That emergency slides on some Airbus planes may be broken
FRANKFURT – Pumps used to inflate the emergency slides on some of Airbus SE’s biggest aircraft, may be damaged due to improper folding by maintenance crews that caused cracks or leaks in shutoff valves, and might not be working, Europe’s aviation safety regulator warned
Inspections found that some of the pumps or aspirators on the A330 and A340 wide-body models were damaged, with cracks or leaks in shutoff valves caused by the improper folding and packing of the chutes, according to the European Aviation Safety Agency.
“The slide may not perform as required in an emergency-evacuation scenario,” EASA warned in a bulletin. While the planes have multiple slides and exits and are “not considered unsafe,” the number of cases in which damage was discovered means maintenance firms should be alert to the issue, it said.
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It said it did not consider the issue to cause unsafe conditions on the affected aircraft but said it wanted to remind airlines and maintenance crews to follow instructions for folding and packing the emergency slides.
The aspirators, built by United Technologies Corp.’s Goodrich unit, are usually inspected once every three years. Similar instructions were issued to airlines and engineers in 2011 concerning a problem with slides on Airbus’s A320-series narrow-body model.
With additional reports from Reuters and Bloomberg
