Here We Go Again

[Colby]

Yep it happened again... This time it wasn't Mesa.... The Flight Attendant on a CRJ sat in the LAST ROW of seats for both Take-off and Landing.

I spoke to a friend of mine and her F/O about this as they fly the RJS for CO EX
I asked if they would ever ask the F/A to sit in the back of the aircraft due to weight and balance. They said ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!! What is it with these F/As..... Well, this time I filled out one of the comment cards about it and I will be reporting this. I can't believe it is that Difficult to do your job...CORRECTLY..... I would love to hear their answer to the question WHY....And if they come up with ..."Because it's cold by that door"..... BS... Mainline F/As don't do that and guess what....All our JumpSeats are by cold doors TOO !!!!! :angry:

 

[USAirBoyA330]

Colby:

Lord, I have sat on the last row SEVERAL times for takeoff/landing... if the jumpseat is MEL or something. One time on the A330, the seat-belt didn't retract right and I was not comfortable with it's operation so I grabbed a seat in Envoy. I reported it after landing. On the A320 series the swivel out J/S breaks all the time. When I got hired we had an "E" on the 737-400 and the assigned J/S was last row D seat. We don't know the circumstances of every event.

 

[airbiiguy]

mainline this mainline that , stop crying and mind your own business

 

[7.5victim]

Colby, perhaps you should ASK the FA why she's not in her J/S? Maybe along the terms of "Is your J/S inop?"

Airbiiguy, safety is our business. We all have the responsibility to question ANYTHING that might jeoparize the safety of the aircraft, whether its our airline or not.

 

[Light Years]

You can usually see an MEL sticker on a jumpseat. Plus, if your jumpseat is out of order, you are to sit as close to it as possible, so 1A would be blocked. You dont sit in the back.

On the CRJ, there are no exits at the back, just two forward doors (one MCD, one service door) and two overwing window exits. If they had declared an evacuation there is no way that F/A would have have made it to the forward cabin to perform his/her duties. Above all else, that persons duty is to man that door in case it needs to be used. Thats thier NUMBER ONE duty and they are blatantly disregarding it. This is specifically important on a single flight attendant aircraft.

Thats unacceptable to me. I would have asked the flight attendant (Express doesn't get manifests) why and reminded her of the importance of it. If nothing else, it would remind her that you never know who's onboard and hopefully she'll take her job seriously and at least do the bare minimum safety requirements in the future. Or I might write her up. It depends on the situation. I think this is a huge safety violation that needs to be addressed at all of the Express carriers.

On a similar note, a friend of mine met an Express flight attendant who was bragging that she jumpseats all the time on mainline aircraft. Flight Attendants and agents- this is NOT allowed and do not let anyone talk you into it. Only ACTIVE, MAINLINE F/As may jumpseat. No Express, no furloughed. You could face severe discipline for allowing a non-crewmember to ride in a cabin jumpseat. Check those IDs!

 

[USAirBoyA330]

I J/S all the time and I know they ALWAYS ask to see my SIDS card. I don't think I would believe her.

 

[robbedagain]

with regards to the CRJ, is it 2 f/a per plane? I'm asking that because in my station Comair usually uses 2 f/as for their 50 and 70 seat CRJS

 

[Light Years]

The 70 seat CRJ (which PSA may eventually get) is two F/As. The EMB170 that Mid may get is two F/As.

The 50 seat CRJ is one F/A, as are the 37/44/50 seat ERJ135/140/145. No American carriers staff 50 seat aircraft with two F/As at this time, however in Europe its common to have two cabin crewmembers on small regional jets. Most if not all American carriers do not take the option of a second jumpseat.

A F/A is required for anything over 19 seats (so Beech 1900s and Jetsteam 32s are exempt), and one is required for every 50 seats. For example if an a/c had 51 seats it would have to have two, if it had 155 it would have to have four.

 

[Colby]

You can usually see an MEL sticker on a jumpseat. Plus, if your jumpseat is out of order, you are to sit as close to it as possible, so 1A would be blocked. You dont sit in the back.

On the CRJ, there are no exits at the back, just two forward doors (one MCD, one service door) and two overwing window exits. If they had declared an evacuation there is no way that F/A would have have made it to the forward cabin to perform his/her duties.

Light, I agree with you 110% the Flight only had 12 people on it...the 1st row was empty...Thus, no excuse to be in the Back.... Also, that is what this Co Ex F/O said...if there would have been an Evac...That F/A would have been Trapped in the back of the Airplane.....

I filled out the Comment card which I will be mailing shortly and I figure if this is acceptable with !!!!!!

 

[d328pilot]

Co Ex doesnt fly CRJs, nor do they have any contractors that do.

 

[Light Years]

She said "flies the RJs for CoEx". We all knoe CoEx has ERJs. The CRJ Colby was on was US Airways Express- if it wasnt Mesa then, sadly, it must have been one of our own at PSA.

Both Embraer and Bombardier's 50 seat products are referred to as "RJs". They both have a main cabin door, small service door, and two overwing window exits, no rear exits. So on either aircraft, passenger lives are being put in jeopardy if there is no crewmember manning the primary exit (and not any exit for that matter) as required per FAA.

 

[Colby]

The Flight was operated by Transtate.....

Also, I flew into LEX to hang out with my Friend that Had an overnight here and she works for CoEx.... Like I said earlier...I was simply trying to figure out if there was a Valid Reason for this F/A to be sitting in the last row..IE Weight and Balance... That was when the subject of an evac came up....

Hopefully I've covered any questions.

 

[Light Years]

If it was Trans States then it was an ERJ, but again, theres no difference as far as jumpseat/exit/FA location between the two types.

As far as I know the FA is already counted in thier jumpseat for weight and balance so this FA was actually disrupting the weight and balance of the aircraft for landing which is another safety issue.

 

[phllax]

I was on a USX Mesa CRJ over Thanksgiving weekend with 2 FA jumpseats, one at the front and one at the back.

 

[Light Years]

Thats quite possible. They may have taken the option, or the aircraft may have been acquired from an overseas carrier. If I recall correctly Mesa did acquire some from Kendall/Ansett of Austrailia. I cant find any interor pictures of Mesa's CRJs but Kendalls do indeed have an aft jumpseat, so possibly they didnt take them out.