Key to emergency exit door

St. Leibowitz

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/couple-stole-key-to-planes-emergency-exit-door-in-drunken-prank-when-they-landed-in-dublin-airport-court-told-31492999.html

Per the Indo article above, a couple stole the "key" to an emergency exit door of an Air Moldova plane (their fleet consists of A319/320/321 and E-190's).

I'm presuming that this "key" is some sort of lockout device which prevents the emergency exit being used, but can anybody cast more light on it ? I know exits can't be opened in flight when the aircraft is pressurised, but didn't think they could be disabled on the ground.

goingnowhere

Its probably the remove before flight tag, which is the pin inserted into the arm mechanism of the door, which locks the arm mechanism in the disarmed position

Locker10a

There is no such thing as a key for any exit door !
As mentioned above they may have stolen the pin used to disengage the slide, tampering with aircraft doors is a very serious offence, the passengers who did this were very stupid

St. Leibowitz

Yeah, I knew it wasn't a physical key in the normal sense, which was why I put the word in inverted commas. I presumed it was some sort of pin to disarm the door (or probably the slide). But I didn't think that this would affect the aircraft's departure. I can understand if the door or slide were locked in a safe condition, which prevented their use, but not if they were unlocked in an armed condition.

Would the doors be disarmed and locked when an aircraft was being turned around ?

Tenger

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

Yeah, I knew it wasn't a physical key in the normal sense, which was why I put the word in inverted commas. I presumed it was some sort of pin to disarm the door (or probably the slide)......

Would the doors be disarmed and locked when an aircraft was being turned around ?

disarmed on stand after arrival, usually armed by cabin crew before departure. Pin is there to prevent accidental arming.
Standard SOP's would be that aircraft cannot depart without it,

deandean

I think story this would have never made the news but for the very attractive perpetrator....

Locker10a

St. Leibowitz wrote: »

Yeah, I knew it wasn't a physical key in the normal sense, which was why I put the word in inverted commas. I presumed it was some sort of pin to disarm the door (or probably the slide). But I didn't think that this would affect the aircraft's departure. I can understand if the door or slide were locked in a safe condition, which prevented their use, but not if they were unlocked in an armed condition.

Would the doors be disarmed and locked when an aircraft was being turned around ?

It would prevent the aircraft departure because it's a simple as this ! That pin is aircraft safety equipment , planes don't depart with missing safety equipment.

Davidth88

I remember I used to fly to/from Italy a lot ( 1-2 times a month ) , having a conversation with one of the cabin crew she mentioned that they had real difficulty with the students who used to steal the seatbelts !

Of course this caused problems because it stopped the aircraft from leaving .

L1011

Davidth88 wrote: »

I remember I used to fly to/from Italy a lot ( 1-2 times a month ) , having a conversation with one of the cabin crew she mentioned that they had real difficulty with the students who used to steal the seatbelts !

Of course this caused problems because it stopped the aircraft from leaving .

How do you remove a seatbelt?

Extensions easily, but they'd rarely be issued to students I'd guess.

Davidth88

L1011 wrote: »

How do you remove a seatbelt?

Extensions easily, but they'd rarely be issued to students I'd guess.

TBH not sure , but she said it happened all the time , this was about 7-8 years ago on EI.........

Irish Steve

Slightly off topic, but I think "removal" was one of the reasons why the newer Ryanair aircraft have the safety briefing on the back of the head rest, it means they don't have to always make sure to have replacement cards on board because someone has walked off with the one that was in the seat pocket. Also meant they could do away with the seat pocket, one less place to sort out on the 25 minute turn round.

Back to the Pin/Key

Depending on which emergency exit was affected, I seem to recall that in some cases, the slides have to be armed if there are passengers in the cabin while refuelling is being done, and disarmed to make sure that the slide doesn't fire if the door is opened by an external operative for things like catering, there's enough power in a slide to knock them off the truck platform if the chute fires unexpectedly

ProfessorPlum

Tenger wrote: »

disarmed on stand after arrival, usually armed by cabin crew before departure. Pin is there to prevent accidental arming.
Standard SOP's would be that aircraft cannot depart without it,

The aircraft MEL would be the usual place to look for information as to what to do in this kind of situation. It would seem unreasonable to me that the aircraft wouldn't be able to depart because the pin is missing - given that it could depart say if the slide was inoperative (with certain restrictions - the door in that case would be considered inoperative). The airline may have a more restrictive policy than that required by the manufacturer - that would be detailed in the MEL (minimum equipment list).

L1011

It's interesting how we get air incidents involving non residents tried within days - yet there was a case today up in Belfast for a diversion in June!

Amirani

deandean wrote: »

I think story this would have never made the news but for the very attractive perpetrator....

Each to their own I guess...

jd

deandean wrote: »

I think story this would have never made the news but for the very attractive perpetrator....

She wasn't even the perpetrator - it was her partner. No photographs of him!

Markuslevska, of Pishonovska Street, Odessa had "little or no idea what happened", and had been also quite intoxicated.

Bussywussy

Irish Steve wrote: »

Back to the Pin/Key

Depending on which emergency exit was affected, I seem to recall that in some cases, the slides have to be armed if there are passengers in the cabin while refuelling is being done, and disarmed to make sure that the slide doesn't fire if the door is opened by an external operative for things like catering, there's enough power in a slide to knock them off the truck platform if the chute fires unexpectedly

The Airbus slidles can't be blown from the outside if armed,lifting the handle disarms the mechanism,the Boeing's on the other hand can blow,737 anyway.
Some craft carry spare door pins in the cockpit.

Seatbelt is easy to remove,it'll just clip off by pressing a small lever.

A Primal Nut

I'm sure they have a spare