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Flight Deck Announcements - To Passengers

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Old 27th Aug 2010, 06:46
  #21 (permalink)  
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Yeah and stretch your arms really out wide to open up your larynx and then take a deep breath as well before you smile into the window and then...... hear the difference too!

Would be fun to see someone do this on YouTube soon. Haha

JFK
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 08:32
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Short

Sweet

Basic facts


Don't interrupt my IFE unless really needed
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 11:24
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Johan,

I remember that a former BBC news presenter ran just such a course as you are developing as an 'in house' programme for British Airways. That was back in the mid-70's. I believe his name was Peter Fairley, but could be wrong. All of the suggestions being raised here were in it and there was much on content and delivery too. Sadly, lot of that knowledge has been lost, forgotten or is not taught these days and I hear some pretty appalling PA's at times. All success with your project, only good can come from it.

What I do, and remember:

1. Think about what you are going to say and write it down if necessary, as distractions while talking can make you lose the thread.
2. Keep the content concise, accurate, interesting and friendly
3. Speak slowly (almost unnaturally so) and clearly, otherwise you are wasting your time, as no one will understand you
4. Don't use 'jargon' e.g 'ATC', 'loadsheet' - use layman's terms
5. Don't umm and err. It feels professional and the opposite is true to the listener.

When I pass the PA to my F/Os I give them a piece of paper afterwards with a number on it. When I explain that it is the number of times they said 'err' during their PA they are invariably shocked and disbelieving. This always leads to a rapid improvement in technique.
Someone will raise the point so, yes, I am monitoring ATC as well.

Last edited by 777fly; 27th Aug 2010 at 11:25. Reason: word change
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Old 27th Aug 2010, 14:41
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Avoid the negative words like Fog, Thunderstorms, Turbulence and Late. Misty, rain, bumps and behind schedule (that's pronounced shed, not sked in Europe please) are less contentious and sound smoother

Only apologise once.

Listen to what the other pilot has said and don't repeat it if you both do PAs. Telling pax about the destination weather on every PA is amateurish.

Don't bleat on about "westerley runways", "turning left, turning right en route". No one wants to know if you've made a turn fer chrissakes, and NSEW is a concept beyond most pax. (anyway "Westerly runway" does not mean the runway pointing West, it means the one to the West of the other, eg 36L. This seems to be a concept beyond many pilots...)

Never, NEVER say "sit back and relax" It is appallingly patronising - what right do you have to tell the pax how to sit? What if they want to work, or do exercises? Are they disobeying your lawful command if they do otherwise? It is just meaningless noise. Bin that awful phrase altogether. Ditto the utterly cringe-worthy and slimy "thank you for choosing to fly with XXXX air" AAArgghhhh!

Be honest and up-front about delays. If they're extensive keep the pax informed with a brief PA every 20 mins or so even to say "no further info". Don't be afraid to say you don't know the reason if that's the case.

Never use navaid or waypoint names. Stick to large towns/features - geography is not most people's forte.
Never use jargon.
Avoid giving technical explanations for malfunctions - it frightens the nervous ones. Be as general as possible without sounding evasive, but don't fib. When an engine has blown up dont, please, say, as you hear every time in the simulator, "We've got a slight technical malfunction" Even pax know emergency procedures don't result from "slight" malfunctions...In a serious case like that maybe a bit more direct; "We've got an engine malfunction that requires us to make a precautionary landing at XXXX" is a good idea.

Never use slang or colloquialisms - language needs to be plain and simple.
Avoid giving an exact time (of arrival, for instance), "Landing in about an hour and a half" or "very close to shed-yool" is enough, and stops the pedants complaining that you were 5 minutes out, cos some will.

Use humour only if you're a professional at it.

Think what they need/want to know and tell them that and that alone. Think what you want to know when you're a pax. Pretty much where and when info, and that's about it apart from weather,
Maybe on a holiday flight someone is interested in OAT, but...
Certainly on clear days/nights a bit of detail about what can be seen may be appropriate, or "There should be a good view of XXXX on the left in 20 mins time". Many pax love to know what they are looking at in clear conditions, but just don't know.

Well, that's my idea. And everyone else does it their own way too thank goodness, or PAs would get very samely.
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Old 28th Aug 2010, 07:07
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Agaricus .........

Sounds good, and I would add NEVER correct a mistake. Sounds as if you might be one of the 0.5% of pax. and Cabin Crew who actually listen to the occasional P.A. ?

I once gave a precis of the flight from London to Karachi, and when I put the 'phone down the F/O reminded me that we were actually going to Bahrain ! No one, not even the Cabin Crew, noticed, or if they did they kept quiet !

I was a passenger once when the F/O gave the announcement after take-off, he gave the time and day, and date of arrival - the date line was involved - but got the time wrong. He then came back and corrected the time, but this time got the day wrong. The Captain then came up and apologised - and got the date wrong.

By this time everyone was hanging on his every word. Hilarious.

When in doubt, say nowt.
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Old 31st Aug 2010, 04:11
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I like this part of my job - most of the time

Know your audience. A flight full of business people headed to some financial capital on the first day of the business week are a completely different audience than the same jet full of holiday makers enroute to some tropical paradise. Taylor your flight deck announcements to the audience and time of day.

Tell pilots what to do, rather than giving them a string of endless negatives; don’t drone on, don’t repeat, don’t use technical terms.

On the way to work I listen to the radio and try to analyze the style of the program hosts and newscasters. I pay attention to how they apply their craft: volume, tone, inflection, and speed of delivery. It is true that, as a pilot, I am not in the “entertainment” business, however that doesn’t mean I have to sound ridiculous over the PA. There is nothing wrong from taking some coaching from people who broadcast for a living. My employer expects me to interact positively with our passengers-that includes the PA.

Regarding delays, just tell them the truth. I try to cover the basics (who, what, when, where and why); what happened to cause the delay (if appropriate), what is being done about the delay now, when are we going to have more information and when to expect a resolution or more information.

I enjoyed flying with a senior Captain who has since retired. He taught a “fear of flying seminar” in his spare time. I have used his advice regarding PAs and turbulence. It helps many people who genuinely fear the turbulence if you give them an estimated time frame as to how long the turbulence should last. I realize that it is not always possible to know how long the turbulence will last. Yet knowledge is power, and if the passenger has some time frame they are usually better able to endure the discomfort. I find it helpful to refer to turbulence as “unstable air” it is a neutral term and does not carry the emotional baggage that “turbulence” does for many people.

Seldom will you be able to please everybody. Ask for feedback from other pilots and the flight attendants; listen to your colleagues when they key the microphone. Many pilots are completely uninterested in talking to the passengers, and it is obvious when they pick up the microphone. Sometimes I just cringe at what I hear.

Last edited by Northbeach; 31st Aug 2010 at 05:07.
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Old 1st Sep 2010, 10:25
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From a SLF - make sure there's enough of a 'standard' intro to the message to allow us time to notice there's an announcement and remove headphones etc and then be able to hear the important part of the message - not all of us are plugged into the IFE system with the auto override.
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Old 1st Sep 2010, 14:10
  #28 (permalink)  
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Wannabe Flyer - Yes. Your IFE is priority! Will make sure we all keep the chatter to a minimum! Accurate, Brief and Clear are some of the ABC's, of what we are relaying in our training. Thanks again!

777fly - Wow, I wiki'd Peter Fairley. He died 5 days before my 18th birthday and was born in Kuala Lumpur - where I stay now! I'm sure he did an amazing job in his career, a short prayer for him now. Thanks once again for your kind words of support and most importantly my most humble words of appreciation for your 5 thoughts. Yes we do relay that the 'jargon' should be striked off their vocabulary especially when doing 'layman' announcements and, to write down their thoughts before they speak so that it reduces the umms and errs. I sincerely LOVE the idea that you write down how many times your F/Os say umms and errs on a piece of paper and pass it to him/her. I will relay this idea of yours as well if you don't mind -- simply brilliant, Thank you!

Agaricus bisporus - Thank you for your thoughts as well. Yes the negative words should be minimized and replaced where able! I like how you also think "sit back & relax" can be patronising! You are right, some people want to work. Point taken and will relay! Thank you once again for all your other points too.


ExSp33db1rd - Yes we learn that on radio as well. I have once or twice before in my career, announced the wrong song or the wrong piece of info. Of course there are some who would have gone "excuse me, that was XYZ not ABC" but believe me, if you appologize, MORE people will be aware of your mistake! hahah sad but true........ thanks for your thoughts too!



Northbeach - Ahhh.... you should be in entertainment! You got one of the golden rules spot on... KNOW your audience! I am sure most of us will now be using "unstable air" in the near future


bsmasher - Maybe a quick summary before the end of the PA might work? Like if you are speaking about "unstable air ahead" and why etc, you could end with a line like "again, we would like to share that we expect the unstable air to last for not more than a few minutes and I thank you for your patience and kind understanding, good evening...".


Sincerely,
---- Johan Farid Khairuddin (JFK)
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Old 19th Sep 2010, 20:17
  #29 (permalink)  
 
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I am only a SLF but have been on the receving end of some good PA's and some not so good ones.

On a recent flight from Bangkok to Frankfurt (LH) there was not a word from the flight deck - not even a "welcome on board" before departure. Ok it was a midnight plus departure but even so I would have expected at least that.

In general please make the PA's short, relevant and infrequent - it does get irritating if trying to concentrate on a book / game / film etc to keep getting interrupted by PA's.
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Old 20th Sep 2010, 01:36
  #30 (permalink)  
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Thanks Paulc, very good point. What airline were you on anyway?

Maybe if not immediately during cruise, you would think somewhere in between right? at least before top of descent.

Well lets see what the group has to say.

Thanks again.

Johan.
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Old 28th Sep 2010, 15:15
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Sorry, this may seem a bit strange but for short haul crew that may change aircraft between flights, I'd say it's worth making a quick PA volume test before boarding. (By that, I don't mean the usual passing of information between the front and back via the PA system but actually taking notice of how loud/quiet the speakers are.) During a recent trip, we had one aircraft with particularly poor speakers meaning the PA's from all crew, including me, were very quiet and hard to hear once the extra background noises were added into the equation. A few passengers mentioned it and I passed the message on to the Captain. We both upped the volume of our PA's considerably and all was fine. Until we swapped aircraft that is. The next one had the opposite problem. The speakers were extremely efficient and the mike very sensitive. Unfortunately, as neither of us tested the system before hand due to the mad rush that is an aircraft change, when the Capt started his welcome PA, still in the same high volume mode, he frightened the life out of us and nearly deafened us into the bargain! Have you ever seen 147 passengers and 3 cabin crew all jump at the same time? The poor passengers, who hadn't had the benefit of being on the previous aircraft, couldn't understand why the Captain appeared to be yelling at them down the PA! Another lesson learnt the hard way but one that will definitely stay with me.
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Old 28th Sep 2010, 16:11
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I'm only SLF, but I just wanted to say that I think Jetset Lady makes a very valid point. In fact, you pre-empted my question: do pilots ever get to hear the volume of the PA system other than when travelling / positioning in the cabin?

I've been on a couple of flights where I have really wanted to hear what the Captain / First Officer is saying but simply haven't been able to because the volume in the cabin is not loud enough, especially when drowned out by the engines.

On the other hand, I entirely agree that if the volume is too loud, it really can be uncomfortable and disruptive. This happened to me a few weeks ago on a European night flight. The PAs made it impossible to sleep.

Finally, IMHO, the best PAs are those that are authoritative; provide passengers with all the information they need; and reassure us that we're in the hands of professional, capable and dependable pilots.

Best wishes
Nick
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Old 28th Sep 2010, 21:37
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I hope I don't get jumped on for this!

I travel on Flybe a lot as Pax and I find that they make far to many announcements and they last far too long, particularly since nearly all the flights I have been on are under an hour. In a 25 minute rotation from IOM-LPL you get this sequence:
  • Cabin Crew Welcome
  • Captains Welcome
  • Safety Demo
  • When the bell goes indicating the crew can get out of there seats, there is always a 'remain seated until....blah blah' announcement, even though the seatbelt sign is still clearly on.
  • Start of drinks and snacks service announcement
  • Duty free service announcement
  • Position update from the First Officer, in which the phrase 'errr' features heavily!
  • Seat belt sign going on announcement
  • Announcement on leaving the runway, 'welcome to xxx....please remain seated etc.'
  • Announcement when the aircraft stops to remain seated until the seat belt sign goes off (followed, invariably, 30 seconds later by engines stopping and sign going off!)

And is if that wasn't enough, on a recent flight from LGW, we were all treated to what can only be described as a rollocking from the Captain because he believed somebody had left their mobile phone on (not that I'm condoning this).

Anybody else find this with Flybe, or just me!!!???
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Old 28th Sep 2010, 21:54
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there is always a 'remain seated until....blah blah' announcement, even though the seatbelt sign is still clearly on.
Since when did a mere seat belt sign stop the great unwashed from leaping out of their seats before the aircraft has retracted its landing gear? Or whilst it's on short finals for that matter?
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Old 28th Sep 2010, 22:02
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Since when did a mere seat belt sign stop the great unwashed from leaping out of their seats before the aircraft has retracted its landing gear? Or whilst it's on short finals for that matter?
Oh I'm well aware of that, but since when did they take any notice of the announcements!?

Always makes me laugh when the aircraft parks on a remote stand and as soon as the engines stop (well as soon as they start to wind down), every person on the plane frantically jumps up to grab their bags and head for the door, only to end up waiting there for 5 - 10 minutes while the bus is driven round!
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Old 29th Sep 2010, 08:23
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Indeed. I have always found it quite peculiar how on practically every flight about 90% of passengers feel the need to stand up as soon as the seatbelt signs are switched off (or before they are switched off, for that matter). They do this even if they can't get into the aisle, meaning they have to crane their neck to avoid the overhead units. They then stand in this awkward position until the doors open and people start disembarking, even if it means waiting 10 minutes or so to get off. Very strange!
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Old 29th Sep 2010, 20:51
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jfkjohan,

I was on Lufthansa (LH) that started in Kuala Lumpur and changed crews in Bangkok.
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Old 30th Sep 2010, 23:50
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I don't want to bash the SLF too much but it is also weird how people take seatbelts off as soon as the a/c turns off the runway. Is it that restrictive?

The "crew release but seatbelts still on PA" also doubles up as a reassurance that all is ok after take off..........for this passengers who are nervous.

Flightdeck PA's are very important and people do listen. Like cabin crew though, there are also some Flight crew who aren't that great at them. However, isn't it a little self indulgent to be taking broadcasting lessons?
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Old 1st Oct 2010, 15:51
  #39 (permalink)  
 
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An exellent , relevent and enjoyable thread.

I was on a Flybe flight a while ago. I happened to know the first officer.
During the 30 minute flight he gave the most drawn out mumbled monologue in his thick monotone Mancurian accent I think I have ever heard.

I contacted him later and told him, his reply was that he hates giving announcements over the PA. I told him he needed ‘electrocution’ lessons, he saw the funny side thankfully.

But he's not the first I've heard giving announcements in a board north country accent rambling on unintelligibly.
Perhaps you should target Flybe and the queens English should be taught as part of the line training.

God, I'm starting to sound like by Dad!!!!
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Old 2nd Oct 2010, 10:55
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My own personal preferences...

I really, really don't care what your name is, what the F/O's name is, what the senior CCM's name is, or those of the cabin crew.

Please, please, no more "sit back, relax..."

Thank you so much.
JJ
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