The day Manchester will never forget: The Story of British Airtours Flight 28M

Part One: Introduction and A Normal Day in Manchester

What was meant to be a normal flight from the UK to Greece becomes immediately into a furnace and a fight for survival for everyone on British Airtours Flight 28M. The incident, the investigation and the recommendations lead to this being one of defining moments of aviation history, changing how safety is governed and how passengers evacuate aeroplanes. This is the story of British Airtours Flight 28M.

Our story begins in the North of England's biggest and most popular airport, Manchester Airport on 22nd August 1985. The summer season is at full pace, leading to hundreds of passengers travelling to sun, sea and sand destinations across Europe. 131 passengers in the terminal are waiting for British Airtours flight 28M flying to Corfu, Greece, a journey of 2+ hours. The plane is a Boeing 737-200, which is one of the most common aeroplanes in 1985 and the present day. This plane (registered G-BGJL) nicknamed 'River Orrin'. After boarding and checklists being completed, the crew request to pushback and taxi to Runway 24. At 7:13 am, the crew throttle up the two engines and the 737 begins to advance down the runway, soon the passengers will be in Greece, enjoying the sunshine. However, this is where the routine take-off starts to go astray. The pilots here a large and sudden popping noise from under the aeroplane. The pilots are not too concerned as they think a tyre has burst under the undercarriage. This is a common problem but it means they must abort take-off and head back to gate for repairs. The first officer applies harsh braking to reduce the speed of the plane, the captain is concerned that he is prompting more damage to tyres and requests he doesn't push the brakes too vigorously. 

At this point, they think they have averted disaster, until the engine fire alarm sound in the cockpit, increasing the concern in the pilots' mind. The pilots aren't the only ones that seriously concerned, the air traffic controllers witness a terrifying sight right before their eyes. A 737 rolling down the runway with the left side of the plane engulfed in an inferno. It's when this is communicated to the pilots they recognise something has gone horribly wrong. 

The controllers suggest to the pilots that they turn off the runway at taxiway called 'Link D' and evacuate from the right-hand side as evacuating from the left-hand side would be risky at best, deadly at worst. A minute after the plane began its takeoff roll, the plane stops on the taxiway and the crew begin to prepare the cabin for evacuation. This is where the crew encounter severe complications. The flight attendant attempts to open the front right door as they were trained to do, however, the door is jammed, despite attempts to shove it open it is no use. Realising they have no other option they open the front left door which unlocks instantly and the evacuation slide inflates. Meanwhile, inside the scorching hot cabin, the situation is growing frantic as toxic smoke is filling the cockpit and the passengers jumping over seats and crushing people as they rush towards to the front of the 737, passengers become crushed at the front of plane trying to get through the front galley. The crew attempt to pull the suffocating passengers from the small gateway between the cabin and galley.  At this point, firefighters start to arrive and begin to spray foam at the open door and slide to make sure the fire from the left engine doesn't engulf the passengers trying to escape. 

The cabin purser finally succeeds in pushing the front right door open allowing many more passengers to escape the dark, smoke-filled cabin. Eventually, the overwing exits on the right-hand side are opened despite passengers struggling on how to actually open them. Passengers still struggled to vacate the aircraft from this small door frame with the seats and seat rest blocking an exit, in addition to panicking passengers climbing over each other trying to escape the cabin which now ablaze from the left-hand side. By the time a lot of the passengers escaped and the firefighters were ready to enter to burning 737, the rear of the 737 was engulfed by fire from the cabin floor and walls.  The entrance by the firefighters is made almost impossible and futile by a large explosion which injures some of the firefighters, it was determined later that is was probably an oxygen cylinder or an aerosol can which were still allowed inside the cabin in 1985. Firefighters begin to realise that entering the plane is suicidal, therefore they fight the fire from the outside using foam, acknowledging that there were many passengers who did not escape in time. 

The fire is extinguished hours later. Now the 737 is a chard, scorched, piece of the melted airframe on the tarmac at Manchester Airport. Of the 137 occupants of British Airtours Flight 28M, only 82 survive, whilst 55 dies. It was concluded by postmortem that the majority of them were subdued by smoke, made toxic by burning plastic and other materials which make up the interior. and direct thermal assault from the severe fire, particularly, at the rear of the cabin. Many of the deceased are found in the aisle or near the exits implying they were alert up to a point and tried to escape but in the dark could not find an exit in time. Of the 55 which died, 54 die on-site whilst the one person is overcome by his burns and injuries and dies days later in hospital.