Marshaller with arms crossed against chest.
 

How would you interpret this?

I saw this recently where the orange batons were crossed against his orange safety vest at chest height and I couldn’t really see.

Would you interpret this as “stop” or we are not ready or something else?

Thanks

If in doubt STOP right where you are - you can't see everything around you.

Arms crossed over the chest is part of the standard signal for folding/unfolding wings.

Possible explanations:

(a) you were on an aircraft carrier at the time

(b) the marshaller was practising for the introduction of the 777-X

:O

I think its also used for Helicopters = LAND

but if you're certain you are not in a helicopter heaven knows. ;)

I think it means he is not YOUR marshaller and he may have passed you onto another marshaller.

It's not your gate move on

It means he's not talking to you. At least, that's one of the signals my missus uses....

I have seen marshallers 'park' the crossed wands over their chest, holding them in 1 hand, after stopping an airplane. The intent was to have the airplane hold there, often while chocks were being put in place.

May not be 'official', but more common than you might think...

Speaking about marshalling, how does one indicate the direction of a push to ground personnel via hand signals from the cockpit?

One of the few times I found the Spanish way better than the US way. In Spain the direction of the push is in reference to the nose, so easy to point to your nose, and to the required direction outside. Now I have to get up to point at my a$$ when using hand signals....

AFAIK there is no official hand signal. I establish eye contact with the respective person, point to my nose and subsequently in the direction the push needs to be performed. It is followed by the “brakes on” signal from my side, indicating ready for pushback.

If it gets more complicated (long push, push on a specific line etc.), I just open the window and shout. Not the most elegant solution, but it works ;)

It means that he understands that you don't really give a sh@t about his guidance and he's just trying to confirm this by doing something weird. I would simply proceed and park my plane where you think it should be, shut down the engines and leave the rest for the ground crew to fix. Most airlines don't pay enough anymore for these types of concerns. Clear enough?

This works well in Euroland. In the US they want to know which way the tail goes so...

The marshaller is probably some guy or girl on 10 bucks an hour. If you have no idea if your aircraft is safely parked at that stage I would suggest that you have no place flying it there.

Unofficial, but I have seen the pilot tap his nose and point in the direction required. "Nose this way "

Have used the same to the tug driver in the event of a change during push back.

Obviously verbal via a headset is best, but if it fails, something like the above may help.

Ah yes. Marshalling. It runs the whole gamut from LHR BAA, resplendent in their Day-Glo livery, exuding authority and purpose through every degree-perfect twist of their spotless batons, to the guy in Abuja who dropped his gear and ran away as soon as it got difficult.

I find the USA falls between these two extremes but I’m never sure if a particular marshaller knows the difference between “identify gate” and “move ahead” as they appear to use these signals interchangeably...

This is not the gate you are looking for...

Hat. Coat.