A B757's 1L door slide did not fully release because the door handle was between arm and disarm so t...

Narrative:

This was a charter flight. The aircraft was parked in the north lot. Airstairs were brought to the aircraft door at 1L. It appeared the person trying to open the door was having difficulty opening the door. I cracked the door. He still appeared to be having difficulty; so I gave the door a push. The person on the other side was still having difficulty opening the door. I soon saw why. The side of the slide pan was caught on the side of the aircraft door. As the person on the outside continued to pull the door open the slide pan opened and the slide fell out; but did not deploy. A mechanic arrived to detach the slide from the door. He said the door was armed. The arming mechanism was stuck between arm and disarm and we were unable to put it in either the arm or the disarm position. I told him that I disarmed the door. After I disarmed it; I made the all call to disarm cross check and stand by for all call. As I made the all call I first made the announcement; '1L and 1R disarmed and cross checked.' as I made the announcement I double checked each door. Then flight attendants at doors two and four confirmed their doors were disarmed and cross checked. This is my first charter flight and no one has made it clear who opens doors at what station. There should be some clarity here. While we were at this airport; those who met the flight waited to open the door. Then I was told (can't remember if it was the customer service representative or the gsc) that I had to open the door. The gsc and the customer service coordinator were both in the galley when the incident occurred. Both said they saw me disarm the door. This past week while on a B757 after the passengers deplaned; a mechanic came to door 2L with a screwdriver and he began pushing in the rubber tubing surrounding the door. Curious; I asked why he was doing that. He said he likes to double check. I asked if the slide pan could get caught on the door. He reluctantly said; 'it could.' my guess is this is an issue that has not occurred for the first time. I hope there will be a check on B757's to make sure this does not happen again in the future. It is possible the next time a slide may in fact deploy.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757's 1L door slide did not fully release because the door handle was between ARM and DISARM so that the slide fell out; but did not inflate when the door was finally opened.

Narrative: This was a charter flight. The aircraft was parked in the north lot. Airstairs were brought to the aircraft door at 1L. It appeared the person trying to open the door was having difficulty opening the door. I cracked the door. He still appeared to be having difficulty; so I gave the door a push. The person on the other side was still having difficulty opening the door. I soon saw why. The side of the slide pan was caught on the side of the aircraft door. As the person on the outside continued to pull the door open the slide pan opened and the slide fell out; but did not deploy. A Mechanic arrived to detach the slide from the door. He said the door was armed. The arming mechanism was stuck between arm and disarm and we were unable to put it in either the arm or the disarm position. I told him that I disarmed the door. After I disarmed it; I made the all call to disarm cross check and stand by for all call. As I made the all call I first made the announcement; '1L and 1R disarmed and cross checked.' As I made the announcement I double checked each door. Then flight attendants at doors two and four confirmed their doors were disarmed and cross checked. This is my first charter flight and no one has made it clear who opens doors at what station. There should be some clarity here. While we were at this airport; those who met the flight waited to open the door. Then I was told (can't remember if it was the Customer Service Representative or the GSC) that I had to open the door. The GSC and the Customer Service Coordinator were both in the galley when the incident occurred. Both said they saw me disarm the door. This past week while on a B757 after the passengers deplaned; a Mechanic came to door 2L with a screwdriver and he began pushing in the rubber tubing surrounding the door. Curious; I asked why he was doing that. He said he likes to double check. I asked if the slide pan could get caught on the door. He reluctantly said; 'It could.' My guess is this is an issue that has not occurred for the first time. I hope there will be a check on B757's to make sure this does not happen again in the future. It is possible the next time a slide may in fact deploy.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.

Attributes
ACN	969496
Time
Date	201109
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Exterior Pax/Crew Door
Person 1
Function	Flight Attendant In Charge
Qualification	Flight Attendant Current
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

A B757's 1L door slide did not fully release because the door handle was between arm and disarm so that the slide fell out; but did not inflate when the door was finally opened.