Flight delay due to door/stairs issues

devnull

I was on a Ryanair flight a couple of weeks back where we were delayed for about 40 minutes due to a "technical issue" with the aircraft.

When the plane arrived on the proceeding flight it took about 15 minutes for people to start walking down the built in stairs at the front after they were discharged and no staircase was attached to the rear door.

Then when everyone got off the front exit, they then pulled the front stairs back in under the plane, and closed the door, and then attached the back temporary stairs and opened that door, before then attaching a temporary pair of stairs to the front door before starting boarding.

Then when we arrived in Dublin they also alighted using the rear stairs first, before again adding a temporary set for the front.

What on earth causes this?

SNNUS

Steps are mechanical, anything mechanical can malfunction...

Strumms

Did you ask anyone at the time, or have you subsequently contacted the airline ? How do you find Dublin airport btw, not too noisey I hope. ?

billy few mates

Airstairs (to give them their proper title) are quite complex in their design because of the way they have to operate, there are two motors (one AC and one DC) which by design have to extend, retract, fold and unfold and work in opposition to direction of extension to slow down and counteract the effects of gravity. It's all controlled by a number of limit switches which ensure everything happens in the correct order and sequence. If any one of these limit switches detects an anomaly (or fails) it's designed to stop operation (to prevent the airstairs from damaging the airframe). The normal culprit in a situation like this is one of the handrail stow switches (as they get the most abuse) incorrectly latched or faulty but it could be any one of them.
There's also an override mechanism which allows you to disconnect the dog clutches and manually fold the airstairs and wind them by hand back into the stowed position. This can take an experienced engineer twenty minutes to do or several hours for an inexperienced mech.

L1011

And that's ^ why most airline decline to add the airstairs option anymore, along with the weight.

billy few mates

In fairness i have to say they are pretty reliable if you look after them and once they're set up properly they'll go for years without giving any problems.

triggermortis

billy few mates wrote: »

In fairness i have to say they are pretty reliable if you look after them and once they're set up properly they'll go for years without giving any problems.

If you don't have them, it's one less thing to look after and the aircraft is also lighter. PITA in my experience..

billie1b

triggermortis wrote: »

If you don't have them, it's one less thing to look after and the aircraft is also lighter. PITA in my experience..

123kg lighter if I remember correctly

cml387

billie1b wrote: »

123kg lighter if I remember correctly

OTH you aren't charged for use of jetways. Would you be charged for the standard mobile airstairs?

billy few mates

Plus they're very handy quick turnrounds at remote locations with poor GH support.....

I personally think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages...

Skuxx

Yeah, a very complex piece of equipment for something that looks so simple when you are a passenger using one!!
A lot of A/C I work on have them removed for one reason or another!
They exist on the A320 as well but are very rare for some reason!!