2026年5月15日 / 美国东部时间早上6:00 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
作者：克里斯·范·克利夫
两名参议院民主党人要求联邦航空管理局（FAA）局长布莱恩·贝德福德就两项事宜给出解释：一是已推迟近两年的飞机撤离测试，二是该机构批准航空公司在部分远程宽体航班上减少客舱乘务员配员的决定。他们担忧的是，一旦发生紧急撤离，可能会出现应急出口数量多于乘务员的情况。
“如果没有经过认证的客舱乘务员值守每一个双通道平面出口，乘客在最需要训练有素、经验丰富且资质合格的乘务员提供熟练、果断的引导和快速行动时，可能会陷入危险境地，”伊利诺伊州参议员塔米·达克沃斯和威斯康星州参议员塔米·鲍德温在一封由CBS新闻独家获得的信中写道。“此外，若在严重事故中一名乘务员失去行动能力，缩减配员会进一步增加风险。”
参议员们表示，美国航空、达美航空和联合航空均已获得FAA批准，可按照“每50名乘客配备一名乘务员”的规定，减少部分机型的乘务员配员数量。
“……这违反了撤离认证的初衷，造成了安全方面的危险缺口，”达克沃斯和鲍德温写道。“降低最低配员标准意味着一名乘务员要独自负责操作两个间距可达19英尺的舱门。这意味着一名乘务员可能需要负责疏导两个通道及中间区域座位上的数百名乘客撤离。”
去年，FAA批准美国航空新推出的787-9P机型客舱配置最低只需7名乘务员，尽管该机型设有8个应急出口。该航空公司表示，根据飞行距离，其实际仍会为该机型航班配备8至10名乘务员，但最低配员标准允许航空公司在飞行途中或机上出现机组人员突发疾病等情况时，仍能正常运行航班。
“FAA的安全规定是根据飞机载客量制定乘务员配员要求的。6月25日，FAA见证了美国航空使用787-9P飞机在7名乘务员的情况下成功完成撤离安全演示。美国航空的787-9P机型载客量低于其其他787机型，后者需要8名乘务员，”FAA在当时的一份声明中表示。
航空公司机队的每一种客舱配置机型都必须成功通过FAA的撤离演示测试，以确定最低配员要求。这些要求可能会根据客舱配置和飞行时长有所不同。航空公司也可以选择安排高于最低标准的额外客舱机组人员。
“如今，没有任何规定阻止航空公司在宽体飞机上安排一名乘务员值守两个舱门出口。过往事故表明，撤离过程中若舱门无人值守，会引发混乱，导致无法使用的舱门被打开，造成人员受伤，并增加烟雾和有毒气体进入客舱的风险，”代表包括联合航空在内的20家航空公司5.5万名客舱乘务员的乘务员协会主席萨拉·纳尔逊说道。“我们工会呼吁国会和FAA要求宽体飞机的每个舱门出口至少配备一名乘务员。”
代表美国航空乘务员的专业客舱乘务员协会去年12月与包括达克沃斯在内的议员会面，表达了他们对配员问题的担忧，称最低配员标准是“全行业普遍存在的问题：航空公司不断降低最低机组配员标准，导致宽体飞机的应急出口暴露在外，没有经过专业培训的乘务员负责组织撤离”。
作为参议院航空小组委员会资深民主党成员，达克沃斯长期以来一直推动FAA开展符合现实场景的撤离测试，其中应包括儿童、老年人和残疾乘客，以及行李、服务动物和其他潜在障碍物。
参议员们还要求了解撤离测试的最新进展。国会在FAA重新授权法案通过后，曾要求FAA在一年内完成相关测试，该最后期限已于2025年5月过期。更新后的测试本应取代FAA在2019年开展的一系列测试，后者未纳入任何现实场景，例如客舱内放置行李、乘客为儿童、老年人或残疾人的情况。
“法案生效已近两年，相关报告仍未完成，”参议员们在信中写道。
FAA要求飞机必须能在90秒内完成人员撤离，但现实中的撤离过程往往要长得多。根据航空公司和日本运输安全委员会的说法，2024年日本航空516号班机在东京羽田机场与一架海岸警卫队飞机相撞后，乘客和机组人员花了11至18分钟才完全撤离。
“这一标准并非随意制定——它基于残酷的现实：数秒之差就能决定生死，”达克沃斯和鲍德温在信中写道。
“在目睹越来越多的飞机撤离未能达到FAA本应遵守的90秒标准后，我们通过立法要求他们确保撤离标准符合当今的飞行实际。两年过去了，他们仍未做到这一点，”达克沃斯在发给CBS新闻的一份声明中说道。“与此同时，FAA仍在允许航空公司缩减机组人员规模，进一步削弱了他们达到联邦撤离标准的能力。这完全没有让乘坐航班的公众更安全。”
美国运输部2020年的一份监察长报告发现，FAA更新撤离标准的过程“缺乏对当前风险的数据收集和分析”。
2024年，曾在伊拉克战争中失去双腿的达克沃斯告诉CBS新闻，她不确定自己在紧急情况下能否在90秒内下飞机。
“一点信心都没有，一点都没有。我经常乘坐飞机时不会佩戴两条假肢，”达克沃斯当时说道。“我认为这已经不现实了……应该进行真实测试，看看现实标准到底是什么。”
“我们需要答案：当前的飞机撤离标准是否足够？”前国家运输安全委员会主席、CBS新闻交通安全分析师罗伯特·萨姆瓦尔茨去年8月告诉CBS新闻。“现在绝对是FAA重新评估其采用的撤离标准的时候了。这些标准发布至今已近35年。”
参议员们现在呼吁FAA研究缩减客舱乘务员配员对撤离效率的影响。
“在正确位置部署客舱乘务员，能够在乘客生死攸关之际帮助他们存活下来。合理的机组配员不是奢侈品，而是拯救生命的必要条件，”参议员们写道。
Sens. Duckworth, Baldwin call on FAA to study impact of reduced flight attendant staffing
May 15, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT / CBS News
By Kris Van Cleave
A pair of Senate Democrats is demanding answers from FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford on airplane evacuation testing that’s nearly two years overdue and his agency’s decision to allow airlines to be able to reduce the number of flight attendants on some long-haul widebody flights. They say their concern is that there may be more emergency exit doors than flight attendants in the event of an evacuation.
“Without a certified Flight Attendant positioned at every dual-aisle floor-level exit, passengers could be left vulnerable at precisely the moment they must rely on skilled, decisive guidance and rapid action from highly trained and certified Flight Attendants,” Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin wrote in a letter exclusively obtained by CBS News. “Furthermore, reduced staffing poses additional risk in the unfortunate event that a Flight Attendant is left incapacitated during a serious incident.”
The senators say American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have all received approval from the FAA to reduce the number of flight attendants on some aircraft under rules that require one flight attendant for every 50 passengers.
“… [I]t violates the purpose of evacuation certification and creates a dangerous gap in safety,” Duckworth and Baldwin wrote. “Reducing the minimum crew requirement means that a single Flight Attendant is solely responsible for operating two doors, up to 19 feet apart. This means one Flight Attendant could be responsible for evacuating hundreds of passengers across two aisles and middle column seats.”
Last year, the FAA certified American’s new 787-9P aircraft seating configuration with minimum staffing of seven flight attendants despite the plane having eight exit doors. The airline says it continues to assign eight to 10 flight attendants on those flights depending on distance, but that minimum staffing level allows the carrier to be able to operate a flight if a crew member issue, such as an illness, occurs while during a trip or while aboard.
“FAA safety regulations base flight attendant requirements on airplane seating capacity. On June 25, the FAA observed American Airlines successfully complete evacuation safety demonstrations with seven flight attendants on its Boeing 787-9P airplanes. American’s 787-9P aircraft have a lower seating capacity than its other 787 models, which require eight flight attendants,” the FAA said in a statement at the time.
The airlines must successfully complete that FAA evacuation demonstration for every seating configuration of an airliner in their fleet to determine minimum staffing requirements. Those requirements may vary based on the seating configuration and duration of the flight. Airlines may also opt to schedule additional cabin crew members above that minimum number.
“Today, nothing stops airlines from assigning one Flight Attendant to cover two door exits on widebody aircraft. Previous accidents have shown that leaving exits unattended during an evacuation leads to chaos, results in unusable exits being opened, causes injury, and increases smoke and fumes into the cabin,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing 55,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines, including United. “Our union is calling on Congress and the FAA to require at least one Flight Attendant per door exit on widebody aircraft.”
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, the union representing American Airlines flight attendants, met with lawmakers, including Duckworth, about their staffing concerns in December, calling the minimum staffing numbers an “industry-wide problem of airlines reducing minimum crew, leaving widebody exit door(s) exposed without a trained Flight Attendant to evacuate.”
Duckworth, the ranking Democrat on the Senate aviation subcommittee, has long pushed for the FAA to conduct evacuation testing that reflects real-world conditions including small children, elderly and disabled passengers, as well as luggage, service animals and other potential obstacles.
The senators are also seeking an update on evacuation testing that Congress mandated the FAA complete within one year of the FAA’s reauthorization bill passing. That deadline passed in May 2025. The updated testing was to replace a series of tests the FAA conducted in 2019 that did not include any real-world scenarios such as luggage in the cabin and passengers who were children, seniors or disabled.
“Almost two years after enactment, the report is still not complete,” the senators wrote.
The FAA requires an aircraft to be able to be evacuated within 90 seconds, but real-world evacuations often take far longer. In 2024, it took passengers and crew between 11 and 18 minutes to fully evacuate Japan Airlines Flight 516 after it collided with a coast guard plane at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, according to accounts from the airline and the Japan Transport Safety Board.
“This standard is not arbitrary—it is based on the harsh reality that seconds can be the difference between life and death,” Duckworth and Baldwin write in their letter.
“After seeing more and more aircraft evacuations that don’t meet the 90-second standard that the FAA is supposed to hold itself to, we passed legislation requiring them to ensure that evacuation standards reflect the world of flying today. Two years later, they still haven’t done so,” Duckworth said in a statement to CBS News. “All the while, the FAA continues to allow airlines to reduce the size of their crew, further weakening their ability to meet federal evacuation standards. Absolutely nothing about this makes the flying public safer.”
A 2020 Department of Transportation Inspector General report found the FAA’s process of updating evacuation standards “lacks data collection and analysis on current risks.”
In 2024, Duckworth, who lost both of her legs while serving in the Iraq War, told CBS News she was not confident she would be able to get off a plane in less than 90 seconds in an emergency.
“Not at all confident, not at all confident. I often fly where I’m not wearing both my artificial legs,” Duckworth said at the time. “I don’t think it’s realistic anymore. … Conduct a real test and let’s see what the realistic standard is.”
“We need answers. Are the current plane evacuation standards, are they adequate?” former National Transportation Safety Board chair and CBS News transportation safety analyst Robert Sumwalt told CBS News last August. “It’s definitely time for the FAA to go back and reassess what standards they’re using for evacuations. It’s been almost 35 years since those standards were published.”
The senators are now calling on the FAA to study the impact of the reduced flight attendant staffing on evacuation efficiency.
“The presence of Flight Attendants, stationed in the right locations, help passengers survive when their lives depend on it. Appropriate crew staffing is not a luxury; it is a life-saving necessity,” the senators wrote.