Its Going to fall over

[CJEMNMAC]

If I had someone arguing the point and persisting with questions I would give the same response.

Presumably the FA was told to not allow passengers off for a reason. Does it even matter why ?

 

[Deleted member]

I read the OP again, and if the transcript of the conversation is accurate then the FA was being difficult, a simple safety explanation would probably have sufficed. But it seems that more than one explanation was provided, and not with a great deal of civility. However as I wasn't there, don't know the OP or the FA involved, I'm not ready to take sides

 

[Must...Fly!]

I read the OP again, and of the transcript of the conversation is accurate then the FA was being difficult, a simple safety explanation would probably have sufficed. But it seems that more than one explanation was provided, and not with a great deal of civility. However as I wasn't there, don't know the OP or the FA involved, I'm not ready to take sides

Cabin crew probably don't get why either...just enforce it, otherwise...

 

[davidj]

if we alighted there was a risk the plane could tilt.

Wow I wonder what they are being told at CS school.

 

[Justchecking]

I never understand the reason why people have to push the envelop constantly. Is it really that hard to wait the 30secs or so to disembark? It's not as if getting off the plane that 30 secs earlier is going to make a vast difference to your life. Yes, yes we are all incredibly important/busy/f-ing speshul. Now can we please get over ourselves and just follow directions instead of needing to make an argument out of it.

I'd hate to be on a plane with these types of people during an emergency. But why do I have to sit and slide? Can't I go off the back? Wait I need to get my laptop, it's going to be vitally important sitting in a raft in the middle of the ocean. I'm goign to inflate my lifejacket now because I know what I'm doing.....

 

[farstar]

OK so why don't QANTAS planes tip over? They may do sometimes but I have not seen it. Also I have had Virgin planes before were they have only use the front stairs.

 

[Must...Fly!]

It's got as much to do with what happens below decks (i.e. baggage) as what happens above. It's all done so that if everyone follows the rule, nothing bad happens. But with lots of padding.

 

[Austman]

If they had held back the business class pax too, I doubt there would have been an issue.

But after letting some pax off and then blocking other pax right behind them when the air-bridge is right there?

I can understand that a logical explanation might be in order.

 

[737NG]

This is what happens when a 737 is incorrectly unloaded. When the forward door is only being used for disembarkation, the rear cargo hold must be emptied prior to the forward hold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLWxD0gY__A

 

[Lemon_Party]

Nice video!

I had a similar, albeit perfectly civil, situation a few years back somewhere like ROK and was a little incredulous when told we had to wait until a certain number of pax had alighted via rear stairs. But the rear of the plane has a decent cantilever past the gears and the FA assured me it was a potential tipping risk so I learnt something that day...

Fairly straightforward engineering scenario in the end - enough mass past the fulcrum without a counterbalance and off she'll go.

I did always wonder when that craze for a random flash mob started whether a surge to the back of a plane on landing may eventuate in some YouTube video... not seen it yet...

 

[The Flying Brick]

This is what happens when a 737 is incorrectly unloaded. When the forward door is only being used for disembarkation, the rear cargo hold must be emptied prior to the forward hold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLWxD0gY__A

That's pretty dramatic and really makes a lot sense when we see videos like this one

 

[Vic]

There is often a thing under the front door on an air-bridge. I understood that adjusts the bridge height to prevent the door hitting it, if needed.

 

[TheInsider]

There is often a thing under the front door on an air-bridge. I understood that adjusts the bridge height to prevent the door hitting it, if needed.

The thing under the front door on the aero-bridge is a fail-safe. The bridges usually all have an auto height function. So when the plane gets lighter the bridge goes up with it, and the reverse when it gets heavier. If that fails, the safety shoe gets hit by the aircraft door then the bridge will drop quite a considerable amount and put it into like an 'emergency mode'.

 

[MH_fan]

When only the front door is used, passengers will constantly be moving forward, so I guess that helps with the plane not tipping back?

 

[NZflygirl]

This is what happens when a 737 is incorrectly unloaded. When the forward door is only being used for disembarkation, the rear cargo hold must be emptied prior to the forward hold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLWxD0gY__A

Absolutely incredible!

Learned something today from this thread

I guess if I was in the OPs position I would have listened to the answer - then jumped on google to fact check!

 

[OzEire]

When only the front door is used, passengers will constantly be moving forward, so I guess that helps with the plane not tipping back?

Not on most Australian domestic flights. 99% of the time pax will disembark row by row, with the higher rows giving way for those in front to leave first.

So in an airbridge-only full-flight scenario on, say a B738, the pax weight will shift back a row at a time. Especially if the usual number of dithering occurs retrieving HL there might be no pax fwd of the 'currently active' row which may be aft of the main gear.

Someone above mentioned that the GH crew unload rear cargo first to help compensate for this.

But #1 rule is to obey lawful FA orders, beyond that it's just about civility on both sides.