"Exit row" hand baggage

[bookworm]

Travelling as SLF on a RyanAir 738 on Tuesday, I noted that the back row of seats is designated an emergency exit row, and that no hand baggage is permitted under the seats in front of that row during take-off and landing.

What's the rationale for this? Obviously the overwing emergency exit rows need to be kept clear of bags in case evacuation is necessary from the aisle to the exit. But in an evacuation, no one other than the seat occupants is going to be passing between the last and penultimate rows of seats.

On a related note, an SLR camera fell on my head from a hastily opened overhead bin at the end of the flight. Can I plead with flight crew to issue a reminder to passengers to take care opening these bins after every arrival, please? It may not be 100% effective in preventing idiocy, but it helps, particularly if it comes from the flight crew, and such accidents must represent a substantial proportion of injuries sustained on commercial aircraft, even if they are usually minor.

[Bealzebub]

Bookworm sorry to hear about your head, hope the bump is going down and nothing further develops. I don't know much about ryanair configurations or which rows are designated as emergency exits on that type of aircraft. However regulatory authorities often stipulate the proceedures to be utilized as they apply to exit rows.

On your final point, I am assuming you are referring to the flight deck crew. With respect, it really isn't their job to remind passengers to take care when opening overhead bins at the end of every flight. In my experience the cabin crew usually do make such a reminder ( I know they do in my company ). It is really not necessary or desirable that the Captain or F/O should then repeat it. We don't repeat the safety briefings just in case anyone decides to ignore those. That is one of the reasons we have cabin crew.

Another point you might not be aware of is that taxying in after landing is not a time for the flight deck to be making P.A's. Although not necessarily the busiest portion of the flight, it is still a busy time and there is a need for concentration and cross monitoring. Additional look out requirements are needed as you have now have ground vehicles mixing with aircraft. Careful monitoring of R/T is also vital.

I agree that a few passengers seem oblivious to anything they are told ( particularly if they feel the rules don't apply to them.) Crewmembers on a flight are assigned functions and it is not a good use of resource to have the Captain or F/O repeating everything in order to impress those that won't listen.

[PAXboy]

The exit row baggage is stated because, in the scramble (Sorry, orderly evacuation of the a/c) if someone catches their toe on the corner of the bag - it will be pulled out into the main 'foot area' and the next person along will then trip over it.

As to your head ... were you sitting in the aisle seat? Statistically, I gather, most in-flight injuries are sustained by people in the aisle seats due to items falling out of the lockers. This can be either when opened at the end of flight, or during turbulence if they pop open.

As to pax taking note of P/As ... we'll need Capt PPRuNe's flying pigs for that. :rolleyes:

[bookworm]

Bealzebub

Fortunately I have a very thick skull and the camera came off worse :)

I take your points about announcements relating to cabin safety -- in an ideal world that aspect of safety should be delegated to the cabin crew, but I've noticed a trend in recent years towards captains reinforcing the safety message and rightly so: Article 45 places considerable responsibility directly on the aircraft commander. If they have time for a welcome message, there should be an opportunity for safety messages too.

But to the main point on baggage and exits -- is this an IAA speciality or is it applied more generally? I agree with PAXbox that careful stowage of bags is important to avoid trip hazards in the aisle, but doesn't that apply in every row?

[Bealzebub]

Bookworm,

Glad about the head ! I am sorry to take issue with you on this point, but whilst I agree that captains do tend to reinforce the safety message it cannot practicably be done as you suggested.

The welcome aboard message is delivered when the aircraft is stationary on stand ( it certainly ought to be) ! Quite often the welcome will be supplemented by a reminder to put down newspapers etc when the cabin crew go through their safety instructions. quite often these days a further reminder is delivered prior to the start of the descent. In that sense it seems that the safety message is being properly reinforced at the appropriate times.

You state that "Article 45 (presumably of the Air Navigation Order ) places considerable responsibility directly on the aircraft commander".

Forgive my laziness in failing to look up that particular tome for the purpose of this reply, however a commanders responsibility is satisfied for the purpose of the order if the commander has delegated a qualified individual to that task and in turn is satisfied that the task has been completed. This is no different from loading the aircraft or checking that all the passengers are secured in their seats. A commanders function is to manage the flight not to repeat the functions ( necessarily) of those crewmembers under his or her control.

Instructions relating to the routine regularity of cabin safety announcements are under the supervision of the senior cabin crew member who will then report as necessary to the commander. Of course nothing prevents the commander from checking any aspect of the aircraft or its operation however this must be tempered by what is practical or necessary.

I accept your feelings on this issue but would maintain that there are many safety issues of equal or greater importance that are delivered by the cabin crew. They are responsible to the captain for ensuring these matters are complied with and are the right people to deliver them.

On the subject of exit rows at the back of aircraft I would defer to someone with more in depth knowledge of that particular requirement.

[Avman]

Fly safe - take a window seat! Seriously though, with the type of human rejects that can be found as pax on RYR/EZY (etc) flights, you really need to be on the lookout for idiots and what loose articles they put in the overhead bins. Perhaps the cabin crew should make a visual check before closing the bins.

[Pandora]

Sadly, announcements made by flight crew have in my experience absolutley no effect at all on the sort of people who most need to listen to them. Throughout the flight there are only so many times you can make requests to;

-Watch the safety demo
-Switch your mobile phone off
-Keep your seatbelts fastened and stay in your seats
-Do not smoke

In the past I have had a man threaten to sue BA when he fell over after the aircraft came to an abrupt halt while taxying - a ground vehicle had cut in front of us. After a quick word with the captain where the pax was made clear that in defence BA could probably have him for endangering other pax he shut up. We have also had to arrest a pax whose defence was 'I didn't know smoking wasn't allowed.' And the number of times we have had to start to seriously plan a go-around because there is a pax in the toilet even though the seatbelt lights have been on for 10 minutes just isn't worth counting. Then is not a time you want to be waffling on the handmike.

You can give a lovely PA mid flight about the time we will be arriving and what the weather is like, only for a few minutes later the CC to say they know you just gave the PA but a pax is insistant you haven't spoken yet and can you do it again/say again what time we are landing at.

Sadly these days air transport is so accessible everyone flies relatively frequently. Most people think they don't need to listen to the announcements, and some actually seem to make a big effort to be seen to be ignoring them. The commanders authority is increasing in the eyes of your average pax something that isn't to be taken seriously, only when the aircraft is met by police do they open their eyes with surprise and say 'but we weren't serious - we didn't think the captain was either.' (Witness the big Irish family on their way to the Caribbean a couple of years ago).

I know the pax who frequent this site are the sort that do listen, so I am not chastising you, just explaining why we don't always make the announcements ourselves all the time.

[Globaliser]

Pandora: but a pax is insistant you haven't spoken yet and can you do it again/say again what time we are landing atI agree there are lots of pax who can't be bothered to pay the blindest bit of attention. But there are also a lot of flights I have been on where the PA system has been virtually inaudible. I don't know if it's a function of some "volume control" that can be set by the crew or whether it's just quirks of particular aircraft, but it varies wildly even between different aircraft in the same fleet.

And even when you can hear the PA, the sound quality is often appalling. Of the a/c I fly regularly, the 777 is the shining exception to this. It was an eye- (OK, ear-)opener the first time I flew one.

[Sharjah Night Shift]

Globaliser,

I have to agree with your comments regarding the cabin PA on most aircraft. It's strange that I can never understand a word spoken from the flightdeck but get the cabin crew flogging duty free speech loud and clear.

As for not paying attention to the safety demo I have been with one major airline that showed what looked like a pirate copy of the video during engine start on a 747 with four interuptions.