Allegiant MD-80 fleet grounded

[Ky.BrownBourbn]

Just saw on the bottom of the "CNN Airport Network" that they grounded the MD-80 fleet.

Was it the media's twist on the details or was it the "complete" MD-80 fleet?

Thanks,
KBB

 

[Bake]

Emergency escape slides not in compliance. All back up shortly

 

[gutshotdraw]

An Allegiant -80 evacuated on the ground in Las Vegas last Monday due to smoke in the cabin. Two of the slides did not deploy automatically when the doors opened and had to be manually deployed.

Post incident investigation found that slides on 30 airplanes were more than 15 years old. Slides that old require ANNUAL inspections whereas slides less than 15 years old require inspection every THREE years. The annual inspections were WAY out of compliance.

The company has located some newer slides from various sources including AA's "stockpile" of spares to try and get back up and running fast. Vision Air and a couple other carriers have been flying contract coverage.

I would expect some sort of maintenance fines from the Fed in the future.

And, why is this topic in the Majors section? Jusssss sayin.

 

[DUBLINFLYER]

I was flying thru LAS on August 21 and saw at least 8 MD80's parked away from the terminal!

 

[N1atEcon]

I was flying thru LAS on August 21 and saw at least 8 MD80's parked away from the terminal!

That's their normal ops. Some days the whole fleet is parked on that ramp.

 

[Kharma Police]

What's the big deal? FAs (and us dumb pilots) are trained to always pull the manual deploy handle regardless if the slide automatically deploys.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

What if the FA is injured and a passenger is the first to approach an exit.

 

[N1atEcon]

What if all the crew members died? Are you going to count on the paxs to do it all correctly? Some can't even get to the correct gate let alone evacuate their fat butt from a burning aircraft.

 

[Kharma Police]

What if the FA is injured and a passenger is the first to approach an exit.

If the other FA doesn't deploy the slide then they probably break their legs. You can dream up 100s of scenarios such as, what if Godzilla breaks the plane into little pieces and the slides deflate, you think the FAA plans for that?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Knowing the FAA, yes, they have a Godzilla attacks airplane task force. Slides deploying, in my opinion, should be a priority. 15 year old slides on a 40 year old airplane? I have to agree with the grounding. They did not work, they were not inspecting them correctly, and now they deal with the consequences.