/ 03

01

A Cabin Safety Resource For All

Made Easy

Cabin Safety

By Donald Wecklein

02

Sharing and collaborating worldwide

Made Easy

Cabin Safety

By Donald Wecklein

03

To Improve Training and Aviation Safety

Made Easy

Cabin Safety

By Donald Wecklein

One Community

Cabin safety experts from around the world share their expertise, tips, best practices, and lessons learned for the betterment of our cabin safety community and passenger safety. Together, we can help airlines seeking information so they can improve safety.

Plain Language

One of the biggest challenges to writing manual content is writing procedures in a way that is clear, concise, and without room for misinterpretation. Writing in plain language takes practice, and it will significantly improve the clarity of your manual content.

Standardization

Standardizing normal and emergency procedures benefit airlines when hiring flight attendants from other airlines. It reduces the unlearning curve associated with new employees with prior experience, making it easier to transition and train the new employee.

Commuting flight attendants and luggage

How many bags can a commuting flight attendant bring with them on board an aircraft? Does it matter if the flight attendant is in uniform or not? The topic of commuting flight attendants and the amount of luggage they can bring is not explicitly…

Ask for help if you can’t find your phone

, ,
Ask a flight attendant for help if you drop your phone Almost everyone brings onboard their cell phone, and occasionally one gets dropped and the passenger can't figure out where it went. When you can't immediately see the phone, it's possible…

Carry-on baggage

Carry-on baggage - an unpopular perspective, but worthy of discussion. One way to expedite emergency evacuations would be to promote passengers to put their valuables in small carry-on baggage kept at their feet. Don't react, read. As a preface…

Are safety information cards required for every seat?

,
How many safety information cards are required in each seat row? There is a regulation that requires the certificate holder to have a safety information card located at each exit seat. 14 CFR 121.585 Exit seating. (d) Each certificate holder…

Minimum height to be a flight attendant

Is there a minimum height requirement to work as a flight attendant? Are there any factors that can affect the minimum height requirement that some airlines list on job postings? One common reason for minimum height requirements leads to one…

How many infants are allowed on board

, , ,
How can I determine the maximum number of infants we can allow on our plane? There are a few considerations on this topic each airline has to make regarding the number of infants allowed on board an aircraft. The deciding factors are: Number…

Secure yourself when the seatbelt sign is on

,
Do flight attendants ever get injured by turbulence? Some crewmembers seem to think they're immune to injury. Anytime the seatbelt sign is turned on, passengers must return to their seats. Depending on the severity of the turbulence, flight…

Exit seat armrests

, ,
Must armrests in exit seats must be fixed, or is it up to the operator to decide whether the armrests can be of the movable type? In all my travels on airlines around the world, I’ve yet to see an exit seat with movable armrests. I’m not…

Cabin secure during taxi

, ,
During taxi, what are the regulation(s) that apply to opening an overhead bin or a galley storage container to put something away? When a crewmember is performing a safety-related duty, exceptions to the regulation/policy are permissible.…

Vaping on planes

,
Is vaping allowed on planes? It's not a cigarette, just a cloud of vapor. What's the big deal? The ban on smoking cigarettes on aircraft has been ongoing and increasing for decades around the world, until the 1990s in the United States…

Do seats forward of an emergency exit need to be locked upright?

,
Are seat rows forward of an emergency exit required to be locked upright and fixed, or is there a distance requirement forward of the overwing exit that permits those seats to recline? More often than not, when you check seats forward of an…

The Director of Safety and their safety culture influence

, ,
The Director of Safety and their safety culture influence. In the United States, each part 121 certificate holder must have a Director of Safety as required by 14 CFR §119.65 - Management personnel required for operations conducted under…

Working as a crewmember taking medication

Is there a way for me to find out whether over the counter medication or prescription medication I’m taking is permitted or prohibited when working as a crewmember? With regard to FAA regulation and guidance, I will break it into three separate…

Slides are not always slide rafts

A slide is not the same thing as a slide raft, correct?  Slides can be single-lane or dual-lane, however, most slides are single lane only. Single lane slides can be used as a flotation device and may accommodate an injured person(s) depending…

Passenger safety briefing

The passenger safety briefing is provided for passengers to watch and listen as it contains important safety information. So, why don't passengers pay attention anymore? Passenger safety briefings are performed prior to each takeoff to provide…
How to fail an inspection

How to fail an inspection

, ,
How to fail an inspection with the FAA/CAA. The last thing any flight attendant wants to do is fail an inspection, especially when being checked by the regulating agency! In the United States and around the world, the aviation safety regulating…

What does the term readily accessible mean?

, ,
What does it mean to have emergency equipment readily or easily accessible? Looking for use of the term readily accessible, there is an explanation of “readily accessible” in this legal interpretation: Fire extinguisher on the flight deck. Given…

Unusual attitudes, and we don’t mean the flight attendants!

, ,
Image Credit: PTI Should flight attendants be taught unusual aircraft attitudes post-landing during training? Yes, flight attendants should be taught what to expect on aircraft should there be landing gear damage or failure, causing the aircraft…
Medication in carryon baggage

Medication in carryon baggage gate-checked

, , ,
Flight attendants must always ask prior to taking a passenger's bag, “do you have any medication, valuables, electronics, spare batteries, or power banks in the bag? It can mean the difference between life and death of that passenger.

Do I need to train flight attendants on flight deck emergency equipment?

, ,
Are flight attendants required to be trained on emergency equipment located in the flight deck? Flight attendants are not required by regulation to be trained on flight deck emergency equipment. Just because something isn’t required by regulation…

Annual slide jump

, ,
Do crewmembers have to perform an annual slide jump? The first thing to consider is the type of plane the operator has in its fleet. Some planes don’t have slides, so they would not do a slide jump. For those that do have slides, during…

Language of destination speakers

,
Are airlines required to provide language of destination flight attendants, and must airlines perform the safety demonstration in English and the local language? Second-language speakers are helpful during both normal and emergency situations.…

Baby Belts in the USA

, ,
Can Baby Belts be used in the United States on a United States registered airline? They’re permitted for use in European countries and other parts of the world. In the United States, belly belts are prohibited from being used in any aircraft,…

Flight attendants required

,
I am on a 50 passenger seat aircraft that has two jumpseats. Only one Flight Attendant is required. If a  jumpseat rider occupies the empty jumpseat, does that constitute a fifty‐first seat, triggering the requirement to add a second…

Flight attendant jumpseat weight limit

What is the weight capacity limit of a flight attendant jumpseat, and are there any other considerations that limit a person from being able to be a flight attendant based on their size? The answer to this may vary, depending on the country…

Cabin lighting for takeoff

, ,
Most airlines have cabin lights turned off or on the lowest setting before takeoff and landing at night. Is this a regulation or a best practice?  Having cabin lights turned off or adjusted to outside lighting is standard practice, not…

Blankets used during takeoff & landing

, ,
Can a passenger wrap a blanket around themselves during takeoff and landing?  Use a blanket during takeoff and landing? The answer is yes, and that is if you can even get a pillow or blanket on a flight in the USA. For sake of discussion,…

When things go wrong, go slow to find and place blame. Ask yourself, was it really the flight attendant’s fault?

Flight attendants spend weeks going through initial training, then go out and operate in accordance with the training program. We all know the flight attendant manual does not cover every single scenario, and when we train flight attendants, we expect them to use both common sense and experience to determine how to handle various situations that happen on an airplane. There’s no doubt that some people are just not meant to work as a flight attendant; they don’t have the necessary people skills or sharp thought processes to be successful as a flight attendant. However, there are times when very good flight attendants make an error, be it through lack of attention or lack of judgment, and now management needs to speak with them.

Read more

Non-punitive reporting systems are an excellent way to learn what really happens during flight.

For many years, decades actually, flight attendants would hide what went wrong during their flights from in-flight management out of fear of retribution or termination. Management was always right and crewmembers were wrong. That’s just how it was. We all knew of the nonsense that was happening, and in some cases, errors within the flight attendant manual, but we knew better than to tell or suggest to inflight management, “you might be wrong about something.” We saw what would happen to those people, and after one person got fired, we knew not to say anything ever again. The only way in-flight management found out what went wrong was when there was a very strict lead flight attendant/purser that would report everything to in-flight management.

Read more

Cabin Safety begins with a strong foundation

The flight attendant manual is the foundation for inflight training. The training program is based on the manual. Your inflight performance is based on your training program, which is based on the flight attendant manual. Airlines everywhere must have outstanding safety training; your passengers deserve it. Teach your flight attendants well by writing a very detailed and comprehensive manual. Cabin Safety Made Easy gives you the tools to do it.

Cabin safety improves through well written manual content

Manual writing is more than just putting words on paper. Regulations, as written, aren’t usable procedures. Manual writers must be highly knowledgeable of safety regulations, best practices, and know how to design safety into their system of operation. Design procedures so the interaction between crewmembers and the flight crew are seamless. You can enhance your inflight procedures, normal and emergency, through learning from each other. Make certain the system works correctly with proper controls in place to prevent undesirable events from happening. If the system is not properly designed, errors are likely to repeatedly occur.

Remember, when things don’t happen as expected during flight operations, errors occur by the crewmembers, and not always is the crewmember completely at fault for the error. Crewmembers do make mistakes, however, that may be the symptom of a more significant problem. It could be due to the system’s design that contributed to the error. This is why when things go wrong and you speak with the crewmember(s), go into the meeting with an open mind. You may find that the flight attendant did their best with the information and experience they had, but the manual or training program was deficient. See errors as an opportunity for learning and improvement in your operation.

Very good vs great inflight training department

All airlines do the same thing, transport their passengers from one city to another. What separates a good flight operation from a great one is having well trained and highly competent crew members performing normal operations, and having your crewmembers prepared for irregular and emergency situations. You can enhance your manuals and training programs to bring your level of safety up to the highest standards, exceeding regulatory requirements wherever possible and operationally sustainable with content provided by Cabin Safety Made Easy.

Cabin safety far exceeds the aircraft cabin

What passengers see on the airplane is the front end result of your flight attendant manual and flight attendant training program operating under normal conditions. When something goes wrong, that’s not the time to find out that you didn’t train your crewmembers well enough, or their skills aren’t as good as you thought they were.

Significant improvements with opportunities for enhancements

Cabin Safety has come a long way over the last 50 years with advances in safety regulations, advisory guidance, higher standards of safety, improved commercial aircraft, better emergency equipment, excellent simulation devices, and improved training programs based on flight attendant manual design. Together, all of us can make what has been called the “higher level of safety,” the normal standard.
No matter what airline you work for, we all use the same types of aircraft, and train our crewmembers for normal, irregular, and emergency events. Sharing our information helps inflight departments all over improve their manual content, enhance the training programs, and gain valuable lessons through incidents and lessons learned.
Cabin Safety Made Easy is a one-stop resource for finding information on a variety of topics.