An escape slide aboard an ERJ-170 fell out of its container and deployed when a caterer had difficulty closing the door.
Synopsis
An escape slide aboard an ERJ-170 fell out of its container and deployed when a caterer had difficulty closing the door.
Narrative
While we were taxiing-in a small child vomited. We called for special cleaning of the seat area. The Captain opened all of the cabin doors to air out the plane. The catering truck came to the forward cabin door and I was told that the door needed to be shut in order for them to bring the truck up to the plane. I shut the door and we were catered. I went to the aft plane to see if my flying partner needed help with closing her door to prepare for the catering truck. We closed the aft door and I went back to the main cabin door because we were starting to board passengers. I could see that we were being catered in the aft. The Captain came on the plane and asked if the doors in the back had been closed. I said we closed the one door for the catering truck and I wasn't sure about the other door. He went to the back of the plane to check the doors. When he came back to the forward area; he said the slide had deployed when the caterer tried to close the door. At this point; we needed to deplane. We went to the next plane and proceeded with our flight.
Second reporter narrative
As I started my 'boarding briefing'; the caterers finished and attempted to close the L2 door. However; after 2 attempts to close it; the door was not closing - it sounded and looked like the door was jammed with something; preventing closure. I quickly ended my briefing; walked toward the L2 door when the caterer; not being able to close it; opened the door to see why it was not closing. At that point I saw the slide package fall to the ground. The caterer and I looked at each other in disbelief; he confirmed by pointing; that the slide had fallen. I was not certain if it had deployed or not because it had fallen underneath the aircraft; but it certainly had fallen.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.