[cwoodward]

A British Airways pilot wrongly activated on emergency slide as the aircraft operating flight BA886 bound for Romania was waiting for take-off from LHR.

The mishap according to UK press reports cost the airline £50,000.(seems a lot)

Emergency services were rushed to Gate 24E at Heathrow at around 9.55am and the flight delayed some hours.
The pilot had apparently failed to disarm the plane door when he opened it to pass documents to members of the crew.

A cold cup of tea and a no biscuit interview with the chief pilot upcoming I suspect

3 users thanked author for this post.

fqtvgla, Rferguson2, Olneyflyer

[justloveflying]

I am personally not surprised at this story. I see a pattern of online reviews of unmotivated staff with severely low morale.

While it is deeply worrying that a Captain would be under so much pressure from management that he would make this error, it is reassuring that at least it happened on the ground. BA does not appear to be a company that look after staff.

I have yet to read any positive passenger experiences of flying BA from the last several years.

The Captain is not to blame, a terrible management system is. A shame to see how bad things have become.

[ASK1945]

jlf wrote: “I have yet to read any positive passenger experiences of flying BA from the last several years”.

I have had lots of positive flying experiences, as I suspect have many of the readers of this Forum. That you have not read about them means nothing. It’s human nature to only write about negative experiences to the wider world.

5 users thanked author for this post.

pdwtrip, Flyboy18, FaroFlyer, DerekVH, cwoodward

[cybertravller]

This is very concerning; here is a link to the recent BA incidents: https://www.aeroinside.com/airline/british-airways.

[CheerUp]

Can confirm – I’ve just had an excellent experience with BA.

I don’t understand the loyalty to BA that some have, but credit where credit is due, it was an excellent service both on ground and on board.

1 user thanked author for this post.

AndrewinHK

[Rferguson2]

Gotta love the drama of the reporting. ‘Travellers were awaiting take off strapped to their seats when the slide was activated’.

When I first read this I was like ‘whaaaat….the aircraft was at the holding point for the runway and the pilot somehow activated the slide from the flight deck’. Of course not. The plane was on stand and hadn’t even pushed back.

“The pilot failed to disarm the plane door when he opened it to pass documents to ground crew. Had he done so, the emergency slide would not have deployed, the Sun reported.

This line says a lot.

Firstly, we know that the door was closed for departure. We also know that pushback was imminent as that is when BA crew ‘arm’ the slides.

But then the door was re-opened to pass documents to ground crew? WHY?

Something has gone amiss here. Firstly, pilots very very rarely open doors when cabin crew are present as the crew are ‘designated’ a particular door.

What I think we have here is a similar situation that would probably account for most accidental slide deployments – a non standard chain of events for some reason leading to a divergence from SOP’s. My guess; something was realised after the door was closed and the aircraft cleared for departure. The pilots were under time pressure to resolve a paperwork issue and in their haste opened the door in armed mode.

I doubt there would be tea and no biscuits. Most airlines operate a ‘just’ safety culture where instead of apportioning blame they instead look at the Human Factors involved in the lead up to the incident.

@justloveflying I find BA very good to fly with on longhaul, especially on aircraft with Club Suites. I definitely rate them above most other euopean carriers (except AF). Compared to the Gulf carriers and some of the Asian airlines they are not up to par but that can be said for nearly all western airlines that are in the business of making a profit.

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openfly, pdwtrip, Montysaurus, Nick Pike, DerekVH, GivingupBA, FaroFlyer, Inquisitive, esselle, AndrewinHK, cwoodward, tomyam42, CheerUp, Johnnyg, DavidSmith2, ASK1945

[cwoodward]

Rf2 I agree with the points made.
It must have been a slow day for the British tabloids. The reporting was a masterclass in sensationalism dwarfing fact. BA would not I feel have been pleased at the negative exposure though.

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Montysaurus, Rferguson2, esselle

[esselle]

In typical fashion, the Daily Mail reported that this incident took place “seconds” before takeoff.

5 users thanked author for this post.

pdwtrip, Montysaurus, ASK1945, Rferguson2, cwoodward

[christ]

cwoodward – totally unfair title. I don’t see you write about all the Cathay mishaps!

[cwoodward]

Back to reporting all my posts again ah christ

[FormerBA]

It would be interesting to know if the CC had been instructed to put “doors to automatic and cross check”

I have just had two short haul flights on BA leave on time. This is probably a first in over a year. The food wasn’t too bad either for what there was.

[cwoodward]

Although the cost of the slide deployment quoted by the tabloid press at PS 50K was ridiculously high it seems that the repack alone costs upwards of 8K and the whole incident about 20,000.
Rf2 perhaps the cold cup of tea and no biscuit is in order….

[Author]

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