8.2 Passengers Needing Special Assistance & Special Accommodation

Two regulatory anchors

Nig. CARs 8.9.2.10 — Carriage of Persons with Reduced Mobility. No person may allow a person of reduced mobility to occupy seats where their presence could:

• Impede the crew in their duties;
• Obstruct access to emergency equipment; or
• Impede the emergency evacuation of the aircraft.

Nig. CARs 9.3.1.8 — Carriage of Special Situation Passengers. No AOC holder may allow the transport of special situation passengers except as provided in the AOC holder's operations manual procedures, and with the knowledge and concurrence of the pilot-in-command.

Together these establish the operating principle for the whole of this section: carriage is permitted, it is governed by written procedure, and the pilot-in-command must know and agree.

Persons with reduced mobility (PRM)

"Reduced mobility" covers a wide range: wheelchair users, passengers with limb injuries or amputations, elderly passengers with limited mobility, passengers with visual or hearing impairment, and passengers with cognitive or developmental conditions.

Briefing technique matters. For a passenger with a visual impairment, walk them to the exit if practicable and let them count rows by touch. For a passenger with a hearing impairment, face them, speak clearly, use the safety card and agree a signal you will use to get their attention. For a passenger with a cognitive condition, brief the travelling companion as well.

Medical passengers, stretchers and oxygen

• Medical clearance is obtained through the operator's medical department where required, and the crew are told what has been agreed.
• Stretcher cases are carried under an approved installation with a medical escort, and the crew are briefed on the escort's role and the equipment carried.
• Medical oxygen carried by a passenger is a dangerous goods matter: it may be carried only in accordance with the operator's approval and the applicable dangerous goods provisions, and the crew must know what has been approved for the flight. Portable oxygen concentrators are handled under separate approval conditions.
• Passenger-carried medical equipment with lithium batteries falls under the passenger battery provisions covered in the dangerous goods chapter.
• Aircraft therapeutic oxygen — the portable cylinders carried as emergency equipment — is for in-flight medical emergencies and is not a substitute for a pre-arranged medical oxygen supply.

Service and assistance animals

Acceptance is governed by the operator's procedures and by Nigerian import and quarantine requirements. Where accepted:

• The animal is accommodated so that it does not obstruct the aisle, an exit, an escape path or access to emergency equipment;
• The passenger and animal are not seated in an exit row;
• The crew brief the passenger on what will happen in an emergency;
• Documentation requirements — vaccination, health certification and permits — are a ground responsibility, but a crew member who sees that documentation has not been checked should raise it before departure.

Deportees, inadmissible passengers and escorted passengers

These are special situation passengers under 9.3.1.8 and require the PIC's knowledge and concurrence.

Rules that apply to all three: never seated in an exit row or adjacent to an exit; alcohol is not served; the crew are briefed on the escort's identity and on the agreed procedure; restraint decisions are for the escort and the PIC, not the cabin crew; and the crew must know how the situation would be managed in an evacuation.

The common thread

Every category in this section reduces to three questions the crew must be able to answer before departure:

1. Where is this passenger seated, and does that position comply with 8.9.2.10 and 8.9.2.11?
2. Has this passenger been individually briefed in a form they can act on?
3. Who is going to help this passenger in an evacuation, and do they know it?

If any answer is missing, the crew act before the doors close, not afterwards.