On 1 July 2018, crew of a United Airlines Embraer ERJ-175LR (N86309) operated by Mesa Airlines initiated an emergency evacuation during taxi out at Washington-Reagan Airport. The aircraft was scheduled to fly to Houston, but smoke was reported in the lavatory.
Crew and passengers remained safe during the evacuation, it’s unclear why only half of the emergency exits were used (only the front exits). It’s also striking that passengers are not rushing away from the danger of possible smoke inhalation. Some passengers exited with their belongings, one of them is even taking a picture of the aircraft after he exited the aircraft.
The flight eventually left for Houston 5 hours and 30 minutes later with a replacement Embraer 175 aircraft (N87345).
A @united flight just landed at @Reagan_Airport DCA and passengers are deplaning via emergency slide onto the tarmac. Unclear what happened to the aircraft. Video here: pic.twitter.com/KGn6tfNjHp
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) July 1, 2018
