Passengers claim captain abandoned them during plane fire

Passengers were alarmed when their captain ran out of their plane, apparently fleeing a fire. Photo / John Cameron

The captain of a budget airline was accused of poor form after leaving his passengers in a flap and on a burning aircraft, making a dash for the emergency exit.

Vueling flight 8754 was preparing depart Barcelona for Birmingham on Thursday when passengers reported smelling smoke in the cabin. The next thing they knew their pilot had run out on them.

"There was this huge bang and smell of burning smoke coming from the back of the plane. All the lights went off, and the emergency lights came on," passenger Andrew Benion told the Sun. "It was terrifying."

No sooner had an attendant disarmed and opened the front emergency exit, their captain jumped out.

"His door opened then the side door opened and bang - he was just gone. Then all his crew ran off after him and left us all. There was only one stewardess left on the plane and you could see the fear on her face," said Benion.

To add to the chaos, the remaining cabin crew member began issuing instructions in Spanish. Which had to be translated for English-speaking travellers.

"If we weren't so frightened it would have been complete comedy."

Vueling, which is part of the International Airlines Group, was reportedly carrying passengers bumped from cancelled British Airways service.

All, passengers were transferred onto a new service, three hours later, with a fresh plane and a new captain.

The airline confirmed that the earlier service had been delayed after an aircraft fire.

"On 21 July 2022, a small fire was detected flight VY8754 scheduled to depart from Barcelona to Birmingham at 11.55. The security protocols were initiated immediately and all passengers and crew were quickly disembarked from the aircraft"

Yes, your pilot ran out first, with the crew following, save 1 stewardess. Im pretty sure you get parents of first, then you run away! You suck!

— John Iphone (@johniphone) July 25, 2022

Must a captain go down with his ship?

It's an old maritime cliché that the captain must remain on a sinking ship. Thankfully this is no longer the case. They are, however, expected to help evacuate their aircraft.

According to the Airbus safety manual the captain is in charge of crew and passenger evacuation and there are no circumstances when the first officer should leave passengers or crew behind.

"The captain should be the last crew member to evacuate the cockpit and the last
one to evacuate the aircraft after a final check that all aircraft occupants have
evacuated," reads the 2020 Safety First manual.