Engines made a loud banging noise and fill the cabin with smoke
The crew on the Flybe flight BE4321 with 105 onboard to Alicante reported smoke filling the cabin and cockpit during take-off on 28th February 2019.
Two fire engines rushed to the scene. Passengers were stuck on the wing of a plane during an emergency evacuation at Exeter Airport as some passengers escaping via overwing exits faced a large drop to the ground. So some then re-entered the plane to find an alternative escape route, creating a bottle-neck in the cabin, according to an Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report.
One hundred passengers and five crew members were on-board when a pilot noticed the smoke. All those onboard BE4321 were returned to the terminal by airport coaches at about 8:00 am. The runway was closed for one hour during the emergency and later opened.
The report further said flaps on the wings which would have reduced the drop to the ground which was over 2m were not fully deployed due to the speed the aircraft’s engines were shut down, which meant many were reluctant to jump or slide off the wing and some re-entered the cabin to get to the escape slides. The pilots are shouting over the Tannoy evacuate with that, all the doors ripped off and the slides were deployed.
The report found the fumes were caused by cleaning chemicals left after overnight maintenance to the engine. An internal investigation of Flybe, which went into administration in March, identified a lack of specific training of assisting documentation or SOP for engineers completing the task.
The AAIB made four safety recommendations relating to overwing exits.