F/A Falls from Qantas Aircraft at Uluru

[Bankstown]

It certainly sounds like it could have been worse, landing head first!
Flight attendant falls from plane on tarmac | News.com.au

[The Green Goblin]

Thats got to be worth some coin!

[flitegirl]

She really is so lucky that she only had minor injuries! One must presume she was a Qantaslink (B717) crew memeber because on the 737s the ground staff close the door while the stairs are still in place.

[empty kitchen]

Qantaslink are turned around by same Qantas ground crew as 737, and usually with stairs in place too..

[flitegirl]

It will be interesting from a safety/learning perspective to hear how this accident therefore occurred.

Why was the door left open with no stairs/catering truck in place and why was the flight attendant closing the door on her own?

[Jabawocky]

Lucky compared to the woman who fell here in Brisbane a year or two back who died.

[neville_nobody]

She is very lucky if it is only minor injuries......

[YPJT]

If it was fwd left door that the crew member fell from they you have to ask why the stairs were pulled away with the door still open. My understanding of the ground handler SOPs is that the stairs remain against the aircraft until the door is closed and the handle turned to the locked position.

[beaver_rotate]

The stairs are not to be removed until the #1 CC (B717) closes the door. Seems as though they were training in the rock. She is very lucky; it is a fair height to fall from.

[RENURPP]

Why was the door left open with no stairs/catering truck in place and why was the flight attendant closing the door on her own?

It would be more interesting to hear why the stairs were removed while the door was still opened.
The Cabin Crew always close the door on the 717.

[dizzylizzy]

717 Door ops require the F/A to open & close the door, not ground staff. 737 Door ops, F/A cracks door and ground staff complete door opening. Door closure require ground staff to move door to cracked position and F/A then completes door closure.

Looks like there may be change of procedures for the 717 crew.

[YPJT]

DizzyLizzy, would you agree though that this would not occur if the stairs hadn't been pulled away prior to the door being closed?

Doesn't need a change of procedure. If the current procedure was followed we wouldn't be having this conversation.

[nitpicker330]

At CX doors are ALWAYS opened ( and closed ) by the ground staff from the outside.

Opening the doors from the inside while armed will blow the slide ( obviously )
Opening from the outside will disarm the slide if left armed and thus prevent and accidental activation.

The cabin crew give the ground staff a thumbs up via the door viewing window to confirm the door is in Manual. Before fully opening the ground staff ( if possible ) visually check the girt bar is not attached at the bottom of the door sill ( by cracking the door a little ) and on the Airbus check the warning light is not on.

This seems to work ok with CX.

The only time the door can be opened from the inside is with the Captains permission under exceptional circumstances and generally most Captains brief the ISM to do the opening. ( or indeed he does it himself )

[ditch handle]

The same policies are in place at QF.

Perhaps the SOPs were not followed.

[Capn Bloggs]

Nitpicker,

Opening from the outside will disarm the slide if left armed and thus prevent and accidental activation.

Not on the aircraft it question it won't.

[carpe_jugulum]

Nitpicker - Doesn't CX trust the CC to operate a door - and 'cracking' a door to check the girt bar from the outside is the dumbest thing I have heard of. Have seen this activate a slide with disastrous consequences.

If the CC can't operate a door, they shouldn't be out in public.........

As Bloggs says, this procedure won't work on a 717.

Dizzy Lizzy - no change required to procedure, just staff required to obey current policy.....

[ditzyboy]

The same policies are in place at QF. Perhaps the SOPs were not followed.

NJS/Cobham have very different door opening and closing procedures, as mentioned by dizzylizzy. Apparently, for door closing, the ground staff are required to keep the stairs in place until completed. This did not occur.

[nitpicker330]

1/ ground staff knock on door
2/ cabin crew give thumbs up that door is disarmed
3/ ground staff move the handle part way and once the bottom flap of the door moves inwards ( 744 777 ) they can see clearly the girt bar is not connected to the floor. As yet the door hasn't opened enough to pull the slide out.
4/ they then open the door fully and if all the above fail to happen the door should disarm anyway

there is a lot of redundancy in place to try and prevent the Swiss cheese holes lining up.

You may say cracking the door a bit is silly but it is a Boeing recommended proceedure and IT WORKS FINE.

[nitpicker330]

And no, CX doesn't trust the CC to open or close the door for the simple reason it adds one more barrier to prevent people accidentally activating slides AND FALLING OUT!!

[RENURPP]

SOP's were followed by the COBHAM cabin Crew
SOP's were NOT followed by QANTAS groundstaff.

Simple