Pre flight briefs from the flight deck
 

I am rewriting some briefing material on pre flight briefings for cabin crew from the flight deck and would be interested in your input please.

I would normally introduce myself and the FO and find out the names of everyone and how many sectors we are all operating together. I would then talk about the weather, any expected delays, slot times, flight times and then agree a time to meet for going out to the aircraft. I would also ask if there are any specials or anyone I should know about. I would just empahasise to everyone that if you see or hear anything (or anyone) you do not like please let us know in the flight deck.

I wonder how you feel about FD briefings, are they important to you or are you not bothered? Do most crews/ airlines do them? Finally is there anything you could add to my briefing-please feel free to PM if you want to.

Thank you

At both of my old airlines, we never used to have FD briefings. It would go as far as an introduction from the Flight Crew and that would be it, unless there was anything special to say about weather/delays etc.

On a long haul we would get a more detailed briefing from them: Flight times, delays, slot time, when to meet to go to a/c and any weather problems (and what time to meet at the bar lol) but that's as far as it went.

I don't think FD briefings need to be too much. I think it needs to concentrate on things like on time performance, weather and flight times.

I see this briefing as a reminder to all the crew that all the crew are one team, so I believe this intial contact is very important.

The best one of these briefings I have heard was firmly in the "we're all one team" camp. The Captain emphasised that he was available for any support the crew needed, open to any questions and that the Flight Deck could be treated as a place of refuge in times of chaos! The reaction from my crew after the guys left the room was most uplifted at the start of a monster day!

Sounds sooo charter??? Well someone needs to get off their high horse!!!

Totally agreed Pull What!!

tDo you want to go large on that?

Why would saying the names of the crew embarrass either the passengers or the crew themselves? :confused:

I always introduce the crew (if the Captain hasn't) and I haven't noticed any blushing crew members lurking in the galley :O.

I haven't worked for a charter company so don't know if any do it but it's been common practice where I work for more years than I care to admit to! I guess you could say it's sounds "so so scheduled" to me!

hope you don t fly on the A380 :rolleyes:

Didn't think charter had a "t" in it. :}

In'it. :oh:

Seriously, to me the purpose of a flight crew brief to cabin crew (apart from flight time, weather, klingons needing seats, bumps, etc), is to make the point that the door is metaphorically always open. If you need the seatbelt signs on, tell me. If there is a problem passenger, tell me. If you have any issues on board where you think I can help, tell me.

Hopefully I can help but if I don't know about it, I guarantee I can't do a thing.


PS: I don't fly the A380, so I don't need to name all 57 of the crew in the PA. Just the Senior is plenty.

Can we stay on thread with the pre flight briefing- cabin PAs are another issue, although I am impressed with the 57 crew on the Airbus, your not mixing that up with a BMI pax load are you?

Pull what, I like your thinking in posting this here. :ok:

Where I work, cabin and cockpit crew do not formally meet before on-board.
We report a fair bit earlier than the pilots. Some of them make the effort to be early and to come over to our pre-briefing area to have a chat with the No1 and No2 while we are preparing the cabin crew briefing.
I always appreciate that. They usually get the flight time and some other stuff from our papers, and it gives us a chance to get a feel for each other in slightly more relaxed circumstance than on the aircraft at boarding minus 5 minutes.

The formal, as per procedure 'briefing' from cockpit to cabin is done on-board. The pilots arrive, dump their bags at the door, trawl around the aircraft to shake everybody´s hands. Then the captain gets back to me, I give him a list of names and positions of the cabin crew, with a copy for each of the other pilots.
Captain then tells me about the expected wx and whatever else he/she feels like sharing.
I already know about the wx, the expected slot, the weirdo pax, the problems with the cargo and at what stage the fueling is from my own papers, from the gate agent, from my walkie talkie chat with the platform boss and the fueling guy.
But that doesn´t matter. For me, the chat/briefing between captain and senior purser is not really about facts-exchanging. It is much more about assessing each other, trying to establish what type the other person is, what kind of leadership the captain will provide, can I be trusted to run the cabin in a competent manner? What are our mutual levels of experience on type and in our current role. How formal and procedure oriented is the other person; stuff like that.

I have learnt that best flights overall are the ones where the captain, like you say, emphasises the team aspect.
We (should) all know the facts, the procedures and the importance of an on time departure. What we need for a really good and safe flight is to trust each other, to feel comfortable sharing information across the door barrier, to know that we will back each other up in whatever way needed should the cr@p hit the fan.

When I get the feeling that the captain is comfortable in his/her own skin, when I feel that he/she has confidence in my and our ability to do a good job, when he/she makes me feel that it´s important we do this together; that´s when I start a fight feeling good, and usually end it that way as well. Whatever happens in between chocks off and chocks on.

I am no judge of a pilot´s airmanship, but I have learnt that good communicators who both demand respect for their own job and accord the cabin crew respect for ours, often make great captains to work for.

Freudian slip there Juud :E

Juud
 

They usually get the time from your papers? So, why have flight planning departments if the no.1 knows it all... Heck, if your there 5 minutes early why not be a good sport and load the FMS?

Benjiboy... Another fine specimen of a self importance. :ugh:

Juud
Thank you for taking the trouble to share that information, it was very useful.

It's dissapointing that M-ongo feels the need to react in that way.

Good Input!!
 

Juud,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. As a new entrant to the Flight Deck department, I will certainly keep it in mind!
Fly safe!!:ok:

Great posts. I have one request from CC. Please don't call us "Flight Deck". We don't call you "Galley" do we?

You lost me there. I thought we were flight deck. Should we be cockpit?

Cespit
 

whatever..................................glf