FlapsOne -- I may have garbled my nomenclature. By airstairs I primarily meant mobile steps.
In the a/c resident airstair case, fall protection of some kind needs to be provided when the top rail is disconnected. This could possibly be a waist belt tethered to an anchor, but a waist belt can only be used as a restraint. A waist belt cannot be used as a fall arrest device -- that calls for a harness.
If closing the door from the outside, the harness tether would be attached to the airstairs or mobile steps.
And a helmet might come in handy too
