Jet bridges
 

Can anyone tell me why at some airports with Jetbridges designed for RJ's we are still using the extensions that leave our passengers open to the wind and rain.
Example. This past week coming out of I think rockford (I can't remember)this thunderstorm was coming through while we were loading. The plane had been there overnight and I'm not sure when it had been opened and set up to the jet bridge with the little extension. The jet bridge was an RJ one with the extending section and the little yellow gates which I've seen used at other stations without the rolling extension which was used this morning. There was a gap between the overhead cover and the top of the plane which was allowing rain to fall into the jetbridge, into the plane, and then also collecting rain on the extension and funneling it into the plane. It was soaked in the plane. And then when the passengers were loading they had to walk through this curtain of rain to get into the wet plane. The whole thing was really just crappy for the pax. Why do we put them through that?

http://www.sovereign-publications.com/jetway.htm

Why aren't they being used like designed?

It takes dollar bills and and someone to take the time besides pilots to give a damn

I wonder the same thing. There are a handful of old jetways that can't get low enough...otherwise, the ERJ is designed to fit a standard jetway with no extension. I wonder since some stations serve CRJ's (which needs an adapter) and ERJ's with the same jetway so they don't bother removing the adapter when we come into town. You're right, it defeats the purpose of the ERJ's "Jetway door" entirely.

Crj's don't always need an adapter. There are rj specific Jetbridges that don't need an adapter. It's just the agents being lazy and not using the jet bridge like it was designed. Or i've been told that they don't want to risk damaging the aircraft by pulling the bridge up all the way.

I am a gate agent at BNA for American Eagle. We service both CRJs and ERJs. We have been told in our training that the skin on the CRJs and ERJs is too thin to actually touch the aircraft with the bridge or the moving weather canopy. Therefore it is American Eagle's policy to use the adapter.

Our jetbridges are old American bridges that have the auto level feature which we are also not allowed to use because it requires that an extesion arm touches the aircraft to judge when to move the bridge up and down.

Bullchips on that...that's just a ridiculous, non-Pilot, and dumb thing for a training department to say - our RJ's are plenty strong, and I have personally pulled up Jetbridges to ERJ's with the nifty auto-leveler feature even. Haven't busted up a bird yet!

skin not thick enough....give me a freaking break.

I've asked this same question at SkyWest... we use those dumb bridge adapters which lets all the wind/snow/rain in even at jet bridges with the RJ adapter built right in. It seems like the airline and the stations don't like training how to use it because of the possibility of damaging the airplane (such as the pitot tubes/stairs) with the jet bridge or canopy.

I'm not too sure how much truth there is to that. We use it at Omaha on the United side, and it works really well. I'm waiting for someone to slip and fall in a slippery jetway and sue... then I'm sure we'll be using them as much as possible. I nearly ate it in a slippery jetway in Columbus the other morning.

i think the biggest problem with that is most/all the CRJs and a lot of the ERJs i see have airstairs, which makes things even harder as the bridge has to stop short, keeping the canopy clear.

however, we seem to have no problem with that on the 170s

Either way, you guys in BNA do a heck of a job!

While airstairs make it hard for the old jet bridges, there are a lot that I've seen that have the adjustable floor. A section of the floor rolls back and forth so that the jet bridge is placed near the airplane and then that part is extended to line up with the top step. Work really well! It's nowhere near the pitot tubes or anything that might get damaged. These are the ones that it frustrates me to see using the adapter. The adapter was made for just that, to adapt the old jet bridges to the RJ's. The new ones shouldn't use the adapter. They are designed to protect the pax from weather and such.

Like LITTLEa905 said, I'm surprised no one (or no one that United is releasing info on) has fallen from the airstairs and sued because they don't use the jet bridge (BNA).

ever been to YUL. There system is neat. You use the stairs from the plane to the ground. But the whole time you are covered by this blow up thing. Nice and warm and dry.

Not your fault, but you were were mis-informed. CRJ's were designed for FL410 which requires 8 psid to maintain a reasonably pressured cabin. This is the same psid as most larger airliners, so the structure and skin need to be similarly strong.

The RJ's do have a variety of sensors located forward of the door which could be (and have been) damaged by jet bridges, so care is required. The sensors on the larger planes are further forward and out of the way.

laziness by the stations, lack of caring by the higher ups, etc.

The jet bridges in Montreal are specifically made for RJs and they fit great and work great.

It can be done. But someone has to want to.

We need those in Milwaukee!

Its rare for us to get a bridge. Only at some outstations. I hate dragging my stuff up the stairs. Seems like some airlines ALWAYS have jetbridges for the RJ's. Eagle at DFW and ORD. ExpressJet at IAH. While my airline claims fame to the "RJ Terminal" made specifically for RJ's yet not a single bridge to the aircraft. I'd love to have even those mini bridges with a ramp and awnings to the a/c.