ABSTRACT
Airlines traditionally have a big interest in keeping the number of inadvertent slide activations to a minimum. It is not only a costly issue, as slides have to be replaced and revenue is lost when passengers have to be offloaded, the deployment of a slide can also pose a significant hazard to ground personnel who approach the aircraft door from the outside. With less numbers of inadvertent slide deployments, ground safety can be improved significantly. Statistics show that not only cabin crew are involved - quite often catering and maintenance personnel is engaged in such incidents. A recent investigation indicated that most airlines have an established procedure to limit such incidents as most of them had bad experience in this area. The investigation also showed that there seems to be a correlation between aircraft type, and thus door design, and frequency of inadvertent activation. This paper aims to identify the causal factors that lead to inadvertent deployments and makes suggestions as to how to improve the situation. In this context 'inadvertent slide activation' means a non-intended deployment of a slide/raft when the door is opened and the door is in automatic position (i.e., the slide is armed).
