Who Said Being A FA Is Not Dangerous

JEP

Does It Really Matter....?
Staff member
NTSB Identification: MIA04LA004
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of U.S. Airways, Inc.,
Accident occurred Thursday, October 16, 2003 in Tampa, FL
Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A-319-112, registration: N764US
Injuries: 1 Serious, 2 Minor, 103 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On October 16, 2003, about 1712 eastern daylight time, an Airbus Industrie A319-112, N764US, registered to and operated by U.S. Airways, Inc., as a Title 14 CFR Part 121 scheduled domestic passenger flight, from Tampa, Florida, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had the flight attendants injured while the aircraft was taxiing for takeoff at Tampa. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The pilot, copilot and 101 passengers were not injured. Two flight attendants received minor injuries and one flight attendant received serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The flight was originating at the time of the accident.

The Director of Flight Safety for U.S. Airways stated that the airplane was being taxied for takeoff at Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida, when the airplane's steering system failed, causing it to veer to the left. He further stated that the captain applied "abrupt" braking to prevent the airplane from departing the taxiway, and all three flight attendants, who were standing at the time, were injured, one of whom received serious injuries.
Index for Oct2003 | Index of months
 
Lots and lots of flight attendants get OJI's which is pretty sad.
 
Doug
Are the FA's required to be seated and belted during taxi, take off and landing phases of flight per FAR 91.107? A few months ago I got chewed out by a FA because as we were being pushed back I undid my seat belt and slid from an isle seat to the window seat, what I found ironic was she was standing in the isle and reading me the riot act, she noticed my aircrew ID and further berrated me for haveing should have know better. I was wrong but she really made too much of it.
 
Well they can only be up during taxi, takeoff and approach in performance of their duties, like they'll stand and do the passenger demo and secure the cabin for takeoff -- but only active crew performing flight duty.
 
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Are the FA's required to be seated and belted during taxi, take off and landing phases of flight per FAR 91.107?

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everytime i fly, the F/A's are usually up and moving around until the plane turns onto the runway... Believe it or not, I've even seen one flight attendant sit down and buckle up just as the engines start reving up and moving down the runway!!

Personally, I think they should have everything taken care of before the jet taxi's out...give them that extra time to make sure that they're also safely secure.
 
I sometimes get pissed when they push us back pretty rough. Our FA is always up standing in the small galley area doing her demonstration, and the tug driver will push us back like it's the Indy 500. It irks me to no end. I'm surprised there aren't more OTJ injuries among the FAs.
 
We F/As must accomplish many safety duties during taxi. If we had the luxury of doing our safety demo and numerous compliance checks before leaving the gate it would take at least 15-20 more minutes to get off the gate. Per the FAA we are only allowed to do safety/security things during taxi, and once the compliance checks are done, we are to be seated in our jumpseats with seatbelts/shoulder harnesses fastened. Many F/As have been personally fined by the FAA for being out of their seat during taxi for non-safety actions, such as setting up the galley, using the lav, etc.
I have been slammed around many times while trying to do the demo, or telling someone for the umpteenth time to put their bags under the seat in front of them, not behind their legs. Sometimes when I was at Eagle and I worked (alone) on the ATRs if I was really fast I could actually get everything done before we started moving, and there was one CA I flew with many times who I actually made it a priority to be seated before he started taxiing. (He was a little..um..taxi-happy, especially on the go-home leg)
Unfortunantly the very nature of our job puts us in many predicaments where it is very easy to get hurt. The worst part of it is that the airlines are not usually very understanding about this fact. When we're hurt on the job we are often made to feel like it was 'our fault' we were hurt. I only had two IODs (injury on duty) in 7 years, and only one of those was I given any crap about.
 
Yeah, what's the deal with you having to go and check to make sure everyone is buckled up when there's turbulence? Uh, hello, if it's so bumpy that people need to be buckled up, isn't it unsafe for you to be up and around making sure they are?
 
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Yeah, what's the deal with you having to go and check to make sure everyone is buckled up when there's turbulence? Uh, hello, if it's so bumpy that people need to be buckled up, isn't it unsafe for you to be up and around making sure they are?

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Whoa! I just got a great idea for a thesis: "Mechanisms of Projected Culpability and their influence on Natural Selection"

The premise is that the threat of lawsuits from plaintiffs who would otherwise be dispatched by attrition are instead preserved by the protective actions of potential defendants, thus throwing evolution a curveball.

Nahhh, its probably already been done...
 
Potential lawsuits
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After years of flying, we all know that if you are in your seat, then you should be buckled up .
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Yeah, what's the deal with you having to go and check to make sure everyone is buckled up when there's turbulence? Uh, hello, if it's so bumpy that people need to be buckled up, isn't it unsafe for you to be up and around making sure they are?


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One word: LAWYERS.
 
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One word: LAWYERS.

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Well, how about this: if someone gets a lawyer to file suit because his client was up and about when the seat belt sign was lit up and an announcement had been made, then the airline says, okay, fine. We'll ask the feds to prosecute your client for interfering with a flight crew. Your client will have fun facing federal felony charges.

Wanna see just how quickly they drop that lawsuit?
 
Airlines get sued constantly because the general public knows that they'll either settle or say, 'Umm, here's a free ticket to Hawaii".

Probably the funniest thing I heard is about an airline (and captain) that was being sued for a landing so rough, that it burst her breast implant.

True story!
 
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Airlines get sued constantly because the general public knows that they'll either settle or say, 'Umm, here's a free ticket to Hawaii".

Probably the funniest thing I heard is about an airline (and captain) that was being sued for a landing so rough, that it burst her breast implant.

True story!

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Yeah, I know. I'm saying that if airlines started treating people who filed frivilous lawsuits half as tough as they treat their employees, you would see the lawsuits disappear just like that.
 
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Yeah, I know. I'm saying that if airlines started treating people who filed frivilous lawsuits half as tough as they treat their employees, you would see the lawsuits disappear just like that.

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Fo'shizzle.
 
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Yeah, what's the deal with you having to go and check to make sure everyone is buckled up when there's turbulence? Uh, hello, if it's so bumpy that people need to be buckled up, isn't it unsafe for you to be up and around making sure they are?

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That's our job. Ensuring the safety and security of our passengers, and making sure everybody has their seatbelt fastened is part of that. It's a part of our job to physically go through the cabin and check that everybody complies because just telling people to do something over the PA isn't good enough. "Well, they never told me to fasten my seatbelt/put my bags under my seat/put my seatback up etc" Just telling somebody something isn't good enough, we have to be 'mommy' and tell them in person also. If people would LISTEN to us we wouldn't have to put ourselves in harm's way!
 
Right on MQA! I wish more pax understood that the FA's duty is to the safety of the pax, not serving beverages. Hey, where's my beer damn it?!
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Just telling somebody something isn't good enough, we have to be 'mommy' and tell them in person also. If people would LISTEN to us we wouldn't have to put ourselves in harm's way!

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Yeah, and I think that's ridiculous. If someone decides not to buckle up after the fasten seat belts sign goes on and the announcement is made, I say he can go and pound sand if he gets hurt. It's absurd that you have to put your neck on the line -- literally -- just because some butthead won't buckle up.
 
The problem isn't that jerk getting hurt (I agree about the 'pounding sand' thing), it's him flying around the cabin and injuring someone else who DID pay attention and buckle up.

Don't you wish we could legislate away stupidity?
Life is tough, it's tougher when you're stupid.
 
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