Federal Register, Volume 74, Number 12, January 21, 2009, Pages 3395-3962 Page: 3,471
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Federal Register/Vol. 74, No. 12/Wednesday, January 21, 2009 /Proposed Rules
(Exemption No. 9382, Regulatory Docket
No. FAA-2006-25466). Three
additional air carriers have been issued
similar grants of exemption since the
issuance of the original grant.
Current Requirements
During any passenger boarding and
deplaning, the full complement of flight
attendants required by 121.391(a) must
be on board the airplane at all times
(See Memo from John Cassady to
William Brennan, dated May 14, 1985).
However 121.393 permits a reduction
of the number of required flight
attendants when passengers are on
board the airplane with the engines shut
down and at least one floor level exit is
open to provide for the deplaning of
passengers. The formula for determining
the reduction of flight attendants is: Half
the number of flight attendants required
by 121.391(a), rounded down to the
next lower number in the case of a
fraction, but never fewer than one.
General Discussion of the Proposal
During passenger boarding and
deplaning, it may be in the interest of
the traveling public for a flight attendant
to conduct safety-related duties outside
the airplane cabin. However, current
regulations prohibit a flight attendant
from performing these duties if the
flight attendant is one of the flight
attendants required by 121.391(a).
As previously noted, the number of
flight attendants required during
passenger boarding and deplaning has
been discussed numerous times since
1985. Although the FAA consistently
upheld the requirement that all flight
attendants required by 121.391(a) stay
on board the airplane during boarding
and deplaning, changes to regulations
since 1985 have reduced the hazards to
passengers during these phases of
operation. These changes have reduced
risks to passengers by improving
firefighting equipment, increasing the
time available to evacuate an airplane
and improving accessibility to exits.
Examples include:
* Requiring lavatory smoke detectors,
automatic lavatory waste receptacle fire
extinguishers and Halon 1211
extinguishers;
* Improving cabin interior
flammability standards to enhance
survivability by increasing the time
before flashover occurs;
* Improving thermal insulation
standards to reduce the risk of fire in
inaccessible parts of the airplane cabin
and increase the time available for a
passenger evacuation; and
* Improving passenger access to TypeIn addition to the above certification
regulation changes, the FAA has revised
operational regulations since 1985,
which has also reduced the risks to
passengers during boarding and
deplaning. First, prior to 1987, air
carriers were not required to screen
passengers for excess or oversized carry-
on baggage prior to boarding the aircraft.
Current carry-on baggage regulations
require this action, which has reduced
flight attendant workload in the
handling of carry-on baggage during
passenger boarding. Flight attendants no
longer have to stow an unlimited
amount of baggage carried on the
airplane by passengers. Second,
121.585, promulgated in 1990,
requires an air carrier to assign exit seats
to passengers after considering a list of
exit seat selection criteria and the
passenger's ability to perform exit seat
functions. Because the majority of
passengers have been screened to meet
exit seat criteria, these considerations
lead to exit seat passengers being more
likely to initiate "self-help" in the event
of an emergency during passenger
boarding. Third, the changes to FAA
operational regulations have been
complemented since 2001 by improved
Transportation Security Administration
regulations, which have reduced the
risk of a security-related threat during
passenger boarding or deplaning even
further.
All of these changes mitigate the risks
to which passengers are exposed during
boarding and deplaning. As a result, the
FAA now proposes to permit a reduced
required flight attendant crew during
boarding and deplaning.
Limitations Applicable to Passenger
Boarding
The FAA believes it appropriate to
permit one required flight attendant to
conduct safety-related duties either in
the passenger loading bridge connected
to the airplane; or in another nearby
location, such as the bottom of the
boarding stairs. To maintain the current
level of safety, however, the certificate
holder would have to comply with the
following restrictions:
* The flight attendant deplaning the
airplane must remain within 30 feet of
the passenger entry door;
* The flight attendant deplaning the
airplane must be conducting safety-
related duties related to the flight being
boarded. The flight attendant may not
conduct non-safety-related duties such
as personal business; and
* The airplane must be of a type that
requires two or more flight attendants in
accordance with 121.391(a). A
required flight attendant may not leaveIII (typically overwing) emergency exits.
capacity of less than 50, because one
flight attendant must remain on the
airplane at all times.
Typically, during passenger boarding,
the airplane cabin starts empty and
becomes increasingly more populated
by arriving passengers. The increased
number of passengers leads to an
increased number of safety duties inside
the airplane cabin. Examples include:
Scanning passenger carry-on baggage to
ensure compliance with both 121.585
and the air carrier's approved carry-on
baggage program, and verifying
compliance with the approved exit seat
program. The FAA believes permitting
only one flight attendant to deplane
during boarding and limiting the
amount of time he or she is absent from
the airplane cabin (by limiting the type
of duties he or she may perform)
ensures the remaining flight attendant(s)
are able to effectively manage safety
duties inside the airplane. It may be
necessary for the certificate holder to
revise other approved programs, such as
its carry-on baggage program or exit seat
program, to ensure all required duties
are accomplished by the remaining
flight attendant(s). Also, if the airplane
requires only one flight attendant in
accordance with 121.391(a), the FAA
is not permitting that flight attendant to
deplane. This ensures no passengers are
left unattended on board the airplane.
When the ATA petitioned for
rulemaking in 2003, it proposed that a
flight attendant could use the telephone
installed on the passenger loading
bridge to contact and coordinate with
other airline personnel, or local law
enforcement, to assist with Federal
regulation compliance and to identify
security issues or medical emergencies.
The FAA agrees that a flight attendant
be permitted to use the telephone
installed on the passenger loading
bridge to perform these functions, but is
also proposing to permit a flight
attendant to deplane during boarding to
conduct other safety-related duties,
provided he or she remains within 30
feet of the airplane's passenger entry
door. This would allow a flight
attendant to use the telephone installed
on the passenger loading bridge and to
conduct other duties, such as removing
excess or oversized carry-on baggage
from the airplane and placing it on the
passenger loading bridge or adjacent to
the bottom of the boarding stairs. It
would also permit a flight attendant to
coordinate with other airline personnel
in cases where a telephone is not
installed on the passenger loading
bridge or a passenger loading bridge is
not used for boarding. A flight attendant
deplaning during passenger boardingshould not be carrying passenger carry-
3471
an airplane with a passenger seating
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United States. Office of the Federal Register. Federal Register, Volume 74, Number 12, January 21, 2009, Pages 3395-3962, periodical, January 21, 2009; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc132874/m1/86/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.