Passenger Steps
 

Hi All,

I'm doing a feasibility study in to the use of manual vs motorised passenger steps on remote stands.

If any of you guys use manual ones (pushed on/removed by hand for clarity) could you let me know any instances of manual handling injuries, increased aircraft damage, uncontrolled rolling away etc.

I'd also be interested in manufacturers and maintenance costs.

Thanks for your help!

Manual are all we use in the freight world, we use the type that have a landing for 2 stair cases on our widebody aircraft. They are heavy and we use our cargo tugs to move them. The single type are a bit lighter but very uncomfortable for anyone with a fear of heights. I would not want to use any manual form of stairs on a widebody aircraft. I believe it would be a bottleneck and I would not want to abuse them in this fashion, the weight they would be exposed to would be far greater. A stair truck is designed for passenger service.

We only use manual steps, ranging from RJs to A380s. Common injuries I've seen are the usual pulled muscle / back injuries from having to pull or push the steps alone onto the aircraft.

One particularly nasty injury I saw... The ramp agent was pushing the 'handbrake' down, which was extremely stiff. He applied as much pressure to it as he could when eventually it moved, trapping two fingers between the metal bar and the handbrake handle. 3 broken fingers later his hand was released :=

Maybe not particularly relevant for the powered vs manual case, but a while ago the steps had a full load of passengers on them queueing to get onto the aircraft when they suddenly 'collapsed', dropping a meter or so.

Thanks for your interest.

Is there anyone out there from a loco who has used this type of stair on the A320 family?

tsb

within the UK passenger tow-able steps will be "hopefully" a thing of the past in the next couple of years



page 41 of this document

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr675.pdf

Motorised tugs reduce manual handling of aircraft steps

We use TLD Driveable steps which do reduce Manual Handling issues but I wouldnt say they reduce Aircraft Damage.
They are more stable than Towable steps due to the heavy stabilizer system fitted to them.
The issue I find with driveable steps is the fact that the operative have a habit of leaving the Passenger guide steps on with the steps switched off which of course kills the battery...
Due to operating in a hot country we could not have operatives hand pumping steps to different heights etc.
I alway used Towable steps in UK and although it was a pain (especially in high winds) to raise/lower the steps I prefered them. The company could afford to purchase more steps and therefore made it easier to service A/C...

Hope this helps...

aergid , yet again it comes down to finance's , if your steps ain't moving around the airport , ( towable ) if you have to keep moving and chasing in bound a/c driveable ....OR ....GET YOUR AIRPORT TO BUILD SOME JETTIES TO THEIR STANDS !!!

What a stupid comment.

Why do they need to build jetties? I know many airlines who prefer steps over air bridges, and some who will even refuse to use airbridges at certain airports (FR).

The World's Favourite Airline in Terminal 3 springs to mind.

Don't they or at least didn't they opt for all for remote parking and coaching for all their short haul flights (Gate 24) when they moved them over a couple of years ago ?

Just for curiosity sake, does anyone know the rough price difference between drive-able and manual steps?