Flight attendants have ‘nightmares’ about making deadly mistake on planes

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Flight attendants say they have had 'nightmares' about making a mistake that could be deadly.

Former cabin crew member Jay Roberts has revealed that while the emergency slides are there as a safety measure, they can be a real source of stress for airline workers. Specifically, accidentally activating them – just like a British Airways worker did earlier this year.

The former flight attendant, who's behind the Fly Guy's Cabin Crew Lounge network, said that these mishaps can happen and that "the mistake poses a real danger to safety". If nobody is hurt, it can also be very, very embarrassing.

READ MORE: 'I tested out the cabin bag that works for Ryanair and EasyJet's luggage rules'

He told MailOnline: "Even with several checks and balances involving more than one person to ensure the slides don't open accidentally, mishaps still happen, and at larger airlines, they happen several times a year and cost airlines tens of thousands to repack. In addition to being costly and causing great embarrassment among colleagues, being known as that crew who "blew a slide", the mistake poses a real danger to safety."

While there are plenty of procedures in place to avoid the situation, Jay admitted that it can still happen.

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He said: "'In my experience, inadvertent slide deployment was often caused by crew fatigue. For example, at my former airline, we operated many long night flights, and it was the airline's procedure that all doors were to be opened by the crew when they were on board. Generally, the slide deployments happened after these night flights."

Of course the emergency slide is only for – as the name suggests – pretty extreme situations. Flight attendants are trained to deal with high-stress scenarios, and know the safety measures needed in the very unlikely event something goes wrong.

However one process that often baffles passengers is the brace position. The brace position requires you to bend down in your seat with your head over your knees. Your hands go on either side of your head and your elbows point to the floor – you’re supposed to assume the position when a plane is going to crash.

There are various myths around why passengers are told to take this stance, but the 'world's most experienced' pilot has debunked the idea that the position is meant to kill passengers quickly during a crash or preserve dental records when you die so you can be identified.

Nick Eades previously told LadBible: "What you're trying to do is to stop people breaking their necks in a big impact. You're just trying to get the body into a position that's going to suffer least damage. It's like whiplash. You're trying to avoid that sudden movement of the head, which can result in serious injury, if not death."

Other airline staff have also revealed crew's subtle habit that could mean the pilot's worried about the plane, especially when it comes to the engines.

• Flight secrets

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