Aircraft emergency slide question

[jmowreader]

We've all seen movies where the plane lands at an airport, is safe to stay on until airstairs arrive or even to drive to a gate, but the crew deploys emergency slides anyway. ("Snakes on a Plane" and "Airport 1975" come to mind quickly.)

And then we have incidents like the one on Tuesday, where an American Airlines plane and a Southwest Air plane collided on the tarmac at LaGuardia. The Southwest plane lost a winglet. They unloaded the Southwest plane via airstairs and the American plane at its assigned gate.

So...what are the actual rules on emergency slide use?

[Major Nikon]

1. It's going to be up to the particular airline

The rules for air carriers are contained in the Federal Aviation Regulations part 121.291 which require the carrier to demonstrate its emergency evacuation procedures.

http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=8086c400076688c3cb9026b3edaadc40&node=se14.3.121_1291&rgn=div8

There are risks to passengers when using the slides, so they are only going to use them when immediate egress is required or exit via stairs is not possible or practical.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. They don't deploy the slides unless there's something happening on the airplane

that requires immediate evacuation, like a fire. The captain makes the decision and communicates it to the flight attendants, who open the doors, activate the slides and guide the passengers out. Some slides deploy and automatically inflate when a door is opened before being disarmed (which is why you might see the FAs doing something to the doors before letting people out at a gate - they have to disarm the doors so the slides don't inflate). Somebody always gets hurt evacuating on a slide, so they don't like to do it unless it's absolutely necessary. Under controlled conditions (i.e., training), the slides are fun, but you go really, really fast and if there isn't a mat at the bottom (and there won't be one during a real evacuation) and you can't get to your feet, you will get hurt.

[Angleae]

3. It's up to the aircrew.

If they think there's an emergency and decide to evac the passengers it happens. Each airline probably has it's own directives but ultimately it's up to the plane captain.

Of course, there's always that rare exception where someone forgot to disarm the slide and opens the door or a passenger who decides to get off the plane right then and there.