cabin doors "armed"?

Question

when flying in an aircraft, i have often heard the pilots announce something to the effect , "crew , cabin doors armed ...."
what does that mean ?

Answer 1

"ARMED" means the inflatable slide is armed, so it will deploy when the door is opened.

Answer 2

Some people are confused by "automatic" and "manual". It has nothing to do with how the doors open. They do not open automatically in the event of a crash. In fact, that could be dangerous because of the risk of letting fuel or engine fire in (if you're on land), or water (if you've crashed at sea). You can open the cabin doors any time by pulling the levers. The automatic/manual command is about how the emergency escape slide is put into service. When doors are in "automatic" the escape slide will deploy a soon as the door is open. This is very handy if the aeroplane makes an unscheduled uncontrolled landing. As soon as the crew (or a passenger) opens a door then the slide associated with it will immediately inflate and extend. So passengers and crew just have to slide down it to safety. This is why the "Doors to Automatic" command is given as soon as the aeroplane leaves its stand. When the doors are on "manual" the escape slide has to be activated by a crew member pulling a a special lever or switch. This prevents the slide from being inadvertently extended when the aeroplane is at its parking stand. That could be dangerous as well as inconvenient. By "the most dangerous point" I assume that you mean the landing phase of the flight. It is normal for the doors to be set to manual just after touchdown. While the aeroplane is actually on its "short finals" (which is the most hazardous bit) all the crew will be strapped into their seats the same as the passengers - so they can't do anything to the doors at that stage. Sometimes it is done when the flight is at "long finals" (about 3 miles from touchdown), just before the crew sit down. It's quite safe to do it at that time.

Answer 3

Prior to departure (usually before engine startup) all the aircraft doors are places into the armed (or automatic) mode by the cabin crew. Methods of arming vary from aircraft to aircraft, but ultimately what is involved is the girt bar (a metal bar attached to the door end ) being physically attached to brackets either in or adjacent to the door sill. On older aircraft, such as the Boeing 737, this is done physically by the cabin crew and on most other aircraft it involves pushing a lever on the door itself which arms the door internally.

If a rapid evacuation is required and the doors are opened while "armed", the opening of the door pulls the slide pack out of the bustle (because the girt bar as physically attached to the aircraft floor). Due to the weight of both the door and the slide, great effort is involved in pushing the door open sufficiently to free the slide from the bustle, thus on larger aircraft a "power assist" function kicks in to aid the opening, either electrically or from compressed gas.

Answer 4

It simply means that the flight attendants set all of the doors to the "emergency evacuation mode" either by a lever or a bar attachment (depending on aircraft type). Once "armed" the escape slides will inflate automaticallly whenever the door is opened. Of course, in a normal, safe landing, the doors must be "disarmed" before passengers can depart.

Answer 5

Quite right, dave a. On the Boeing 757/767 the arm/disarm of the slide is a little green lever in the door handle well. If the slide is inadvertently deployed in a jetway, the result could be fatal for the jetway operator. In any event, that slide is a big yellow a*s*s whipping for anyone in its path.

Answer 6

They arm the emergency evacuation slides to deploy automatically when its respective door is opened.

Answer 7

I have not heard this. I will listen closer next time.

Answer 8

they give each door a gun

Answer 9

flight attendants grab your shotguns that what it means