sully starring Tom Hanks as the pilot. Antonov An-24 crash in Siberia On 27 June, 2019, a small Antonov An-24 aircraft overshot the runway by around 100 metres at Nizhneangarsk in eastern Siberia, crashing into a building before catching fire The only female member of the cabin crew, Elena Laputskaya, managed single-handedly to evacuate the 43 passengers of the flight. She was decorated for her bravery by President Vladimir Putin. Laputskaya survived along with the co-pilot but the pilot and another crew member died. The plane belonging to the regional airline Angara was travelling from Ulan-Ude near the border with Mongolia. With inputs from AFP