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Air carrier captain reported during pre-flight a passenger erected a personal tent bubble after sitting in the cabin area. Captain described the safety implications of having a tent over your body in an emergency situation.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1756534 |
| Time | |
| Date | 202008 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Commercial Fixed Wing |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Parked |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown |
Narrative:
During boarding; a passenger erected a personal tent bubble and placed it completely over her upper body after taking her seat. The flight attendant and I agreed that the tent must be stowed during takeoff and landing and the passenger reluctantly complied. She then deployed her tent after takeoff and sat in her seat during cruise totally enclosed; then stowed her tent during descent for landing. Upon review of available company procedures and guidance; I could not find anything that would prohibit the use of a personal tent during cruise.this brings up a couple of safety concerns: the tent could impede the passenger's ability to reach for the overhead oxygen mask during a slow or rapid decompression event. If in that scenario; if the tent is thrown off the passenger to reach the oxygen mask; the tent could impede adjacent passengers from reaching their oxygen masks. The tent will also block the passenger sitting next to the tent from access to the lavatory.establish overarching guidance prohibiting passengers from erecting a temporary structure (i.e. Tent bubble) in the cabin.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Air carrier Captain reported during pre-flight a passenger erected a personal tent bubble after sitting in the cabin area. Captain described the safety implications of having a tent over your body in an emergency situation.
Narrative: During boarding; a passenger erected a personal tent bubble and placed it completely over her upper body after taking her seat. The Flight Attendant and I agreed that the tent must be stowed during takeoff and landing and the passenger reluctantly complied. She then deployed her tent after takeoff and sat in her seat during cruise totally enclosed; then stowed her tent during descent for landing. Upon review of available Company procedures and guidance; I could not find anything that would prohibit the use of a personal tent during cruise.This brings up a couple of Safety concerns: The tent could impede the passenger's ability to reach for the overhead oxygen mask during a slow or rapid decompression event. If in that scenario; if the tent is thrown off the passenger to reach the oxygen mask; the tent could impede adjacent passengers from reaching their oxygen masks. The tent will also block the passenger sitting next to the tent from access to the lavatory.Establish overarching guidance prohibiting passengers from erecting a temporary structure (i.e. tent bubble) in the cabin.
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.