Rejected take-off, no word from the flight deck

Take control of your own door area first - you cannot run the whole cabin from the back.

• Loud, repeated commands: "Remain seated! Crew at stations!" Push people back from the galley, close the overhead bins that are open, get bags off the aisle.
• Run your silent review: door correct and slide armed, assist space clear, your command ready, your exit path, and look out of the window - fire, debris, ground vehicles, terrain, anything on your side.
• Assess the cabin: where is the smoke coming from, is it increasing, can you see flame from where you stand, is anyone injured.
• Try the interphone to the flight deck. Silence is your biggest information gap; if you get through, ask the direct question: "Do you require evacuation?" If you cannot get through, get a message to the senior cabin crew member forward - she is the link between the flight deck and the cabin.

Why the door stays shut for now. Opening an armed door is an irreversible act: the slide deploys, the evacuation has started, and there is no calling it back. With a live engine on the left, the side you choose matters, and a premature evacuation into a running engine or a fuel spill kills people. The aircraft has stopped, the smoke is a haze rather than a wall, and the flight deck may be seconds from commanding. You prepare to the highest state of readiness and you hold.

Also in that first minute: brief the two aft crew - one to the overwing area, one to control the aisle and identify able-bodied passengers at your exit.

The baseline rule is that only the commander orders an evacuation. The exception the industry accepts is imminent danger combined with communication failure - no crew member stands at a door while people burn.

Open (or initiate) when these are cumulative:

• repeated attempts to reach the flight deck have failed;
• there is fire in the cabin, or smoke that is visibly thickening and being breathed by passengers;
• the aircraft has come to a stop and nothing indicates an evacuation is imminent;
• passengers are beginning to force exits or are panicking in a way that will injure people.

Hold even then, if:

• the commander has announced "remain seated" or "no evacuation" and there is no immediate threat;
• your window shows fire, a turning engine on your side, debris or terrain that would put passengers into a worse hazard;
• the slide cannot deploy onto safe, level ground;
• the smoke is being controlled and the forward crew are setting up an evacuation - then you wait for the command and open together, so you do not create a stampede toward one door and a cross-cabin flow past the fire.

On these facts - visible engine fire, smoke in a closed cabin, two minutes of total silence - the threshold is very close. The right sequence is: senior crew member attempts to confirm with the flight deck; if confirmation fails and the smoke is increasing, initiating evacuation from the exits away from the fire is defensible. Write down what you saw, when, and why you acted - you will be asked.

Exit selection

• The left engine is running and on fire: deny the left side. The left forward door and the overwing exits open into that hazard. Use the right-hand doors; the aft exits are your primary route.
• If an overwing exit must be used, only if the fire is forward of the wing and passengers can move aft and upwind.

Door control

• Command: "Come this way! Leave everything! Jump and move away!" Stand in the assist space, one hand on the door and one on the frame, feet braced.
• One passenger at a time, no luggage, no returns for bags; high heels off if there is time.
• Watch the slide. If it fails or is blown, redirect to the other usable exit - know which one before you open.
• Use able-bodied passengers at the bottom of the slide to keep people moving.
• Smoke: keep low, breathe through clothing if necessary, and re-route away from the smoke rather than through it.

After the last person is out

• Move everyone at least 100 metres upwind and clear of the aircraft; keep them together and away from the fuel, the engine and the slides.
• Headcount against the manifest at your exit and report the number to the senior cabin crew and the emergency services.
• Start triage at a point away from the aircraft: walking wounded, serious, obviously deceased - and tell the fire officer which.
• Brief the emergency services on hazards: engine, fuel, dangerous goods, anyone still aboard.
• No smoking, no photographs, no statements to media. Then complete a factual report: times, commands given, which exits were opened and why.