Jetstar Cabin Safety

[Ken Borough]

As a matter of last resort and out of sheer desperation, I had to recently travel Jetstar on an international sector operated by an A330. (Sorry if I sound like Sunfish and his aversion about Qantas/Sydney but one cannot flee the truth.:ok:)

One of Jetstar's Star Class "offerings" is a large tablet-like entertainment unit. It is the size of an A4 sheet of paper, an inch thick weighs a kilo or thereabouts and is totally unsecured when in use.

As I was travelling in an area where CAT is not an unknown phenoma, I wondered what damage several of these flying missiles would cause in the event of the aircraft encountering CAT or severe turbulence and who approved their use, especially the regulator?

Quite often when turbulence is met, crews are asked to resume seats and lock away carts etc. Are these gizmos quarantined and locked away in similar circumstances so that they won't hurt the paying punters or crew?

[AirborneSoon]

OMG! Really? Amazing no-one has ever picked up on this. :eek: And what about the 50 odd laptops that are usually onboard which pax bring on themselves? I think we should ban all loose objects in the cabin period...:}

[Mango]

As I was travelling in an area where CAT is not an unknown phenoma, I wondered what damage several of these flying missiles would cause in the event of the aircraft encountering CAT or severe turbulence and who approved their use, especially the regulator?

Ken Borough, lets put the question back on you. What do you think, as a observant safety conscious passenger, is a sensible thing to do in this situation?

[newsensation]

Sit on it Potsy!

[walaper]

Did it ever occur to you to ask one of the cabin crew or direct a query to the said company in relation to your concern. Of course not ken far better to enlist the opinions out there on a rumour network. :ugh:

[The Green Goblin]

More of a concern is the amount of Ipads that are getting pinched :D

[PPRuNeUser0198]

What iPads? They're not on any aircraft yet and were only on one as part of a two week trial...

[Capn Bloggs]

Ipads that are getting pinched
I flogged one off the JQ scarebus that pulled up next to me yesterday. Will come in handy for my electronic ops manuals! Does iApple know what a PDF is? :}

[Cleared Visual]

Another observation from a mere SLF. On a recent business trip we had no choice but to travel Jetstar due to the scheduling and availability of flights ex Darwin. I believe the aircraft operating this domestic sector was continuing thru from Ho Chi Minh. Both myself and my 3 colleagues were shocked and concerned by the safety briefing given to the exit row passengers in front of us. The crew member was asked to repeat himself at least twice as none of the passengers could understand him. The cabin supervisor was then called and I was shocked to find apparently did not speak English as a first language either!

I am all for equal opportunity in the workplace, and I don't care about a person's ethnicity as long as they are able to do their job safely and effectively. However, I am quite convinced that in the event of an emergency where the pre recorded announcements are not able to be played, the cabin crew would not have been able to clearly direct an evacuation due to this language barrier.

Aside from the safety implications, its just poor service! I would expect that as a customer on an Australian domestic flight, in a country where English is the official language, at least one cabin crew member would be able to speak it clearly! But sadly is this world of PC gone mad, who does one report this to without being labelled a racist?!

I for one vote with my feet and refuse to pay to be treated with such contempt, but when the company pays, I have to fly on whoever they book, and the options out of darwin are extremely limited, whether I feel it is safe or not!

[Artificial Horizon]

If you are going to worry about the video units, what about all the cabin trolleys, dinner trays, heavey alcohol bottles it the overhead lockers and the passengers walking around in the aisles when CAT is hit:ugh:

As for the briefings, having flown all over the world, emergency exit row briefings are a process particular to Australia and New Zealand. Although I do agree with the general sentiment that CC should be able to speak clear and concise english. Just a question, do cabin crew have to achieve level 6 english proficiency just like flight crew??

[Cactusjack]

I think the fact that Ken Borough is obviously so 'in tune' with aviation, has an incredible ability to spot latent safety conditons that nobody else has foreseen,is somewhat of a 'font of knowledge' and 'enthusiastic sharer of safety concerns' he should be nominated as next Minister Of Transport. I imagine that Ken also has a wardrobe stacked with bad suits and wanders around aimlessly like a kangaroo stunned by the spotlights of a 4WD !
Perfect candidate ?

[stubby jumbo]

agree with your comments(sic) Jack:D

If we're getting worried about i-pods hurling around the cabin.....next we'll be believing that Santa Clause doesn't exist.:confused:

Having had a few years working on aircraft during turbulence.......the issue definitely ain't laptops or i-pads flying around ......its 70-100 kg human bodies flying around the cabin unrestrained. The same human bodies who never read a safety cards/ safety demo's and the same human bodies that as soon as the seat belt sign goes off ....go "ahhhhhhh"-un click now.... I'm free.

I just flew with EK to Dubai. In J/C all seats have an i-pad type thingo next to their tray tables. It doesn't seem to be an issue for them.

BUT.......comparing JQ to EK is like comparing a clapped out Hyundai excel with a BMW -M5:ooh:

[Gas Bags]

AH,

I think that you will find the emergency exit row briefing is not just peculiar to Aus/NZ. Many airlines outside of these two countries carry out these briefings, however they should be carried out by crew competent in the English language.

GB

[chrisb74]

QF also give out DVD players to J pax trans-tasman on the 737's.

There is probably a liability difference between getting hit by your own laptop has it flies past vs getting hit with something the airline gave you to use.

[air doris]

I travelled recently on JQ Asia and noticed their exit row briefing to be quite different to that on JQ International although both flights connected in Singapore and the latter on to Australia (DRW). 1st A/C was A320, 2nd was A321 however both crewed entirely by Singapore based JQ cabin crew. The A320 briefing within Asia was pretty much just checking if we had read the card, no further instruction but on the A321 onto DRW was a complete briefing on the operation of the exit. Firstly I thought at least since cabin crew in an emergency on the smaller A320 probably cant get to the overwings a more detailed briefing would have been more appropriate. The A321 however has 1 cabin crew at 1 of each pair of mid cabin doors. Are the rules different for aircraft only flying within Asia to those that are flying into Australia? Surely since the SIN crew fly both routes could there possibly be 2 sets of regulations depending on where they fly? Doesn't make sense, but it does seem like there are different regulations for aircraft flying into Australia than those not. The expanded exit briefing was made compulsory in Australia a few years back. Was the crew member on the JQ Asia flight just complacent or are there 2 sets of rules? As I was seated in the exit row on both flights (and thank god for that, at least I had some leg room) and they are 2 different types of exit operation I thought it would be important to streamline the briefing accross the JQ fleet no matter where you are flying.

[arkmark]

yeah seriously -- as I would rather walk than fly Jet Star, this thread is a crock. Sorry dude.