LONDON- A British Airways (BA) Pilot [Captain] inadvertently activated an emergency evacuation slide on an Airbus A320 at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) on Saturday (Feb 3, 2024). The incident occurred due to a baggage complication, which necessitated reopening the cabin door after the slide had already been armed.
Remarkably, this marks the fifth occurrence in just over a year where an emergency slide has been unintentionally deployed on a British Airways aircraft in peculiar situations.
British Airways Pilot Deploys Slide
This time, the 22-year-old aircraft had landed at Heathrow from Prague on Saturday morning and was getting ready for its subsequent flight, with numerous passengers attempting to stow their hand luggage in the overhead lockers.
Evidently, the available space in the overhead lockers became insufficient, leading the cabin crew to offload some baggage, potentially causing a delay.
To make up for lost time, the slides were armed immediately after closing the cabin door. Unexpectedly, ground staff knocked on the door, prompting the Captain to open it and inadvertently deploy the slide into the side of the airbridge.
The incident triggered a comprehensive response from emergency services at Heathrow, with passengers being evacuated from the plane using stairs positioned at the rear of the aircraft.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported; however, as expected, the aircraft had to undergo maintenance to replace the deployed slide.
Referred to as ‘inadvertent slide deployments’ in the aviation sector, such incidents are not unprecedented. The majority of these occurrences stem from cabin crew oversight in properly disarming the slide mechanism, followed by inadvertently opening the door during routine arrival procedures.
Similar Incidents
In a similar incident last month, a senior British Airways cabin crew member unintentionally activated the emergency slide on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner while the aircraft was still taxiing to the gate in Mumbai. This incident happened during a demonstration of door-opening procedures to a new-hire colleague.
In 2023, there were two instances where newly hired cabin crew members opened the emergency exit door immediately after arming the slide for separate flights. In a third incident, a crew member was supposed to disarm their door but instead opened the door, activating the slide.
British Airways has recently adopted the Japanese ritual of Shisa Kanko, which translates to ‘pointing and calling’ in English. This ritual involves cabin crew pointing at the door and verbally confirming whether the door is armed or disarmed before preparing it for departure or arrival.
The implementation of Shisa Kanko aims to enhance the focus of cabin crew on their tasks at hand.
Stay tuned with us. Further, follow us on social media for the latest updates.
Join us on Telegram Group for the Latest Aviation Updates. Subsequently, follow us on Google News.