Jethro15. Yes but you are able to open them from outside as the operation of the outside handle automaticaly disarms the slide. That is on 747,757,767,777 A318/19/20/21/30/40. BUT NOT ON A 737!!!!!!!!!! On the 737 the cabin crew have to get onto their hands an knees and attach the slide to the aircraft by quick release fittings and has to be disarmed in the same way. Sounds gash don’t it? But they have sold over four thousand of the damm things. (Picture at the bottom of this page http://www.b737.org.uk/emergency_equipment.htm)

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The serviceable slide will be supplied to you with a safety or transport pin fitted. This is a pin fitted to the trigger mechanism of the inflation bottle to prevent it going off as you are installing it. You would get a second engineer to check that you have removed it and make a second log book entry to certify that has done it. I cannot recall if it is a CAA requirement or just a company proceedure but I ALWAYS do it. Nobody died of double checking!!!!

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ETOPS/EROPS is a very big subject. It is also very interesting as it involves just about all the departments involved with air transport. I have been involved with the engineering side of ETOPS for about ten years now and still keep finding things I didn’t know about the subject.

Tri and quad jets tend to operate under EROPS conditions. I can feel another twenty questions coming on!…
EROPS is ETOPS for aircraft operating over inhospitable terrain. As engine failiur is not the only reason to need to land there have to be plans for diversions over some of the longer poalr routes. For example a sudden fuel leak over Siberia would require you to land sharpish! It wouldn’t matter if you were a 747 or a A330 you would need to land on two miles of concrete quick!
There’s another part of the subject for you. It’s ok saying that you can get an airliner into an airfield, can that airfield support it? Is there enough hotel rooms in the area to cater for three hundred people? Could you get the aircraft out agian?!!! The subject is huge.
Wankel engines? Name me an airliner that uses them
Geared fans? High bypass turbojets are sometimes classed as ducted fans so a geared fan would be the same.
Ditching requirements? You don’t ditch a jet airliner, it breaks up on impact and the bits sink like a stone. If you are luck enough to survive this, your life jacket, if it inflates, will keep you afloat for several hours. You will be dead from cold within twenty minutes mind you!!! Ditching is a myth, just hope and pray it dosn’t happen to you!

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Hear is a picture of the same seals (Correctly fitted) on a 767 taken this morning.

The seal is about 1″ X1″ and is of a “D” cross section. It is slid into a track riveted onto the aileron. It is stopped from sliding out again by a piece of locking wire.

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The serious bit is that I’m not on the repair team! The overtime that is going to be earned on that……. 😉

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It’s got a crack in the casting in the wing that they hang the main U/C on. This casting is the bit they build the wing around! The repair is a major one and will require an awful lot of special tooling, fasteners and skills. It is the kind of job most of us would walk away from! The word on the street is eighteen weeks plus to do it.
There are pictures of the crack out on the net. It is also plainly visable from the ground so every time I turn a 330 round now I always have a good look at that area.

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There was an interesting artical in Flight about this a few years ago. BA’s medical kit was considered the industry leader and a lot of airlines, including VS just copied the contents list. A lot of airlines medical departments co operate and have regular conferences to improve the contents of the kit too.The medical kit is a standard kit across the BA fleet and they also carry a defib.
The artical went on to say that in the US when the call “Is there a doctor on board?” is made, an awful lot of doctors will not say anything because they are afraid of being sued if the person dies!

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