Eight slightly hurt in plane evacuation in Tampa

[Ansett]

TAMPA, Fla., June 23, Reuters - Eight people were slightly injured on Monday when passengers, apparently alarmed by seeing flames coming from an engine, inflated emergency slides and evacuated a plane at the Tampa airport, airline and fire rescue officials said.
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The plane, a Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL - News) Boeing 757 (NYSE:BA - News) bound for Atlanta with 167 passengers on board, was pushing back from the gate at Tampa International Airport when it experienced what is known as a "hot start," said Delta spokeswoman Peggy Estes.

Hot start is when fuel condensation forms overnight on an engine and a flame is briefly emitted when it is fired up for the first flight of the day, she said.

"Initial reports indicated that some passengers may have seen flames from (an) engine and some elected to open the emergency exits, automatically deploying chutes," Estes said in e-mailed comments.

Some of the passengers evacuated through chutes, while the rest followed flight attendants' instructions and got out through the normal exits, she said.

Tampa Fire Rescue spokesman Capt. Bill Wade said eight people were taken to a hospital, mostly with soreness, bumps and bruises from landing hard after sliding down the chutes, but there were no life-threatening injuries.

"Subsequently ... you could see no damage to the aircraft, but I don't doubt that seeing fire coming out of the engine caused some concern," he said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Christopher White described the incident on Flight 1036 as "an uncommanded passenger evacuation," and added the FAA was looking into it.

[bbuse]

Considering that "hot starts" aren't that unusual, I am surprised this type of evacuation incident doesn't happen more often.

I rember watching a United 737-200 in Atlanta that experienced a "hot start" as an engine was starting. It put out quite an impressive flame that lasted about one second. The time duration of the flame was short enough that it would have been easy to miss seeing it.

[Freightdogg]

...said Delta spokeswoman Peggy Estes.

Hot start is when fuel condensation forms overnight on an engine and a flame is briefly emitted when it is fired up for the first flight of the day.

Fuel Condensation???? What a bunch of airline doublespeak. Hot starts are most often caused because the pilot added fuel flow to the engine before it had turned up to the proper speed. They can also be caused by low batteries, and by start carts providing insufficient current or airflow depending on the start method used. On rare occasions high density altitude won't allow enough airflow even with the engine at a normally high enough rotation speed. The bottom line is that they are almost always because there wasn't sufficient air moving through the engine before fuel was introduced. Once in a while they can also be caused by some mechanical problem such as a malfunctioning fuel governor or a faulty gauge.

Gotta love her explanation though, just wonder where this fuel is supposed to have condensed from? Random fuel vapors are a lot more worrisome than a hot start.

[srbmod]

I remember seeing my first hot start, I was wingwalking a flight out over at my gate, when two gates over, a company DC-9 had one out of the #2 engine, scared me a little bit. I've also seen hot starts on a 717 and on a CRJ, the 717 one was pretty cool looking, like a hot rod.

[MikeD]

hehehe.

Passenger Induced Evacuation.

Dumbos.

[bbuse]

The fact that the passengers evacuated themselves kinda worries me,
Where was the authority to control them ?!?!

I didnt think that after a hot-start, you had to evacuate :/
You normally don't evacuate after a hot start. This was a case of passengers going into a state of panic at the sight of any flames. I also wonder why the flight attendents didn't stop the passengers from starting the evacuation.

[Ansett]

i just count my lifes from not beeing there!

[DeltaFlyer]

The fact that the passengers evacuated themselves kinda worries me,
Where was the authority to control them ?!?!

I didnt think that after a hot-start, you had to evacuate :/
You normally don't evacuate after a hot start. This was a case of passengers going into a state of panic at the sight of any flames. I also wonder why the flight attendents didn't stop the passengers from starting the evacuation.

The f/a's were able to stop the evactuation once they were able to get to the exits...the majority of passengers calmed down and remained on the plane while it was towed back to the gate and the jetway pulled up to the plane.

Unless you know something is going to happen or are there to see it start, it is kinda hard to stop it...From what I heard the f/a's involved did an excellent job in calming fears and getting things under control.