Employee Trapped in the Alaska Airlines Cargo Hold

Can't have an EICAS message on a plane that doesn't have an EICAS. Yes, the hunk of junk 737NG does not have a central messaging system... just a caution and go on an easter egg hunt to go find what broke. Start of the art, not state of the art!

What a waste of LCD space.
 
What a waste of LCD space.

Agreed.... I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I started studying to check out on that airplane. The 320 series and the 757 behave very similar with the way they respond to control inputs. The 737 is a sloppy version of that.
 
"Fell asleep." You get what you pay for. That being said, it may be time to think about putting some sort of switch in the cargo hold to alert the pilots if someone is stuck inside. Perhaps an O2 mask and a heavy coat, and when the O2 is started an EICAS message appears.

I don't see how those things would've changed the outcome. It's pressurized and temp controlled. How the heck would dogs survive?
 
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I was a ramper at Alaska Airlines a long time ago. I could see that happening.

So the guy laying down, stacking the bags gets the last bag from the conveyor belt and then stacks it.....then instead of totaling the count and crawling out this guy was just like "eh, F it. Siesta time!" That's what I picture at least. How the heck would this happen from your perspective?
 
Inbound flight has bags/cargo in both pits. Outbound load only uses he aft pit. After emptying the front, ramper in the forward pit decides to wait in the plane in case anything gets loaded there and falls asleep waiting on the bag runner. At departure time, ramp lead doesn't realize the guy up front never got out and doesn't do a bin inspection or secure the cargo nets before closing the door and as such no one ever looks to see if anything or anyone is left up front.
 
I don't see how those things would've changed the outcome. It's pressurized and temp controlled. How the heck would dogs survive?

In this case the outcome wouldn't change but I was of the assumption that most rear holds were not conditioned/pressurized. Either way, if it is conditioned/pressurized then perhaps just a button or something that can be pressed to alert the crew would be a good idea rather than hoping your desperate whacks on the bin ceiling will be loud enough to be heard and then understood.
 
In this case the outcome wouldn't change but I was of the assumption that most rear holds were not conditioned/pressurized. Either way, if it is conditioned/pressurized then perhaps just a button or something that can be pressed to alert the crew would be a good idea rather than hoping your desperate whacks on the bin ceiling will be loud enough to be heard and then understood.

Well if just one person in this chain did their job(s), this wouldn't have happened, and a "button" to alert the crew wouldn't be an idea to be installed.

Also, the ground crew has a call button on the outside access panels to alert the crew.
 
In this case the outcome wouldn't change but I was of the assumption that most rear holds were not conditioned/pressurized. Either way, if it is conditioned/pressurized then perhaps just a button or something that can be pressed to alert the crew would be a good idea rather than hoping your desperate whacks on the bin ceiling will be loud enough to be heard and then understood.

I don't want to live in a world where we need to invent buttons for idiots when they do idiotic things. He should've invested $1.75 on a cup of coffee instead of requiring ten years of research and FAA shenanigans to install a button to prevent him from taking a detour.
 
"Fell asleep." You get what you pay for. That being said, it may be time to think about putting some sort of switch in the cargo hold to alert the pilots if someone is stuck inside. Perhaps an O2 mask and a heavy coat, and when the O2 is started an EICAS message appears.

I work with plenty of guys that make twice as much as an RJ FO who take a nap every day in the taper of a 321. I honestly don't think it's the pay, but rather the job.
 
I don't see how those things would've changed the outcome. It's pressurized and temp controlled. How the heck would dogs survive?

I worked there in 1999. At the time you were assigned to crew which serviced one or two gates. Sometimes you would go for hours between flights. People would disperse to places unknown until there scheduled flight. I know a guy who fell asleep in a baggage cart. You could easily fall asleep in a hold. Say the airplane is a light load, only load one hold close the other. Guy wakes up after things are in motion...
 
Someone closed the door on a FWD baggage compartment of a 727 with me inside once, it was a reasonable action considering the fact that I wanted to UNDO the supervisor at the time, he ate my dinner in the middle of a 12hr shift. I still like the guy that closed the door and I still want to get my hands on the • that ate my carne asada burrito plate.
 
I worked there in 1999. At the time you were assigned to crew which serviced one or two gates. Sometimes you would go for hours between flights. People would disperse to places unknown until there scheduled flight. I know a guy who fell asleep in a baggage cart. You could easily fall asleep in a hold. Say the airplane is a light load, only load one hold close the other. Guy wakes up after things are in motion...
But don't you practically have to stand inside the thing in order to close it? I don't see how someone closes it without seeing the guy there. Maybe they lay deeper than I've seen or maybe it's plane specific.
 
What if the guy banging on the floor had been thought to be a terrorist about to bring down the plane? And if the pilot had been an FFDO? And he perceived a threat to the aircraft and began shooting through the floorboard in order to terminate the threat.

:D
 
What if the guy banging on the floor had been thought to be a terrorist about to bring down the plane? And if the pilot had been an FFDO? And he perceived a threat to the aircraft and began shooting through the floorboard in order to terminate the threat.

:D
Then it would have been another sad case of an "officer" shooting an unarmed man.

Too soon?
 
"Fell asleep." You get what you pay for. That being said, it may be time to think about putting some sort of switch in the cargo hold to alert the pilots if someone is stuck inside. Perhaps an O2 mask and a heavy coat, and when the O2 is started an EICAS message appears.
Well, heck, put several jump seats down there and everyone could get to work on time.;)
 
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