Flying somewhere? This 90 second rule can save your life in a mid-air emergency

Japan Airlines flight traveling from Hokkaido in northern Japan arrived at Haneda Airport just as a Japanese Coast Guard plane, en route to assist with earthquake relief in western Japan, was about to land on the same runway. Shortly after, the two aircraft collided and caught fire. Thanks to the crew's expertise and some luck, all 367 passengers and 12 crew members on the Japan Airlines flight managed to evacuate safely.

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As per aviation experts, this successful evacuation was a combination of advanced aviation technology, a resilient aircraft build and hands-on implementation of textbook evacuation protocol that drove hundreds of passengers to safety off the tarmac in under 20 minutes after the first lick of flame.

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Aircraft evacuation in 90 seconds:

As per the Federal Aviation Administration, all aircraft manufacturers need to demonstrate that all passengers in their aircraft (at maximum capacity) can be evacuated within 90 seconds, using 50% of the exits. This demonstration happens at every aircraft’s testing and certification stage. On ground, operators are required to conduct full-scale evacuation within two minutes including flight crew training and assignment of crew procedures. The demonstration takes into account several factors such as passenger behaviour,