Emergency Evacuation Equipment Malfunction

The overall reliability of inflatable escape slides seems inadequate. Recall a recent problem with the potential failure of escape slides on the Airbus A300-600 to deploy in an emergency (see ASW, May 10, May 3 entry). And, in its report of a 1998 emergency landing of a Boeing B767 at Heathrow due to electrical arcing, the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) noted the failure of overwing escape slides to deploy (see ASW, May 17, for link to this AAIB report).

Now comes the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) with the failure of the tailcone slide on an MD-80 to inflate after deploying. Improperly rigged cable assemblies can foul the deployment sequence, the NTSB said in its May 10 letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The board called on the FAA to "expeditiously" issue an airworthiness directive (AD) requiring operators to comply with the slide manufacturer's service bulletin "on an accelerated schedule and not wait for the slides' next regularly scheduled maintenance." The full text of the NTSB letter may be viewed at http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2004/A04_42_43.pdf