B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Procedure
In the last several months I have noticed during my flights that the evacuation slides have been improperly armed. In most of these cases when looking at the slide and girt bar area you can see the RED warning which states 'THIS SIDE DOWN'. In these cases not only is the manual inflation handle inaccessible but ultimately the door may be impossible to open completely and/or the slide may not deploy/operate properly during an emergency evacuation. I have firsthand knowledge of this because I learned this during an evacuation training event. Two doors were armed improperly in this manner and it was impossible to open the door because as the door opens it tries to pull the skirt of the slide under the girt bar and the skirt gets pinched between the bar and the floor and prohibits movement of the door outward to full open. I was wondering why [I have seen] so many slides improperly armed this way and recently attended [additional training] and noticed the training devices are not like the actual slide packs we have on the airplane. Also the video for slide arming and disarming we have does not address this common mistake or misunderstanding. The video does allude to the manual inflation handle being accessible but I believe the video should stress the fact that the slide skirt has to be above or outboard of the girt bar and the warning 'THIS SIDE DOWN' not visible. The best way to do this is to roll or rotate the bar under the skirt and then place it in the arming brackets. This is potentially a very dangerous situation as one knows all exits must be available. I'd say about half the times I go back for a physiological break I see the slides improperly armed this way. The slides are easy to arm improperly because over time the improper fold or placement of the skirt material is like a piece of paper that's been already folded a certain way--it naturally is easier to fold in the way it's been already folded/placed (improperly). All of the FAs (Flight Attendants) I've discussed this with are very eager to get this corrected via their training and mentioned the training devices at other locations are also not representative. Some FAs are unaware of the hazard even when I point out the RED 'THIS SIDE DOWN'.
B737 First Officer reported observing the incorrect arming of evacuation slides and that this common mistake has not been addressed in training.