6.2 Routine Communication Signals, Standard Calls & Crew Briefings
Key Takeaways
- Standard signals such as chimes, cabin lighting changes and seat belt sign cycles convey phase-of-flight information to the cabin without a spoken call.
- The cabin secure report is a safety declaration that briefings were delivered, exits and escape paths are clear, and the cabin, galleys and passengers are secured for the phase.
- A pre-flight cabin crew briefing covers crew composition and experience, door and equipment assignments, aircraft type and configuration differences, special passengers, security, and the day's threats.
- A joint flight deck and cabin briefing establishes the sterile flight deck period, the emergency briefing format, communication protocols and the plan for anticipated threats such as weather.
- Standard phraseology exists to remove ambiguity; a crew member who is unsure of a message must ask for it to be repeated rather than act on an assumption.
Signals: how the cabin is told what is happening
Much of the routine communication in a cabin happens without speech. Signals are quick, survive a noisy environment and cannot be misheard as a service message.
| Signal | Typical meaning | Cabin crew response |
|---|---|---|
| Seat belt sign on before taxi | Departure imminent | Complete the secure check and take stations |
| Seat belt sign cycled in flight | Turbulence anticipated, or a phase change | Secure the cabin, seat passengers, contact the flight deck for detail |
| Seat belt sign on during cruise with an announcement | Turbulence encountered or expected | Suspend service, secure carts, be seated |
| Single or double chime at a defined point after take-off | Passing the sterile phase or an operator-defined altitude; service may begin | Begin service in accordance with procedures |
| Cabin lights dimmed for take-off and landing at night | Dark adaptation for a possible evacuation | Confirm blinds up and cabin secure |
| Repeated distinctive alert with red or flashing indication | Emergency call | Answer immediately at the nearest station |
| Evacuation alarm | Evacuate | Follow the operator's evacuation procedure |
Signals are type and operator specific. A crew member converting to a new fleet must relearn them, and a crew member who is unsure what a signal meant asks rather than assumes.
Standard calls
| Call | From / to | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| "Cabin crew, doors for departure" or equivalent | SCCM to cabin | Arm slides and cross-check |
| "Cabin secure" | SCCM to flight deck | Cabin, galleys and passengers secured; briefings delivered; exits and escape paths clear; exit row seating verified |
| "Cabin crew, be seated for landing" | Flight deck to cabin | Complete final checks and take stations |
| "Cabin crew, doors to arrival and cross-check" or equivalent | SCCM to cabin | Disarm slides and cross-check at the stand |
| "Brace, brace" | Flight deck or SCCM | Adopt the brace position and shout the brace commands |
| "Evacuate, evacuate" | Flight deck or SCCM | Initiate evacuation |
| "Attention crew at stations" | Flight deck | An abnormality is developing; be ready at stations |
The cabin secure report deserves particular emphasis because it is the one call the flight deck cannot verify independently. When the SCCM reports the cabin secure, they are asserting that the safety briefing was delivered, all exits and escape paths are unobstructed, exit row seating has been verified in accordance with 8.9.2.11, all baggage is stowed, galleys are secured and latched, passengers are seated with belts fastened, seat backs and tables are upright and stowed, and slides are in the required state.
The pre-flight cabin crew briefing
Every duty begins with a briefing led by the SCCM. A good briefing is short and specific and covers:
- Introductions and experience — who is new to the type or to the operator, since that shapes supervision and door allocation.
- Door and equipment assignments — who has which door, which alternate, which equipment.
- Aircraft type, variant and configuration — differences from the last sector flown, particularly exit configuration and equipment locations.
- Route and sector information — flight time, expected weather, aerodrome specifics, minimum equipment list items that affect the cabin.
- Special passengers — unaccompanied minors, passengers requiring special assistance, medical cases, deportees or inadmissible passengers, passengers under escort, infants and children.
- Security matters — flight deck access procedure for the day, any specific threat information, security search responsibilities.
- Safety questions — the SCCM asks technical questions on equipment, drills and procedures. This is a standard and expected part of a Nigerian pre-flight briefing.
- Threats and mitigations for the day — a short discussion of what could go wrong on this specific sector and how the crew will handle it.
The joint briefing
The PIC and SCCM brief together, or the PIC briefs the whole crew. The joint briefing establishes:
- The sterile flight deck period definition for the day and how to contact the flight deck within it;
- The flight deck access procedure and the agreed identification method;
- The emergency briefing format that will be used if a planned emergency arises, and the signal to expect;
- Communication protocols — how the flight deck will pass information, what the flight deck wants to be told and when;
- Anticipated threats — convective weather, a short runway, a technical item, a known disruptive passenger — and the intended mitigations.
Joint training on emergency equipment and drills, and joint CRM with the flight crew and flight operations officers, are two of the five mandatory recurrent ground training elements in Nig. CARs 8.10.1.34. The joint briefing is where that training is applied.
Phraseology and the duty to clarify
Standard phraseology removes ambiguity by ensuring that a given phrase always means one thing. Use the standard words rather than improvised ones, particularly for arming, disarming, bracing and evacuating, where the difference between two similar phrases is the difference between two opposite actions.
If a message is unclear, incomplete or does not fit the situation, ask for it to be repeated. In cabin operations the most dangerous response to an ambiguous instruction is a confident guess. Reading back a critical instruction — "confirm, doors to manual and cross-check" — takes two seconds and eliminates the whole class of errors.
What is the senior cabin crew member asserting when reporting the cabin secure to the flight deck before departure?
A crew member receives an interphone instruction that is partly unintelligible during a busy boarding. What should she do?
Which two of the mandatory recurrent ground training elements in Nig. CARs 8.10.1.34 are applied in the joint pre-flight briefing?
Why are cabin lights dimmed and window blinds raised for a night landing?