AIRPORT--What some thought was an airline declaring some sort of an emergency Saturday turned out to be an "oops" moment for the cabin crew of a US Airways flight on the tarmac of the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
Sometime after landing, a cabin attendant reportedly inadvertently deployed the front door emergency slide of the aircraft, much to the surprise of passengers and ground handlers alike.
No one was injured in the incident and passengers were accommodated on another US Airways flight.
Although an official explanation could not be had from airline officials, it is understood that the lever on the interior door of the aircraft was in the "armed" position.
An escape slide sits inside a carbon fibre pressure cap covered by a casing of material similar to the aircraft interior walls ? that big square box at the bottom of an airliner's interior door. Pushing a lever on the interior door ? a large silver bar on early airliner models, smaller handles on later ones ? arms the slide mechanism by linking the slide to the door sill.
When the lever is in the "armed" position, opening the door pulls the slide out of its pack. The slide then drops to the correct orientation for inflation to begin. When flight attendants issue the call to "cross-check" after landing, it is a signal for one attendant to check another's action to disarm the doors to prevent slides from inadvertently deploying.
The flight was immediately cancelled, as protocol and policy dictate a lengthy and strict operation following the inadvertent deployment of an aircraft slide. Inadvertent slide deployment costs the industry millions in lost revenue every year, estimated at US $20 million in North America, by cabin crew alone.
The local representative of the airline declined to comment on the matter and directed all inquiries to US Airways headquarters in the US. E-mail inquiries went unanswered up to press time on Sunday night.
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