B737-800
Flight Attendant Current
Human-Machine Interface; Distraction; Fatigue
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
On day four of day six of flying; tired and distracted I failed to properly disarm the main cabin exit door prior to crosschecking.
On day four of day six of flying; I failed to properly disarm the forward cabin entry door and did not properly cross-check. As I opened the door; I could tell something was wrong; as it felt like it had resistance. I stopped; looked down and saw the casing of the slide was separated from the door approximately 1-2 inches. I immediately told the operations agent to step back and called the Captain. The Captain and myself looked and saw the door was still armed. The Captain called maintenance. Maintenance removed the casing; removed the slide and placed the slide outside. The passengers deplaned safely. I had just finished a 3-day trip prior to this trip. I have not been flying a lot due to my mother being very ill and the passing of my mother-in-law. My mother was just tested for corona virus and thankfully the test just came back negative. She is confined to her room in a nursing home and I am not allowed to see her as of last week. I am allowed to bring her items and drop them off at the front door. The night prior to this trip; I learned that the virus can live on surfaces. I did not sanitize the items I dropped off for her and was concerned I may have exposed her since I just flew a 3-day trip and did not sanitize everything from my trip properly. I picked up both of these trips honestly out of fear of not having trips (earning income) in the future due to possible airline grounding. My mind was very distracted and I was exhausted.This is not an excuse; as I take full responsibility. I am beyond thankful the slide did not deploy. This could have been life altering for the operations officer; my fellow FA's and myself. Cross-checking is imperative; as is staying focused and avoiding any distractions; physical and emotional. Completely focus 100% attention to the cross-check procedure. If this happened 6 months ago; I would say do not fly when exhausted and over-stressed. But unfortunately; due to the corona virus this is not realistic.
B737-800 Flight Attendants reported they failed to properly disarm doors prior to cross checking.