I was working in the rear of an MD-80 aircraft during a heavy check. There were two characters working in the tail cone. In an MD-80 when the aft stairs are up, the stairs make a walkway into the tail cone. Normally, during maintenance, you deactivate the tail cone slide and raft. These two brainiacs "forgot" and one of them stepped on the cable that triggered the raft. I heard a bunch of yelling and one fella ran by me heading for the nose of the aircraft. The other guy was floundering around under the inflated raft and slide (which has completed filled the tail cone area). I headed down the walk way and about the time I got there, I heard the raft POP. The mechanic under the raft had kicked around enough to get to his knife and slice the raft open. Expensive mistake, but nothing bruised save for egos.
