I thought that even the cabin crew did not know what's burning. There's also the feeling of helplessness -- you know something is wrong but you are not told that something is wrong. The hysteria at the back of the plane could have been alleviated by telling that the situation is under control. When the plane was landing, I could see fire trucks, an ambulance, and police of some sort driving in parallel to the plane to rush in. I only found out about the reason from the news later.

You are helpless, the cabin crew know what’s going on but aren’t telling you, and the hysteria at the back of the plane won’t be alleviated by telling them there’s a fire in the cabin, you’re making an emergency landing and to prepare for an emergency response unit upon landing.

There’s nothing you can do other than stay in your seat and keep out of the way.

What? Keeping passengers informed is zero effort, a nice thing to do, and probably a good idea. Why would you not say "we are returning due to a battery fire. The fire has been contained but we must return because X y z" or whatever.

> Why would you not say "we are returning due to a battery fire. The fire has been contained but we must return because X y z" or whatever.

Because as soon as you mention "fire" you'll get a bunch of dumb fucks panicking themselves so hard they're going to behave completely irrationally (like attempting to rip open the emergency doors which IS possible at low enough altitudes) - or manage to induce legitimate medical problems. Heart attack for the older folks, dyspnea up to actually going unconscious from hyperventilation for the younger folks.

Ugh yeah that's why you tell them it's been put out.

"Wait, did they just say batteries can start fires?"

Bold of you to assume they'll continue to listen after the keyword "fire". In the worst case, they'll actively doubt you and, worse, start doing so in a very public way ("they're just claiming the fire is out").

And yes this shit has happened in the past. Panicked people are uncontrollable and in a critical situation, priority #1 is to avoid panic to rise at all costs because panicked people can turn a critical situation into outright disaster.

- "panicking themselves so hard they're going to behave completely irrationally (like attempting to rip open the emergency doors which IS possible at low enough altitudes)"

The Denver airport fire this month was an object lesson. A panicking mob apparently ignored instructions and went out the wrong emergency exit door, onto the airplane wing, where they stood over the flaming jet-fuel smoke with no way down.

(The other doors had slides).

Yeah. Right there on the safety card--note whether there's fire outside an exit before using it.

Yeah, I can like individuals, but not crowds.

Crowds can do dumb shit in a self reinforcing loop.

Because passengers panic, and that makes the job of the crew harder?

Telling them why they can smell smoke and not to worry about it will make them panic less.