Mr. O'Connor, I find it remarkable that there isn't some sort of contingency plan for getting passengers off an airplane in those circumstances. Obviously, the situation on board was stressful for passengers. I imagine people wanted to get off the airplane. I understand that communication with the passengers was really lacking. I am somewhat disturbed to hear that there was no plan to safely get those passengers off the plane using stairs or using some other situation.
Did you ask the airport for assistance in deplaning the passengers? At what point did that request go in to the airport?