Narrative:

Just after we parked at gate in den; the lead flight attendant called us and advised us the seat belt sign was still on; I looked up and saw the switch was in auto and not off and corrected it. After running our checklist I emerged from the cockpit and heard a hissing sound that I recognized from our evacuate/evacuation simulator; the sound of a slide deploying. I peered around the corner of my doorway and saw door 1R open; with the red tape still across the viewport and the slide pack flopped out onto the deck of a catering truck. The slide luckily had not inflated. I immediately told the caterer; who had stepped into the cabin over the slide into the galley and the flight attendants in the area; to get away from the area in case the slide was still able to inflate. On debriefing; it turned out the caterer had opened the door without getting the ok; with the red tape still across the viewport; indicating the door was still armed.when the mechanics arrived and secured the slide; we discussed how the door; when opened from outside; is supposed to disarm. It had not. Also; that the position of the slide as it landed; it should have deployed and inflated; it also had not. On further investigation; the mechanic found that the slide had a date on it of 1994. I don't know what the required inspection intervals for the slides are; but 21 years seems excessive. Today; we were in fact very lucky these failures occurred.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A flight crew on arrival at the gate noted that a caterer opened up an armed door with the red tape still across the viewport and the slide pack flopped out onto the deck of a catering truck. The slide did not inflate. Mechanics were called. The slide was long overdue for inspection.

Narrative: Just after we parked at gate in DEN; the lead flight attendant called us and advised us the seat belt sign was still on; I looked up and saw the switch was in auto and not off and corrected it. After running our checklist I emerged from the cockpit and heard a hissing sound that I recognized from our EVAC simulator; the sound of a slide deploying. I peered around the corner of my doorway and saw door 1R open; with the red tape still across the viewport and the slide pack flopped out onto the deck of a catering truck. The slide luckily had not inflated. I immediately told the caterer; who had stepped into the cabin over the slide into the galley and the flight attendants in the area; to get away from the area in case the slide was still able to inflate. On debriefing; it turned out the caterer had opened the door without getting the ok; with the red tape still across the viewport; indicating the door was still armed.When the mechanics arrived and secured the slide; we discussed how the door; when opened from outside; is supposed to disarm. It had not. Also; that the position of the slide as it landed; it should have deployed and inflated; it also had not. On further investigation; the mechanic found that the slide had a date on it of 1994. I don't know what the required inspection intervals for the slides are; but 21 years seems excessive. Today; we were in fact very lucky these failures occurred.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.