Inadvertent Slide Deployments

[hpflygirl]

A few months ago we had an Airbus ISD at LAX that was caused by the caterers. It was about 4am and the mechanics had just finished positioning the aircraft for the morning flights. Catering came onboard to do their thing. They somehow managed to bump the arm/disarm handle on one of the doors and then opened it from the inside, thinking they were disarming it. Mechanics came out, removed the deployed slide and moved the a/c from the gate, replacing it with an a/c due to go out on the next bank. One flight was cancelled. Caterers were hit with the bill for the slide and the cost to reroute the pax.

 

[yvrusfa]

Fellow F/A's...

We in the west have been doing the "monitor and challenge" door arming/disarming proceedure for a few years now and it has worked beautifully at dropping ISD's to nil.

Admittedly, we were skeptical of the change and some found it silly but the fact is it has worked! I think we have had like 2 ISD's since the proceedure was implemented and before that we had as many as other carriers.

It has saved the company a ton of $$ and injuries to gate and other staff.
That is one reason it was implemented with other
"best practices" upon the merger.

Trust me....it works!!

Lets get east and west together and stop fighting change folks!!

 

[isthisok]

Yes, all Airbus disarm from the outside so it is the same on the west.

Are you saying catering in East hubs is performed by USAirways employees?
I was not aware of this.
I know for certain that in PHX, USAirways East planes are catered by contract.
I also assume that most field stations are also contract.

It is true that a portion of ISDs are classified as catering, but it still comes back to the FA who did not disarm the door.
A catering ISD usually happens from the INSIDE when a caterer on an unoccupied ac opens a door from the inside to access the truck on the outside, and the slide is not disarmed.

MContract caterers are not generally considered "professionals".
Tho since 9-11 their pool has shrunk and I pretty much see the same guys in PHX I've been seeing for years.
So I have confidence in them.
I guess mebbe they ARE professional ac caterers.
Occassioanlly you see the new guy in all cities who is clueless.
Not sure how much training they get, and they deal with every ac type out there.

The other group that is at risk for ISD is MX.
Altho we have a legendary incident out west involving a SAN station employee.
Of course, it always comes back to the FA.
????

Nope.
Never accused anyone of anything.

Mainline catering in CLT PHL PIT BOS DCA LGA, I'm pretty sure, is done by USAirways employees. The rest is contract.
I'm not saying that PHX and LAS don't do good jobs but those jobs should be brought back inhouse. As a matter of fact most of our catering should be inhouse. Even Southwest does their own catrering.

 

[LCC_#1]

Fellow F/A's...

We in the west have been doing the "monitor and challenge" door arming/disarming proceedure for a few years now and it has worked beautifully at dropping ISD's to nil.

Admittedly, we were skeptical of the change and some found it silly but the fact is it has worked! I think we have had like 2 ISD's since the proceedure was implemented and before that we had as many as other carriers.

It has saved the company a ton of $$ and injuries to gate and other staff.
That is one reason it was implemented with other
"best practices" upon the merger.

Trust me....it works!!

Lets get east and west together and stop fighting change folks!!

The new arming procedure is no big deal.

 

[SKY HIGH]

The new arming procedure is no big deal.

sky high states: Then WHY is AFA safety, looking at this procedure for possible modification?

Sheesh, leave it alone....it took what, one trip to feel comfortable with it.

link: http://afausairways.org/Safety/snews05_24_07.htm


only stating opinions

 

[Travelpro72]

I have not worked with ONE flight attendant that was resistant to the new procedure. I do feel that that it could be simplified further. If you are stationed at a door such as the A and C up front on the 737/319/320 the same flight attendant should ARM and DISARM the doors. If you are at a door such as the back of the a/c or the boarding door 2L on the 757 I don't see the reason to have to talk "out loud" in order to do the procedure. NASA developed this as a way for each other to check and verify the others actions. NO REASON to do this alone.

 

[ussnark]

I'm not a F/A, but removing the pin seems like a mistake. It would be very easy to rearm the door by bumping into it. Not for me to say though.

Why do you think that way? What do you mean, "not for me to say".

Are you kidding? If you have an opportunity to slay the "blown slide dragon" you MUST speak. It is why I despise both PI and HP. They have the same mission statement, only speak if you know anything about the system, which locks out innovative and outside the box solutions.

Crappy way to do business. Losers.

 

[desertgal]

NASA developed this as a way for each other to check and verify the others actions. NO REASON to do this alone.

Well, i know it seems silly to speak it outloud alone, but,
when we were trained we were told it was to help deter pax from interrupting your procedure.
To help make it obvious to a pax that you are in the middle of something.
Pax interuption during door disarm was identified to be a major contributing factor to ISDs.
The other reason they noted was to keep the procedure the same at every position, every ac, every door, every time.

 

[flygirl74]

I was leaving the aft galley one time and one of our 9 bucks an hour cleaners walked up to the 2R door. She looks at the door, ARMS IT, and goes to open the door!!! Good thing I was watching her!! I stopped her and disarmed the door. Now HAD I NOT BEEN THERE I would have been blamed for the ISD. My word vs. hers.
On all the ISD's "blamed on f/a's....how long was their duty day? I ask everyone and their answer is that it's not relevant. Well, if these ISD's are happening at end of 15 duty days what do you expect??? Of course if that was proven that would be a good fatigue study for FAA.

 

[EMBFA]

Well, i know it seems silly to speak it outloud alone, but,
when we were trained we were told it was to help deter pax from interrupting your procedure.
To help make it obvious to a pax that you are in the middle of something.
Pax interuption during door disarm was identified to be a major contributing factor to ISDs.
The other reason they noted was to keep the procedure the same at every position, every ac, every door, every time.

But its not the same. The A330 for one is different. Its OK on a 737 but on anything bigger you are waiting too long to hear everyone, worrying about picking up/resetting the phone... On the Airbus you have to wait for the interphone call, on the EMB and 73 you can just pick up the phone and wait which is better.

*pick up phone*

"2L2R"

"What?"

"Did we say 1L1R?"

"4L4R, verified. Cross Checked. Is it verified, is that what I'm supposed to say?"

"What?"

"3L3R, disarmed, pointed at, whatever. Hey don't forget that wheelchair."

"2L2R disarmed."

"Verfified."

"What?"

"Are you there?"

"Yup"

"Hang On"

"What?"

"Alright then..."

"I didnt hear 1L1R... did she...?"

"Hold on I'm waiting."

"This is dumb."

"Do we keep this plane?"

"Snake Eyes!"

"What?"

"OK. Verified."

"Who?"

"Sorry, 1L1R."

"2L2R!"

"Ok, bye"

"Bye."

"What?"



Its a little too confused and chaotic for my liking... maybe we are just not used to it yet.

 

[beachboy]

That sounded just like my last trip. Execpt the girl at the door kept calling it Stand by for "WILL CALL". I told her we are not going to the concert or movies it's ALL CALL. She just looked at me and kept calling it what she wanted which changed every leg.

 

[flygirl74]

Im waiting for our CLT gals to start saying "stand by for y'all call" !!!!

 

[Zarah]

It might work, but it would have helped if the booklets the company handed out were correct.

 

[ussnark]

I was leaving the aft galley one time and one of our 9 bucks an hour cleaners walked up to the 2R door. She looks at the door, ARMS IT, and goes to open the door!!! Good thing I was watching her!! I stopped her and disarmed the door. Now HAD I NOT BEEN THERE I would have been blamed for the ISD. My word vs. hers.
On all the ISD's "blamed on f/a's....how long was their duty day? I ask everyone and their answer is that it's not relevant. Well, if these ISD's are happening at end of 15 duty days what do you expect??? Of course if that was proven that would be a good fatigue study for FAA.

Did you write-up the incident? If not, why not?

Any reporting system should be used to fix the system and not punish employees, an area that HP/US will always fail at.

 

[Career Reserve]

Fellow F/A's...

We in the west have been doing the "monitor and challenge" door arming/disarming proceedure for a few years now and it has worked beautifully at dropping ISD's to nil.

Admittedly, we were skeptical of the change and some found it silly but the fact is it has worked! I think we have had like 2 ISD's since the proceedure was implemented and before that we had as many as other carriers.

It has saved the company a ton of $$ and injuries to gate and other staff.
That is one reason it was implemented with other
"best practices" upon the merger.

Trust me....it works!!

Lets get east and west together and stop fighting change folks!!

So did our old system. It too was a "monitor & challenge",
it too had a confirmation albeit the PA not the Interphone only we did not stand by to disarm one door while opening others as is done when catering shows up prior to jetway movement or when working the Shuttle.
At Merger training they kept changing the East's ISD #'s. I went on a Monday and our figure was more than Tuesday's class and Tuesday's class was different then Wednesday....you get the point. I did ask how many were "attributed to the flt attendants" and the instuctors response was "that information is not available" yet THAT same information was available on the West side.
My point is the Company made a very simple procedure more complicated than need be.
Personally I believe most of the deployments are related to newly hired Utility at least in Philly.
If you want all the doors disarmed then that's fine but to play twister at the 1L & 1R is absurd. :blink:
Everyone disarm all the doors IMMEDIATELY and verifiy.
Period.


USE THE KISS METHOD.