cabin crew seating

[Carnethy]

Why is it that cabin crew sit in rear facing seats for take off & landing?
Was on a flyglobespan flight recently where the seats in row one were reserved for crew at times of inactivity. However, these row 1 seats were vacated in preference for the rear facing seats in the galley.
Also, I can understand the dimming of cabin lights during night take offs & landings but why do the window blinds need to be in the open (up) position? Never heard that before on a flight.

[phiman]

Hope this helps. If anyone feels I am wrong, please let me know.

Sitting facing Aft is actually safer. However pax prefer to sit facing the way they are travelling. Plus the crew are then able to watch pax, and make sure they are safely strapped in.

Window blinds open to allow crew to watch outside. For the likes of engine fires, or hazards preventing a door from being opened for evacuation.

Crew sitting in row 1 is probably the crew making sure they have a comfy seat for their break. Probably not a management decision

[Bizzi_Boi]

Good questions to ask "Carnethy". Would be good if more pax asked questions on board instead of looking at our requests like we are asking too much of them.

The AFT facing crew seat

This is YES, safer for crew to be facing aft, as in the event of an emergency, its likely during an impact we are going to be forced back into our seats rather than lurched fwd like pax will be. But in saying that some aircraft due to layout, have fwd facing jumpseats and as crew we are trained in best possible seating position "relaxed brace position".


The opening of window shades for take off and landing

This one intrigues a lot of pax and some ask us why. It is yes in the event of something occuring outside of the aircraft, hopefully pax are watching and can alert the crew. Often when we are in crew seats we can not see what is going on and of course the flight crew can not see the wings etc. So if a pax was to yell out some form of danger we would be a position to know and commencing brace commands.

Of interest too, a lot of pax often lift their arm rests of the seats up during the flight so they can sit across 2 seats or more, and during cabin prep time, we instruct them to put them down. Why?

Answer : They are a danger as in the event of an impact they may come flying down and injure someone, also they can be used to stablise someone in an impact given the aircraft may be unstable once in contact with the ground.

Another one, is electronic devices, games and toys being switched off at top of descent. Why?

Answer : In summary the real reason, is that pax may not be fully attentive to annoucements being made. Especially if they have their own headsets on with music like an IPOD, they may not hear brace commands being yelled out by crew. Also, these items can pose a risk to saftey in an impact by becoming high speed projectiles. Lots of theories on interferance with navigation in the flight deck, and yes this is true but it's mainly a safety related issue for pax.

Hope this has been of interest to you "Carnethy". If you have other questions from a crew perspective. Be sure to ask them. Happy to answer them.

Cheers,

Bizzi_Boi

[flybywire]

Question One: the guys have given a very good explanation!! Also some aircraft configuration (like on the 737 for example) would make it difficult to have fwd facing crew seats.
Most A320 family aircarft even have a swivelling seat between the rear doors just to keep an eye on the passengers :}
Bigger aeroplanes like the 777 have both (usually one fwd facing and one rear facing at every main door).



Question Two: some airlines decided to designate "ABP" seats on board. For example in Ryanair it is the first row near the galley(not sure about back row, but usually headrests are of a different colour too to help identify them) FCA generally is 1C-D and 2C-D and same at the rear, plus emergency exit rows. In BA we have no such thing. These seats are "reserved" to able bodied passengers for take off and landing who in an emergency could reach the doors quicker than anybody else. What happens though, especially when it's a free seating airline, cabin crew sometimes block these seats for themselves. They shouldn't really do it but we all need a bit of breathing space!! It's a day-to-day survival situation. Nobody likes to have passengers in their face when working in the galley!! :}


Question Three: Actually, as for UK CAA regulations, only door/emergency exit row blinds MUST be up for take off/landing. Some companies though have agreed to unify the rule for ALL the rows. I actually think it makes more sense as if for example one engine is on fire during landing I wouldn't be able to see it from my seat but pax in row 5 easily could!!
Same thing as hand baggage under the seat in front of overwing exits. CAA says yes it can be there as long as it's stowed correctly. Most companies (I can think of many) decided that all bags in that area should be put in the o/h lockers. I actually prefefer when there's absolutely nothing in the area. But with the amount of carry-on baggage allowed sometimes it becomes difficult to find another location!!

Have a good day!!


FBW:)

[ifleeplanes]

I thought they faced backwards so that they had a full view of the cabin and were thus able to control the passengers since they can see whats going on when they all should be sat in their seats during critical phazes of flight.

:ok:

[flybywire]

HI ifleeplanes.
It's actually both reasons. It really depends on the aircraft configuration. But it's correct cabin crew must have a view of the cabin at all atimes when seated. So if you face forward at doors one (like on some old 757s) there's always a mirror above or on the F/D door. Same if you face aft in the rear galley (like on the 737 and some A320s) there must be a wide-angle mirrior in the galley. Cabin crew should check that it is in the correct position prior to take off and landing.
Rear facing position is by far the safest to adopt in an aeroplane for everybody, passengers included, since in the event of an impact the strain wouldn't be on your chest or front organs but on your back. A bit like Baby car seats for newborns. They must face aft in the car for the same reason until the baby reaches about 9 months.
Safer but practically impossible for airlines to make EVERYBODY fly facing the rear....the reason is self explanatory!!!

Cheers!!!

FBW:)

[cabincrewrory]

flew bmibaby the other week and they charge £10 extra for front row seats. maybe nobody paid the £10 so they were left free which was fortionate for the crew??

[ChewyTheWookie]

The other reason for window blinds being up is so that emergency crews can see in following an accident to locate people/fire etc.