NorthstarBoy From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 1713 posts, RR: 1 Posted (4 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1337 times:
Hearing about the latest "Trapped Passengers on airplane" horror story, wherein, during the ORD delays last weekend, supposedly, according to a friend of my mother's, a UA plane landed at the Gary, Indiana Airport, which was closed, and which had no lights on, and so as a result passengers were stuck on the plane for 16 hours, with no food, water, or working lavs (and the ironic thing, according to my mom's friend, who lives in Chicago, where it was on the news apparently, United is blaming Gary, and Gary is saying all UA would have needed to do was call, and they'd have opened the airport) i got to thinking what the feasibility would be of adding stowable escape stairs on mainline jets not equipped with built in airstairs. They could be light weight enough that when called upon, the cabin crew could move them into position in an open aircraft doorframe, and unfold them, maybe plastic, foldable, and designed to fit into a designated storage closet, and when after a certain period of time, say three hours, it's clear that the aircraft can't get back to the gate, they could be deployed to bring passengers to the tarmac where those passengers can be picked up by busses and driven to the terminal.
My mom thinks this is a crazy idea, but i think it could be one way to avoid a passenger's bill of rights, simply have the FAA/DOT mandate that these stairs be equipped to aircraft much like escape slides, and mandate under what circumstances they must be used.
What does anyone else think?
I could have elite status if I wanted it, but flying the same airline all the time is boring.
Kiwiandrew From New Zealand, joined Jun 2005, 8435 posts, RR: 15 Reply 2, posted (4 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1303 times:
I do not see how this would have helped in the case you are talking about - what would you have done with the pax - you could not have left them to wander the tarmac - and as you said the airport was closed .
In any case I think that you are just looking at one part of the issue here - some other issues you might like to think about with consideration to implementing your solution ;
There would be certification issues , extra weight ( no matter how much you try to use lightweight materials ) which of course means burning extra fuel while prices are at record highs , liability issues . As any cabin crew member can tell you storage space is always tight on board as well - there is only so compact you could make this stairway .Remember also that these sorts of incidents usually occur with big weather related delays/diversions , this means that it is usually many aircraft affected rather than just one - is every airport going to keep a fleet of busses 'just in case' . What would you do with the pax afterwards ? bus them back to the sterile zone in the terminal which is possibly already crowded with a large number of other pax also delayed . Once the delay clears how long will it take to round them all up again and bus them back to their a/c to continue their journey - and what happens when , inevitably , some pax with checked luggage decides that they are not going to re-board the bus - they would rather cancel their journey - their bags then have to be retrieved from the hold and the plane is stuck on the taxiway blocking other flights as well
I cant fault you for creative thinking , but for the reasons above - and probably many many more I just cant see this being a workable solution often enough to justify all the additional expense.
Moderation in all things ... including moderation ;-)
Mir From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 19703 posts, RR: 56 Reply 3, posted (4 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1302 times:
Quoting NorthstarBoy (Thread starter): after a certain period of time, say three hours, it's clear that the aircraft can't get back to the gate, they could be deployed to bring passengers to the tarmac where those passengers can be picked up by busses and driven to the terminal.
And how would this be different from getting a set of airstairs to the plane? If the airport was really closed, who would be driving those buses? Who would be staffing the terminal?
-Mir
7 billion, one nation, imagination...it's a beautiful day
ADent From United States of America, joined Dec 2006, 1177 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (4 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1283 times:
BTW the articles say the passengers were on the ground in Gary for about 6 hours. Plane landed at 10:48pm CT and busses showed up at 4:30am or 5am.
Looks like it was scheduled to leave DEN at 6:30 CT (5:30MT) and left after 7 (there is no UA 1020 today, flightaware has the listed flight for 08JUN). So about 11 hours on the plane if they boarded at 6pm CT
Caspritz78 From Germany, joined Aug 2007, 518 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (4 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 1271 times:
Quoting NorthstarBoy (Thread starter): a UA plane landed at the Gary, Indiana Airport, which was closed, and which had no lights on, and so as a result passengers were stuck on the plane for 16 hours, with no food, water, or working lavs (and the ironic thing, according to my mom's friend, who lives in Chicago, where it was on the news apparently, United is blaming Gary, and Gary is saying all UA would have needed to do was call, and they'd have opened the airport)
Another great example of the bad state certain airlines are in. No function management. No problem resolving capabilities. Everything that is not business as usual causes chaos.
About stairs on airplanes. Certain planes like the 737 (only the classics?) could be bought with retractable stairs. Especially during the beginning of the jet age a lot of smaller airports lacked the infrastructure. Another example is the 727 which has the rear exit. Certain IL-86 came also with an extra exit which was located in the cargo bay. Passengers would enter/exit through this exit, store their luggage and inside the plane was another staircase going up into the main cabin.
Anyway carrying additional stairs or a ladder on board makes no sense for planes that fly between airports that have the infrastructure. If they fly somewhere within Africa or to some deserted places you can use a plane that is better accommodated for just airstrips.
Doona From Sweden, joined Feb 2005, 3707 posts, RR: 14 Reply 6, posted (4 years 11 months 2 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1211 times:
Quoting Caspritz78 (Reply 5): nyway carrying additional stairs or a ladder on board makes no sense for planes that fly between airports that have the infrastructure. If they fly somewhere within Africa or to some deserted places you can use a plane that is better accommodated for just airstrips.
Or if you're Ryanair.
Cheers
Mats
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