Coffee, tea… or a piggy-back out of a burning plane?

To start: the seats. On the two-class 777-28EER, delivered in 2006, modern seating was certified in compliance with the FAA’s 16g impact standards from 1988. Learning from previous incidents plus extensive testing and certification for impact and flammability — safety aspects locked in tension with passenger comfort and operational reliability — meant that passengers walked away from even the chaos of the far rear cabin, as revealed in the now-iconic NTSB image.

Details will emerge about the performance of the relatively new EADS Sogerma Solstys staggered business class seating, branded “OZ Quadra Smartium” by the airline, and installed on numerous carriers’ aircraft. This is the first major incident involving the seat type.

In particular, the benefit of the business class seatbelt’s airbags, a little-known feature recognisable by the thicker and less flexible strap, will be scrutinised.

Airbags are installed in some newer seats where passengers cannot brace for impact on the seat in front of them (both premium cabin and economy exit row/bulkhead seats) and this will be the first real-world test of how they helped or hindered passengers in the aftermath of the crash.

During normal operations, flyers appreciate the raised ceilings and large, retractable overhead bins on 777 aircraft for the passenger experience they bring. But in a fire, extra height for the smoke to rise gives precious seconds for the final passengers to escape and for the crew to check for anybody left behind. Similarly, more space in the overhead bins should mean less necessity for assorted belongings to be stored at the feet and thus impede passengers’ swift exits.

Duty free and onboard shopping, a key part of the travel experience for many passengers, a large proportion of airports’ business cases and a profit centre for many airlines, is already being raked over the coals as this column goes to press. Images of passengers evacuating laden down with what appears to be booze and cigs have rightly inspired a mixture of outrage and resignation from people with experience in the industry.

Questions will be asked about how the 141 Chinese passengers, many connecting from Shanghai, were briefed on safety during the Seoul Incheon-San Francisco leg of their journey. Lessons will be learned about how the airline industry communicates with speakers of non-Mandarin Chinese dialects. And the way sociocultural differences impact compliance, if any, will need to be considered.

Whether going down the slide with a rollaboard, Bacardi and Marlboros is willful avarice or stunned, instinctive confusion will be a matter for industrial and disaster psychologists. But it’s becoming clear that more needs to be done to make it clear to passengers that nothing must be brought along during an evacuation.

It might be a safety video note along the lines of “high-heeled shoes may tear the slides”, or something more akin to the representation in some videos of turning an iPhone all the way off and not just darkening the screen. Decisions about what may or may not be stored at passengers’ feet may need to be taken. But it’s clear the industry, and airlines in particular, have some significant work in figuring out the answer and in adequately communicating important messages to passengers.

But the true heroes of OZ214 are undoubtedly the flight attendants manning the emergency exit slides, who only won permission from their airline to wear trousers as an option instead of skirts this March. Survivor stories of children being carried out on the backs of injured flight attendants only emphasise the importance of cabin crew training and their vital safety role.

Flight attendant professionalism is multi-faceted and it will be interesting to observe how the narrative about their role and perception changes. Initial media reports had the crew passive survivors, fleeing, yet the stories emerged of flight attendants saving lives, changing the way they were perceived.

As much as the industry and media breathlessly report the world’s best cabin crew awards for the youngest, most attractive, most service-oriented crews each year, we should consider the role that 18-year veteran Lee Yoon Hye’s experience played in the crash of OZ214.