Almost every commercial aircraft is equipped with so-called evacuation slides. Incorrect operation can not only be expensive for the airline, but also result in an investigation by the supervisory authority. Helvetic Airways has one of these on its hands.
According to a report in the “Sonntags Zeitung”, the regional airline is accused that in at least three cases the cabin crew forgot to deactivate the slides after landing. These are safety incidents that do not pose a threat but are financially costly for the airline.
Such mishaps are also known among flight attendants as “shooting slides”, because if the doors are not “disarmed” the slides will automatically trigger. That should be the case, because in an emergency every second counts and it is simply not possible to predict whether a passenger or a crew member will be the first to reach the emergency exit in the event of an accident.
However, if there is no emergency and the passengers are to disembark as normal, it is annoying when such a slide shoots out. This costs the airline a lot of money because technicians have to repair the emergency system and the plane has to stay on the ground for that long. The "Sonntags Zeitung" claims that the accidental "slip shooting" is also due to overtired flight attendants.
The Federal Office for Civil Aviation has launched an official investigation into the recent incidents. These are security-related incidents, but there was no danger to the passengers. It is conceivable that the FOCA of the airline Helvetic Airways could require their flight attendants to be retrained or that certain processes would have to be changed so that the slides are not triggered accidentally.
A spokesman for the affected carrier told the medium that there were a total of three "slide shots". "In none of the cases was fatigue the reason, but distraction from jostling passengers (twice) and a mishap due to a lack of routine after the holidays (once)", according to Helvetic Airways.
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