Safety Demonstrations.

[Offchocks]

I know that a lot of passengers don't bother to watch the safety demo, but a close relative of mine went up to Europe a few weeks ago and said that all the demo consisted of was a video and no live input!
I'm not sure that I approve, but then maybe I'm just behind the times!
Any comments?

[longarm]

Depends how its done. My companies demos are all of the video type and are generallly pretty poor and have low viewing figures. Virgin have a very good video demo with cartoons and in general I think the majority of pax actually do watch it- which can't be a bad thing.

[GoneWest]

Not EXACTLY part of the thread - but I used to fly air taxis.

One sad day I had the task of flying a two man team of crash investigators from the AAIB....to a helicopter crash off the Shetlands.

They were the only passengers that LISTENED to my briefing.

It struck me then just how important these briefings CAN be. Now, my FIRST job on boarding an airliner is to study the safety card. How do those doors open?

[ 23 July 2001: Message edited by: GoneWest ]

[Crepello]

There's a well-established thread on this topic under:

'Passengers & SLF' > 'Emergency Procedures'

[mainfrog2]

I work on short haul in Europe mostly scheduled flights and occassionally charter. Our demo is done by the crew (not enough space for a video) and interestingly our charter flights pax are always the most attentive, and how shirty do business pax get when you ask them to be quiet during the demo. My thinking is the reason we do a demo before take off is that something may happen during or shortly after take off and the crew haven't time to prepare the pax. Also after our demo I'd love to go down the A/C and ask them where the 6 exits are.Watch the blank faces as they try to work it out, ' Theres only four sir, but you wouldn't know because you didn't watch the demo.'

[vertigo]

Heard a story from a friend who was travelling in Asia and being somewhat concerned about the lack of a safety briefing, asked the stewardess why;

"We crash, you die." she laughed in response.

At least things aren't quite that bad in europe. :)

[moschops]

Doesn't matter how often I fly, I've always read the safety card, watched the demo and checked for the nearest exit. It's become so much of a ritual that I'd feel uneasy not doing it.

[Pilot Pete]

You and me both maschops.

When checking in for a BA shuttle whilst doing my base training I opted for an 'exit' seat with the extra legroom and when politely asked if I would be prepared to help in an emergency I replied that I'd "have a damn good go at landing it" should the need arise brought a raised eyebrow or two until I explained!

[SOPS]

All our saftey briefs are now done on the seat back video. I also fly Cx regularly and they have the same. As I am sure do many others, be it "live" or on video. either people watch or they dont.

[SevenFiftySeven.]

The Virgin video is very good and most of all effective.
I haven't seen it used aboard any of my Virgin flights for the last few months, but when I last saw it, I was very impressed. It is a cartoon using the voices of Euan McGregor and Leslie whatsisname (he used to be in those doctor films from the 60's/70's..... can't remember his lastname).

They're actually very funny to watch (as well as communicating serious information) and looking round the cabin, you do see more people taking notice of this video than you tend to see on the live demos on the other flights.

I agree with aisleman, I always make a point in counting how many seat backs to the nearest exits - both ways. If I'm travelling with friends or collegues, I also make the point of telling them how many seat backs to the exits as well. Some of them think I'm crazy, but I think it's better to be prepared.

One other silly thing I do - and sometimes I can't believe I'm this silly myself! - is when I'm boarding, I always touch the outside of the aircraft by the door. It's a crazy superstitious thing I have done for a long time now (I'm not normally superstitious at all!).

Quite a few years ago, when I was a teenager, I was on a 737 that suffered rapid decompression at altitude (not an experience I would like to repeat I might add :( ) and since then I have done this - purely to 'look after the plane!'.
The only time I forgot to do it was a couple of years ago on a flight from ORD - LHA on a United 777 and guess what? yep, we had electrical problems and had to divert to Washington!
Since then I make sure to do it - and I know I'm being silly, but it can't hurt can it!

[Coppelia]

It is so good seeing that some of our passengers really consider safety as something serious and not as something boring !

[PorcoRosso]

Salut Copp !

My story :

I am flying for a business man, on a small twin engine A/C. I am supposed to make a safety briefing to my pax (how to open the doors ...etc ...etc ..) But my boss doesn't want me to do that, since "it scares the passengers" ... I can imagine the lawyers after the crash, asking the survivors if I performed the safety demonstrations .

When he is not on board, I do it anyway !

I really can't understand some people do have this kind of ideas ... :mad:

[Gertrude the Wombat]

As a PPL I've had a couple of problems giving safety briefings. On one occasion I forget to tell the passenger where the sick bag was, to have him say afterwards that he'd spent the whole flight worrying about being sick in the absence of a bag. That was clearly my failure, as I had been trained to brief about the sick bag.

On the other occasion I failed to tell the passenger that I knew about the weather coming down from the north and had prepared a choice of three airfields to divert to further south if necessary. He told me afterwards he'd spent the entire flight worrying about what would happen if we couldn't land back where we started.

Clearly if one takes someone up for a joyride one doesn't want them wasting the whole flight worrying about something unnecessary because you didn't brief them about it. But how do you predict what they're going to worry about?

I can only think to add to the briefing "tell me at any time if you're worried about anything no matter how silly you might think it is". What do the professionals think?

[Manflex55]

Salut PR !

Well I must say the best safety demonstrations video I've ever seen is by far the CityBird one. Very funny, cristal clear, it really keeps the PAX focused for a few minutes (quite a performance). In this video, a long-hair blond guy is sitting next to a big fellow & tries to comply with safety procedures the best he can. Even after seeing it several times, I still found it both useful & entertaining.

As cabin crew member, when you perform these demonstrations (I've done that for 5 years & quite enjoyed it I must say), PAX reaction depends a lot on YOU. If you seem bored, they won't care & won't pay attention. But if you manage to do it in an unusual way, they'll get interested.

As an example, in one of my former airlines (EBA), we had a gay guy who really wanted the world to know that he was gay (speech, walk, general behaviour, etc)... & his safety demonstrations were so funny, made in such a "gay" way, that every single PAX was watching :). Much more efficient than any video.

MF

[GoneWest]

Porco...

As the Commander of the aircraft are you not LEGALLY required to ensure that every passenger has a safety brief or is familiar with the aircraft?

Even (?) on the smallest of aircraft, I ensure every person on board has a brief before engine start.

Gertrude - consider telling your passengers to stay quiet until you get outside the immediate airfield environment (100% ears to ATC and engine) then ask as many questions as they like about how you do it and what you think about, until you are some 10 miles from the destination airspace - then quiet again.

[PorcoRosso]

Gonewest

I totally agree with you,
as far as I am concernerd I am briefing my pax as much as I can, But my boss don't want me to do so ..
My point is , that , life in the real world can be tougher than in the ATPL Books !! and when you want to keep your FIRST job ...Boss 's always right ! :rolleyes:

[SSC]

Going to tie this one in with "The International Language of Aviation" elsewhere.

Flew as a human-sardine on a "new" Dutch charter carrier. All the briefings were exclusively in Dutch, while the instructions to the all-dutch cabin crew were in English ("doors cross-checked etc").

Checked with a colleague who flew on an old Dutch carrier and found he had the same experience.

It's very suprising given the huge number of nationalities living in the Netherlands - and given the almost universal Dutch ability to speak English.

Now, KLM + all scheduled carriers of many nationalies usually manage to provide briefings in upto 3 languages: Home + Local + English

Is this not a legal requirement?

- SSC