Originally Posted by
Two-Tone-Blue
The Mystery of the Doors To Manual/Auto slowly unravels.
It may yet become clear. Possibly ...
Tune in for next week's exciting instalment ... "I operated a Switch!!"
For my own amusement and so you never have to feel out of the loop again.
Essentially arming or placing a door into automatic engages a bar (called a girt bar - no it's not big or made in Somerset) into some brackets in the floor area by the door, usually underneath the box (bustle) at the base of the door containing the slide. This results in the slide being pulled from the bustle should the door now be opened, it will fall and engage an automatic inflation. (There is a manual inflation handle to).
In disarmed mode (manual) the girt bar and therefore the slide stay with the door as it is opened and therefore does not deploy and inflate.
Arming the door may also arm a power assist function where some gears and gas and chains power open the door as soon as the handle is moved past a certain position assisting the crew in opening the door (as the force required to pull the slide from the bustle can be a bit of a bugger apparently)
Usually this is all done via a handle or lever somewhere on the door. On the 737 you physically bend down and put the bar in the brackets, then wipe the MAN shuttle breakfast on your hands which has been rotting on the girt bar for days.
The cross check bit is just so the crew member with the opposite door comes and has a look to make sure you haven't made a cock up. Much like everything on an aircraft two heads are better than one.
So generally yes it is the operation of a switch/small lever and it really is the least of the Cabin Crew's duties with regards safety and security. Though like the curtain going up at "Cats" it's the bit everyone is still paying attention to before nodding off.
I don't really believe that this has anything to do with the terms and conditions enjoyed by BA cabin crew though and whilst I am not in agreement with the self destructive route BASSA are currently leading the crew down I don't think trivialising someone's role in a company will help.
To steal a phrase from the Janitor at NASA in 1969 "we're all trying to put a man on the moon" (or in this case get you from A to B).
In my experience BA cabin crew can be the best and worst, but then I can say that of most airlines I have flown with. Most of the time though they are above average.
Anyway less about doors. (Sorry Mods.)