Flying? No Fear!: A Handbook for Apprehensive Flyers (Paperback)

As you leave home to check in for your flight, the professionals who will be responsible for your comfort and safety will probably already be at work. You may have seen how an aircraft becomes the centre of a hive of activity when it lands. Baggage and catering is unloaded and loaded, fuel and drinking water are pumped on, the cabin is cleaned and readied for the next flight, and a series of checks performed.

Unlike a car, aircraft are usually serviced on a continuing basis. Whenever they land, certain checks and examinations will be undertaken. Then at prearranged intervals the aircraft is taken out of service for a few hours, days, or even weeks while ever more elaborate maintenance is carried out.

Crew Briefing

Whilst the engineers, caterers, cleaners, baggage handlers, and refuellers are attending to the aircraft, the flight deck and Cabin Crews will be reporting for their briefings. These usually start about an hour before the flight is due to depart.

Planning

The Flight Deck crew assemble in an office where they are supplied with all the details concerning the flight: the weather en-route and at the destination; the number of passengers and the weight of freight being carried; a computer-generated plan of the route, predicting the flight time and fuel needed; details of any technical problems on the aircraft; and any information which might affect the route which the crew plan to take.

The Captain then decides on the amount of fuel to be loaded, which will be enough to fly to the destination, then to another airfield should the destination, for any reason, be closed when the flight arrives, and an extra amount on top of that. (See also ‘FUEL’ on page 70)

Simultaneously, a ‘Flight Plan’, giving details of the time and height at which the aircraft will pass over various points along the route, together with its estimated time of arrival at the destination, is sent by the airline’s Operations Department to all the Air Traffic Control Centres responsible for regulating the flow of traffic along the route which the flight will take.

These Centres then start to integrate ‘our’ flight with all the others which will pass along the same route at the same time.

Eventually, the Operations Department will be given a time at which the flight must depart in order to fit in with the other traffic. Usually, this is very close to the scheduled departure time.

Cabin Crew

Whilst the Flight Deck crew complete their briefing, the Cabin Crew leader will be ensuring that his or her colleagues are fully aware of what they have to do in any emergency, that they know where all the related equipment is to be found on the aircraft, and how to operate it. Only then will they turn to how they intend to conduct the passenger service, the needs of any special cases (handicapped people, unaccompanied children, etc) who will be on board, and any specific details relating to the flight.

At least half an hour before the flight is due to depart, the crew will go out to the aircraft. The Cabin Crew check the emergency equipment, such as fire extinguishers, medical kits, and the portable oxygen bottles which are kept in the cabin (for use if a passenger is taken ill), and then they ensure that all the catering and bars are in order.

They will also complete the ‘dressing’ of the cabin: arranging the seat belts tidily, placing antimacassars on the head-rests, etc.

Checking the Aircraft

Meanwhile, the pilots will be running through an exhaustive series of checks on the various aircraft systems, loading the day’s flight information into the computers, tuning in the radio navigation beacons which they will need for the departure, and checking the day’s route on their maps. One of the pilots will also walk around the outside of the aircraft, double checking an inspection which has already been carried out by the Ground Engineers.

Eventually the crew will report that they are satisfied with the condition of the aircraft, and the passengers will be called. By the time the ‘customers’ arrive, much of the activity around the aircraft will have subsided, although there will probably still be last minute baggage and freight to load, and if you look into the Flight Deck as you board, you may see the crew still busy with their checks.

When everyone is on board, the Cabin Crew count heads. It is important that exactly the number of passengers expected are actually on board. Too many: probably someone has got on the wrong flight. Two few, and a ‘baggage identification’ procedure has to be implemented to ensure that no-one has checked in any luggage and then ‘disappeared’. In these days of random terrorism, such risks are unacceptable.

Some people have cottoned on to the fact that if their bags are on board, it is unlikely that they will be left behind, and have abused the system by dawdling in the Duty Free shop, or having ‘another for the airway’ in the bar, and keeping everyone else waiting long after the aircraft doors should have been closed. This was extremely frustrating for both the crew and all the other passengers who had managed to get themselves to the aircraft on time, especially in these days of crowded skies, when we are given a place in the queue of aircraft waiting to start, with long delays the penalty for missing one’s turn.

In the past, having to do a ‘baggage ident’ took a long time, and we were prepared to do almost anything to find the ‘lost sheep’ before having to resort to unloading and have the passengers point out their own belongings.

However, dear reader, be warned: if you have been playing this game, technology is catching up with you! More and more airlines and airports now have very sophisticated baggage tracking systems, which will indicate almost exactly where in the aircraft’s hold the miscreant’s bag is. Coupled with hand held ‘bar code’ readers, it is now very much easier to trace luggage and heave it off the aeroplane if you don’t show up on time.