Yes, I certainly do count seat rows. The only problem with the arrival of middle age is ... remembering the number. :sad:

Flew with Air Venezuela internally once. Most beautiful girl doing the life jacket demo. When she put her mouth on the inflation tube that got EVERYBODys attention. Walking across the tarmac at Caracas, a guy said to me that it was the first time he had seen a life jacket demo turned into an erotic act, and another remarked that there was NO fear of drowning on that trip!!!!:):)

Once again I bring the notion of having the safety demo presented by bikini wearing female staff of suitable calibre. Guys will undoubtly look and the ladies will look to find what are the "defaults" on the appearance of the F/A.
Completely non PC approach but I feel it would work.

Seriously know, it is an issue of manners and the fact that by not observing it puts other's life into danger.

Rwy in Sight

http://www.hatecrimenews.com/watch-v...vacuation.html
It is very evident from this footage that passengers hadn't listened to the safety brief - there is panic, they have retrieved their items from the cabin lockers and passengers are wearing shoes as they go down the escape slide.
The selfishness of getting your cabin bag out of the overhead or wearing shoes on the slide is unbelievable - especially as this evacuation was after an engine fire. Stopping just for a second or two to get your laptop could result in people behind you being killed or ripping the slide with your shoes could have fatal consequences for fellow travellers.
...........and there are still :mad: who won't learn!

To avoid the grabbing of baggage, it suggests it could be a good idea to have your passport and wallet in your pocket, rather than in a bag in the overhead.
So you emergency evacuate in a fire, you've no passport, you've no money, no credit cards. Yes the airline will presumably look after you to some extent, but I doubt you'd necessarily get a replacement travel document so easily when you couldn't prove your identity. Similarly, shopping for clothing, unless you were issued a fistful of currency.
One problem in such an evacuation is do you leave your necessary medication behind and rely on the airline/airport to sort you out some more? Then you have the difficulty of convincing the local medicos that you should have these drugs when you've no documentation.
So you can see why some people might really need to grab their bag.

I have taught my 3 yr old to put her finger on her mouth as soon as she hears anyone on the mic.

Also, she loves to look at the safety card, but always wants to know when she gets to go on the yellow slide! :eek:

safety announcement TODAY'S experience!
 

My first post, be kind,,,,,,

Hello all, back from AGP (Malaga) to Dublin today on Ryanair. Super crew, on time etc. etc. no probs.
Sat in the emergency exit row for the long legs. Guy in the aisle seat STOOD UP to retrieve his fleece from bin while crew was giving the safety talk. I couldn't believe it!
The crew member nearest nearly lost her mind (but in a good way). She forced him back to his seat pronto, and he was annoyed with her!
When the drill was finished I said to him " they are doing an important job, and you should have some respect you twit". He looked at me and said (in English) "I am from Dusseldorf, I don't understand Irish language. The CC was Spanish, speaking in English.
I have only the highest respect for C\C who have to deal with morons like this.
Anyway, same bloke went to the toilet after captain gave a warning that final approach was imminent. Same C\C saw his fleece on the seat and asked me to put it in the bin, when I explained it wasn't mine, and our pax was in the loo she nearly fainted. I looked back and he was placed in an empty seat at back of A/C. He was last off the plane as he couldn't get to the bin to extract his bags, he he he he he.:D

I did 4 short hops on Swiss at the end of the year and was interested to note that in their introduction to the safety briefing that it was ''obligatory to listen''.

On the last flight from Zurich into LCY the cabin crew member explained further that this was a new policy on Swiss. Don't know it it had any effect though.

I travelled on Ryanair last Friday back Monday OPO/STN/OPO. On both journeys the member of CC making the majority of announcements, including the safety briefing, had a thick accent. OPO/STN was a lovely girl who sounded German and the return was a lad who sounded Spanish but whose name was Asian I believe. Now the majority of pax on both flights seemed to be either Portuguese or Spanish and as I had great difficulty understanding my own language whilst spoken with these accents, what chance for the foreigners for who English is not their first language, if at all?

I was always under the impression that the safety briefing had to be performed in the languages of the two countries that you are travelling between. Obviously I am wrong as this was not the case here, though it does happen on TAP. However, as some announcements (sorry advertisements) on these Ryanair flights were pre-recorded, would it not make sense for the safety briefing to be done that way also, then it would be understood by English and other nationalities alike?

Well done to the CC on the return on Monday evening. He also stopped the briefing as the majority of the pax seemed to think that, just because they couldn’t understand English, this was an opportunity to talk excitedly about their weekend at the London sales. Not until the cabin went quiet did he continue with the briefing. Top marks also to the CC who moved non-English speaking pax from the rear exit row.

I think Lord Lucan has a valid point.

Safety briefs are like checklists - the more often you do them/listen to them the more familiar they become, right up the point where you know them, off by heart.

Obviously types vary but if you fly as a passenger 6 times a week in the same type with the same airline, then the SOP does not change. 30 seconds with the safety card and I know where I stand for that aeroplane.

The same does not apply to the infrequent flyer, of course.

The masks, life jackets and seat belts are the same on every airliner I've ever been a passenger in - it's only the number, location and type of exits that varies.

I too am a professional pilot - 25 years in my case. I don't need to listen to the safety brief. However, out of respect for the cabin crew I do look at them and do listen to them - if only out of common courtesy.

You're missing the point of what Lord Lucan says.

He knows his checklists and runs through them correctly every time he flies - at least, he does if he's a professional. What he does not need, because he knows them so well, is an instructor to tell him how to do his checklists - that was part of his type rating/class rating.

It's the same with the cabin safety brief - if you've heard the BA 737-400 safety brief 200 times you know it as well as the cabin crew do. They don't need to instruct you on how to fasten a seat belt and wear a life jacket, you can just refresh yourself with regard to your position relative to the exits (the SLF equivalent of checking the ATIS!) and get on with life.

The cabin crew are like your flying instructor - they tell you what to do if you don't already know how. A similar analogy is buying a new car - the dealer tells you how it works, you read the handbook (if you need to) and off you go. After a couple of drives, though, you no longer need to look in the handbook to work out how to operate the windscreen wipers.

I'm also one of the SLF who checks the lifejacket is there and reads the safety card (partly to see which aircraft I'm on).

In seat Ax a couple of years back I had the temerity to ask where the arrows on the floor were, as it was an airbus instead of the normal boeing, and they were on the side of the left seats, so couldn't be seen from seat A (or B or C). (this was on the LHR-ABZ shuttle)

I know my kids names off by heart, but whenever I get annoyed with them ( and placed under stress) it is amazing how many times I will use the wrong name. The refresher immediately prior to the (potential) event, places the routine/mundane/previously learned, information back in the forefront of the short term memory. This is important as the fight or flight response during a sudden high stress event, seems to rely on this information and that which is instinctive.

Same here 25 years + but for the reasons I have given above I do need to listen to the safety brief, and in view of my profession I also may need to assist. Just as when I listen to the flight deck briefings, I am making a mental model of what might happen and what my role might be (even if it is only to get out as quickly as possible). Situational awareness doesn't stop because you have placed your flight bag in a hat bin.

Pilots will be especially aware and are sometimes guilty of complacency, but we should guard against it. It is not infrequent flyers that are likely to be the problem, but rather (as shown here) those that feel a short term emergency refresher should be ignored in order to rely on that they learned some time ago be it last year, last month or even yesterday.

I thought it would be interesting to post some comments from pax of BA038. It's not about that prang but about the reaction of people when they have been in a prang. These comments are taken from The Independent a quality UK paper (IMHO).

All the lights went off and the oxygen masks came down. There was lots of smoke in the cabin and everyone was in a panic. The two stewardesses were very calm and told everyone to sit down.
Howard Zhong
Confirmation that CC were right on top of the situation from only a few seconds warning.

It was all over so quickly, I didn't really have time to think about it or even to take my shoes off before I jumped down the chute.
Peng Gao

This pax had been injured:
The cabin crew were disarming doors and activating the inflatable slides. People instinctively grabbed for hand luggage but were told to leave it...
Gus Macmillan
Notice the word 'instinctively' grabbed for hand luggage. This is after a full blow crash - not just a precautionary evac due to suspected problem or blown tyres.

Then two amusing comments that you may already have seen:
This man deserves a medal as big as a frying pan.
Unnamed airport worker, about the pilot
That is priceless.

"I turned on Sky News today and there was a press conference on. People were saying that John was a hero and he'd landed the plane. I thought, 'He didn't mention that to me."
Myrene Coward, mother of senior first officer John Coward.
Aren't mothers just wonderful?!