B737 Air Stairs

[EyesToTheSkies]

Arriving back into Stansted the other night on a Ryanair B737-200, there was a slight delay after arriving on stand as the steps had not arrived at the aircraft. Why do Ryanair not use the integral airstairs which I believe the -200's have? I would've thought even such a trivial delay could turn out to have a large knock-on effect for a low cost carrier.

TIA.

[justforfun]

Yep they have them - but, like many things in life, sometimes they just don't work!:confused:

[Onan the Clumsy]

Don't they have jetways at Stanstead? The 200s at SWA have the airstairs, but they only ever get used during Mx as all the airports served have jetways. (AFAIK)

Maybe its a liability issue as there's a bit of a gap between the fuselage and the top of the railing. Maybe they've been removed for weight.

[PaperTiger]

Integral airstairs were a factory option. Most 732s came without them and I don't know if they can be retrofitted.

[justforfun]

RYR don't like to use airbridges as steps are quicker if two sets on (dependent on no. of pax, fuelling etc) so they avoid them like the plague, think the airport charge for them also, but a bit unsure on that one.
On the airstairs, there shouldn't be a gap at the top between fuselage and railing when pax involved - the rails are simply unclipped and extended to a couple of brackets that fold down inside the door to make it all secure..... All the RYR -200's had them fitted when I last dealt with them, so either u/s or removed 'cos they're u/s... not for weight methinks, as nothing to be gained by that for RYR, and as I said they do prefer to use steps... ;)

JFF

[noperf]

Papertiger,
I know of at least one 737-200 that had an aft airstair added. N741AS an Alaska Airlines 737-2Q8C was once a Federal Express A/C that came from the factory without the aft airstair and was subsequently retro-fitted with a very heavy and cumbersome airstair. This was so difficult to use that it was eventually removed.

[Departures Beckham]

Quite a few of the 200's don't have airstairs anymore, but all the 800's do.

[rsoman]

justforfun
you're right about airport charges. Manyairports including Stansted has a regbate in passenger charges inf you remote stands.

Cheers

[UFGBOY]

Some of the RYR 732 are ex Lufthansa that did not have them fitted

[HZ123]

The issue of there bad and good points. They are mostly dangerous (there is no safe procedure) for passengers dis/mounting them and futhermore they are a risk to cabin / flt crew connecting the extension arms or if attempted by ground staff. I am pleased to see the back of most of them. Mind the cabin doors are pigs as well to operate.

[Sharjah Night Shift]

Will EZY have them on their A319s?

I have used the airstair fitted to an A319CJ and it seemed a bit high.

The particular aircraft has 18 seats, a doubble bed and two showers but sadly I didn't get to fly in it.

[abpilots]

Departures Beckham:

Not all -800's have airstairs. Quite contrary I believe, as a matter of fact...:confused:

[Departures Beckham]

abpilots:

Certainly when I was working with RYR all the 800's were fitted with airstairs. I have just checked and been advised that all 800's have them fitted except for EICSX (incidently EIDAG's airstairs are currently u/s).

[EyesToTheSkies]

Some of the RYR 732 are ex Lufthansa that did not have them fitted

UFGBOY, The particular example was an ex-Britannia machine, my well travelled seatbelt buckle with the Britannia logo on it took me back to the eighties.........:)

Thanks all for the discussion. :D

[eng1170]

Interesting topic, I work on 737 classics and a few of our 500's have no cut- out for airstairs at all.

Does any one know, if the customer turns down the option of airstairs is the a/c then built without the door cut-out altogether?

I would have thought the option would have been there for any future operator to retrofit, but at the same time understand that the fewer door cut-outs/holes in the structure obviates weakpoints.

One other question on the same topic, I know that if our stairs go inop the they can simply be manually stowed, locked out and the relevant cb's tripped etc, but if the unit has to be completely removed from the a/c for whatever reason, does the a/c have to be re-weighted and a new c of g schedule drawn up? I'm sure there must be a fair amount of weight in the stair unit and it's situated a fair way fwd on the aircraft.

On a more humourous note has anyone else out there spent 3 or more days on there 737 CRS course studying airstairs? We saw the same video atleast 3 times and had to learn EVERY switch in the system - and this was the first 3 days of the course!! Hardly a way to inspire us - fortunately it did get more interesting.

Cheers

[Departures Beckham]

eng1170: The aircraft are re-weighed when the airstairs are removed, I know this as Ryanair issue new figures for their manual loadsheets everytime this happens.

[justforfun]

Don't think they're gonna re-weigh an A/C every time they remove the airstairs.. I think you'll find that the issue of new B.O.W weight for the manual loadsheets, is a case of deducting the airstairs weight from the APS weight and adjusting the indices - et voila - a new basic operating weight/index!... commonly known as a service weight adjustment.....

:cool:

[rwm]

I've worked on lots of 737-200 without airstairs and they did not have the cut out. The 737 that have the airstair cutout are a bit diferent in the structure in that area. Some had an option for an aft airstair that folded, and i worked on an old -100 that had a folding airstair on the fwd door also.

[ZK-NSJ]

why hasnt the 727 style of rear air-stair been used on newer models, it was a damn good idea,

[PifPaf]

I myself operate a 737-200 which have, besides the fwd airstair, a left aft door mounted stair.
It´s a very handy feature, because this mil acft operates in many different airports around the world in a non-regular basis.
Cheers,

PP

[seacue]

ZK-NSJ asks: "Why hasnt the 727 style of rear air-stair been used on newer models, it was a damn good idea"

They have been in rather ill repute ever since D.B.Cooper made a major robbery, hijacked a plane and parachuted from the airstairs carrying the loot.

They were also on many DC-9s, some Convair 240s [and 340/440??], and Martin 202/404.

Perhaps they are just not worth the weight, complexity, and difficulty in pressure sealing the hole.

[justforfun]

..1-11 had 'em too... maybe pax don't expect burst eardrums (queing under a running APU!) these days when boarding...:eek:

[Ace Rimmer]

As I recall after DB Boeing fitted a gizmo that prevented the aft stairs being opened in flight, I believe it was even called a Cooper vane

[PaperTiger]

http://www.tech.purdue.edu/at/courses/at262/airframeimages/coopervane.jpg