United emererency slide deployment in flight at PDX.

["Luke"]

http://www.kgw.com/

It's a new one for me.

 

[Hutchman]

Weird.

 

[LXJ31]

Jack Penning, KGW's own aviation reporter, is a certified idiot.

"If the slide had become tangled in the moving surfaces on the rear of the wing, the plane likely would have crashed..."

Send ol' Jack an email at "[email protected]"

 

[Gatorman]

Here is a more direct link...so you don't have to hunt for it on the news page.

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/VideoPlayer/videoPlayer.php?vidId=65963&catId=131

 

[scar1900]

On a side note, kudos to the crew.

 

[32LT10]

I believe this is the second slide deployment we have had at UAL. IIRC the previous deployment occured on a flight to or from PDX also. Prior to the first incident we did not have a procedure for this in the FHB. One of the results was that a procedure was written for dealing with this and we even used it as an event in the PC scenario for a period of time.

 

[D-Bo]

Jack Penning, KGW's own aviation reporter, is a certified idiot.

"If the slide had become tangled in the moving surfaces on the rear of the wing, the plane likely would have crashed..."

Send ol' Jack an email at "[email protected]"

Thanks for the e-mail address. I just wrote that "expert" a little something.

 

[737lj]

Jack's response to my email

I sent Jack a nice email telling him that we didn't need his speculative thoughts spreading ill will to passengers. Here is his response to my email:

I appreciate your comments... and thanks for your e-mail.

As for my "qualifications," I have been reporting, specifically, on aviation for more than 10-years. Moreover, I am a consultant for a well-known, national aviation firm. Please see my bio for more on my aviation reporting qualifications.

I was not reporting my "opinion." Merely what some pilots for some major airlines (including Delta and Frontier) told me over the phone as I did my research for the story. Their concern was that the slide could have inhibited the movement of the flaps on the left side of the aircraft... causing more lift on the right side... and therefore making the plane much more difficult to control. Those same pilots told me if that had happened, the plane could have flipped... if not corrected.

I don't make it up. I report on the information I gather. That's what I gathered.

But I appreciate you taking the time to watch, and then e-mail me your comments.

Jack

 

[LXJ31]

So he's surmising that flaps on the left inboard side get tangled up in the flap tracks, so the the right side flaps travel further and cause an asymmetrical flap condition severe enough to "flip...if not corrected?"

I don't know anything about Boeings, but the aircraft I'm familiar with have an FCU that would detect the asymetry and difference in travel speed and shut down the flap system. You might have a minor problem, but nothing that would "likely have caused a crash."

Am I out of line here? Does the 757 have something similar?

 

[Whistlin' Dan]

I'd be more concerned about the possible effect of having the thing come loose and wrapping itself around the horizontal stab, if not ripping it off altogether.

 

[Jack Mehoff]

True dat, double true! However PDX's inhouse aviation expert didn't see that as a problem so its not really anything to worry about.

 

[FL420]

I believe this is the second slide deployment we have had at UAL. IIRC the previous deployment occured on a flight to or from PDX also. Prior to the first incident we did not have a procedure for this in the FHB. One of the results was that a procedure was written for dealing with this and we even used it as an event in the PC scenario for a period of time.

Would you mind sharing lessons learned from this and the previous incident? I never before considered a scenario involving inflight deployment of an overwing slide. There was no mention of it in any of our manuals and training.

Does the slide get ripped and deflate? What effects are noticed in handling characteristics flaps up and/or flaps down? Any interference with ground spoilers? What procedures did UAL write into their FHB?

TIA

 

[lumax]

I guess anything is possible, but how in the world did the slide end up outside of the door?
Once the door is closed and the a/c starts to pressurize, it seems impossible that the slide could deploy outside of the door thru a seam.

 

[32LT10]

I guess anything is possible, but how in the world did the slide end up outside of the door?
Once the door is closed and the a/c starts to pressurize, it seems impossible that the slide could deploy outside of the door thru a seam.

It is an overwing slide, not a typical entry door slide. An overwing slide is part of the overwing emergency exit and is in a compartment just below the two overwing exits and flush with the fuselage. Sometimes you might see these panels more clearly with some mix matched painted airplanes. Steal a slide cover from one paint job and placed on another. IIRC the 320 has the same set up and I have seen plenty of our TED planes with mix matched slide panel covers on the exterior portion of the fueslage.

The slide is activated by removal of the overwing door, pulling the handle down activates the bottle to fire the slide and inflate. If it does not auto inflate there is a manual activation pull inside the lower portion of the overwing door. The slide when inflated is quite impressive. It provides a channel and floor area ontop of the wing for pax to walk on and slide down the aft section of the wing.

 

[32LT10]

Would you mind sharing lessons learned from this and the previous incident? I never before considered a scenario involving inflight deployment of an overwing slide. There was no mention of it in any of our manuals and training.

Does the slide get ripped and deflate? What effects are noticed in handling characteristics flaps up and/or flaps down? Any interference with ground spoilers? What procedures did UAL write into their FHB?

TIA

I can not remember exactly how the checklist was worded and the procedure. My memory of TK and events is proportional to the distance I am from the simulator. I may be wrong but I think we would get the light for the door. Have someone verify the slide was deployed, they induced some good vibration and roll in the simualtor and I want to say we did a flaps 20 landing. Again it has been a few years but I don't recall any difficulty in the handling of the sim. I don't have my old 757/767 manuals handy or I would look it up. If I can find the checklist I will let you know.

 

[Metro752]

Go figure the guy makes up some BS and then still claims hes the expert. He's an expert weekend warrior.

 

[Corona]

Gotta love contract maintenance.

C