Cabin Crew Communication

Human factors became a serious topic in civil aviation after the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401
in the Florida Everglades in 1972. This crash was due to the flight deck crewmembers becoming
fixated on a faulty landing gear light and not realising that the autopilot had been inadvertently
switched off, causing the aircraft to gradually descend until it hit the swamp of the Everglades.

A concept called cockpit resource management was introduced into pilot training to try to stop
similar accidents happening. The emphasis of cockpit resource management was to develop
teamwork as an alternative to the prevailing model in which the captain’s judgement and authority
were unquestionable, a situation which led to poor decisions by captains going unchallenged and to
captains becoming overloaded with responsibilities during in-flight emergencies because of a failure
to delegate tasks.

This was later developed in the 1990s to become crew resource management (CRM) which extended
the cockpit resource management concept to communications between the flight deck and the
cabin crew. One accident that contributed to this realisation was Air Ontario Flight 1363, which
crashed soon after take-off in Dryden, Canada, in 1989. In the accident report, the sole surviving
flight attendant said:

‘We work as two crews. You have a front-end crew and a back-end
crew.’

CRM helps to improve the communication between both crews, so they have a better understanding
of one another’s jobs but also to break down barriers in status or fear of reporting. Joint training is
very common in most airlines, with emphasis on practical scenarios and case studies to further
enhance the relationship. Another accident that prompted the need for development of this training
(and is often used as an example) was the crash of British Midland Flight 92 at Kegworth, in England
in 1989. In the accident report by the AAIB, it was discovered that the flight crew shut down the
working engine causing the accident. Cabin crew missed the captain’s reference to the right engine
when he spoke to the passenger cabin, although several passengers on the left of the aircraft, who
had seen sparks and flame from the engine on their side, were puzzled by it. It was also reported
that the cabin crew ‘Didn’t feel it was their business …’ to report further.

So, what are the difficulties in communication between flight crew and cabin crew? Different
personalities and motivations can come into play, as well as status and cultural gaps. Also, flight
crew and cabin crew may have different schedules and flight time limitations. The locked flight deck
door and sterile cockpit rules also can make communication difficult on a practical level. Cabin crew
are now encouraged to speak to the flight crew about any potential threat in the cabin and not be
afraid to do so, be it a smell or sound, an unusual vibration or a suspicious passenger—anything out
of the usual or that is not routine. Crew briefings are also joint, where possible, and interactive. CRM
is about teamwork and synergy and a team-solving approach. Communication, leadership and
decision-making are all very important factors. Open and honest reporting systems should also be in
place and there should be a culture that allows lessons to be learned from any incidents or
accidents. CRM training creates trust between all crew members, that could save lives in an
emergency. This can also be extended to engineers, dispatch crew, ground crew and management,
so that safe and efficient flights can be expected and achieved.
Within the cabin, many elements of human factors to be considered. The passenger relationship can
be a difficult one, as often the airlines are keen to fit in as many seats on the aircraft as possible and
aircraft are becoming more cramped. There are more cases than ever of disruptive passengers, due
to anger, loss of control or substance abuse. There is a perception that cabin crew are just
waiters/waitresses and not the safety professionals that they are trained to be. On regional carriers
with smaller aircraft, only one cabin crew is necessary: one for every 36 passengers in Australia, one
in every 50 for most other countries. This could mean, as a sole crew member, you are responsible
for everything that happens inside the cabin, including dealing with disruptive passengers and
potentially threatening situations. Sole cabin crew often feel like there is lack of support from their
peers and feel psychological pressure.

In recent times, there has been a rise in passengers taking off cabin baggage in aircraft evacuations,
which could injure someone else, impede an evacuation and damage the slide. Examples of this
include Emirates Flight 521 in Dubai in 2016, where video footage shot in the cabin shows
passengers trying to retrieve items from the overhead lockers. The evacuation was successful, no
thanks to these people, although for unrelated reasons a firefighter lost his life. In the crash of
Aeroflot Flight 1492 in May this year, the outcome was much worse, with 41 people losing their lives
including one cabin crewmember stationed at the back of the aircraft. Reports suggest that
passengers sitting aft of row 10 were not able to evacuate because passengers in front of them were
collecting their baggage.

There’s a clear need to stop this kind of passenger behaviour and allow the cabin crew to do their
job—but how? Safety demonstrations have been made more varied and amusing to engage
passenger interest, but safety instructions are still being ignored. There should be more awareness,
maybe even at the airport before the flight to show the implications of not complying with the
instructions of cabin crew—our lives depend on it too!

Within aircraft cabin design, ergonomics need to be considered, everything from the cabin crew
jump seats to emergency equipment, galley and trolley design, emergency exits and signage, and
emergency floor lighting for crew and passengers to be able to evacuate easily in an emergency
situation. Cabin safety experts and cabin crew focal groups must have a strong say in cabin design
and its fitness for purpose. Does the galley flow allow for efficient service? Can emergency
equipment be easily reached? Are the aisles, exit size and seat pitch wide enough to allow a full
aircraft to be evacuated in 90 seconds? The practicalities of working in the cabin for long hours,
under stress and fatigued, tied with potential threats such as turbulence and disruptive passengers,
all need to be reviewed.

Human factors in the cabin and the cockpit have no doubt improved and lowered the risk of
incidents and accidents and contributed to a safer working environment on board the aircraft.
However, we should now also be examining human factors in relation to the passenger and what we
can do to improve safety awareness in the cabin.

Types of Communication

There are basically two relevant types of communication in dealing with passengers- Verbal and
Non-verbal
(there is also written but try and leave the guy in 23B a note about not having his vegetarian meal
and see how
that works out ;-).
Responsibilities of Cabin Crew
At the time of the boarding, passengers, most of the time, are welcomed at the door of the airplane
by the smiling faces of the cabin crew. The posture and their language must be positive, to make the
passengers impressed even before take off. These will never know that behind the big smile, in fact,
are hiding sometimes long hours of work, because newly airline companies resort more often to the
double-sector system (this mean 4 consecutive flies in one day, for example: Dubai-Muscat-Dubai-
Bahrein-Dubai)
If in the technical building at the briefing, the pilots did not present themselves before the cabin
crew, they can organize a short meeting with the entire crew even before the flight, before boarding
the passengers. As flight attendants arrive at the airplane 30-45 minutes before take-off, in all this
time they have to organize practically the whole flight.

Safety and Security Control

Firstly, after they arrange their personal belongings in compartments, they can start by checking the
intercommunication system, by making a short announcement in the cabin and responding to the
call coming from the cabin manager. At the moment when the catering and cleaning teams have left
the airplane, the cabin crew can start a safety and security control. Besides checking the doors and
the cabin equipment, galleys(kitchen of the aircraft) and toilets (expiration date, pressure, the
number of these on boars, intact seal), the cabin crew check also the alarm system in case of fire or
smoke and the jump-seat. Through this equipment it is included the megaphone, oxygen tubes,
extinguisher, lantern, demo kit, smoke mask, life vest, seatbelts for children, surviving kits and so on.
In the cabin must be checked the presence of the seatbelts for all the passengers seats, life vests and
the safety instruction card, and also the closing system of the masks and the baggage compartment.

Just now the cabin crew can start the security process, namely checking all the spaces in the airplane
where any person can have access (seat pockets, storage space port, wardrobe, toilets, storing
compartments of consumables and the trash, all the kitchen spaces and the compartments of
emergency equipment and those destine for the cabin crew rest). Any object that doesn’t need to be
in the airplane must be found by the flight attendant at the ground, before boarding the passengers
and taken away by the security team of the airport. The cabin crew who are responsible at the
kitchen will check the functionality of the catering equipment (cafeteria, refrigerators, food carts,
boilers, electric oven, heating bread, microwave), their fixing system and of course their electric
switches.

Boarding the passengers

Once obtained the approval of the captain, the passenger can be boarded, taken to their seats by
the cabin crew, process followed by distribution of some products on ground (amenity kit, menus,
perfumed napkins, candies, newspapers) and a video and audio presentation of the safety
equipment and the evacuation procedures in case of emergency. As soon as the passengers buckled
their seatbelts, raised the seatbacks, table trays, feet support and sunshades and closed the
electronic equipment, the cabin crew will transmit to the cabin manager that the entire cabin is
ready to take off.
Such a preparation of the cabin will take place, as well, before landing, insisting on the fact that the
passengers must remain seated till the airplane is completely stopped and the “Fasten the
seatbelts” sign is off. Before landing, is again checked the bar stock and the Duty Free,
compartments being sealed by the flight attendants responsible with it, and in case of a flight with
a layover, it’s written also an inventory of the products remained on board for the cabin crew that
will retrieve the airplane and even can be prepared the products used on the return flight.

Announcements on landing
In the announcement made after landing, the cabin crew can give information regarding to the
airport, connections, terminals and smoking lounges in the airport. Once landed, as soon as the last
passengers leave the airplane, the cabin crew will check again the security process to make sure that
nobody forgot any luggage in the airplane, intentional or not, and the compartments in the kitchen
will be sealed if the plane landed on base or if it will be another cabin crew without them to meet on
board.

If, there is no teamwork onboard not only will service suffer and the passengers will notice it but in
an emergency situation – it does not bear thinking about! So, how can you as a member of crew do
your best to contribute to your team and promote best practice onboard? Here we can take a look
at some examples…

During the flight

Of course, during your flight you need to work closely together to perform the safety and security
checks required and plan for the flight ahead.

These are absolutely non-negotiable and missing them or not performing them correctly can be very
damaging to your team. What would happen if you didn’t check the fire extinguisher was serviceable
and then there was a galley fire? You will also provide efficient service to the passengers, whichever
class you work in or whether you are cabin or galley based.

Although most services are fairly standard and with good communication and awareness most small
problems can be ironed out almost immediately – maybe a passenger did not receive their
vegetarian meal or you have run out of coffee, a team member will usually be there immediately to
help you. While you continue the service, another crew member can be bringing you another pot of
coffee or finding a spare vegetarian meal from business class.
Communication is the key

Although, difficult for some, communication with the flight crew is an important factor - especially
within some cultures where it may seem inappropriate to communicate with them according to rank
and cultural status etc. You may have to communicate with them on a regular basis if you are
working in the forward galley or during a flight you may see something - ice on the wing or maybe
smell an electrical smell for example… which must be immediately reported for safety reasons and
you must have the confidence to do so. During your training, you will be told how and when this is
appropriate and not to be afraid to report anything suspicious.
Crew Resource Management

During your airline training you will learn about CRM (Crew Resource Management) and Human
Factors. This emphasizes the importance of communication and teamwork between all crew
members and flight crew. You will learn how emergency situations occur due to a chain of events
and how lapses in team work and communication can add negatively to the scenario. You will
understand how your role in the team can prevent a potential scenario, control a threat and survive
an emergency if at all possible.

As mentioned previously, your designated role for your flight in the day will give you certain duties
to perform in an emergency including briefing passengers, equipment retrieval and location for
evacuation. You will also learn during training, various drills for emergencies that have assigned roles
including medical situations (assessor, collector, teller, support) or for a fire fighting scenario
(firefighter, communicator, collector and passenger controller.) These titles vary airline to airline.

Great teamwork not only makes a happy successful team, but reflects well on the passengers and
the airline. This is turn promotes passenger confidence in regards to the safety and service that the
airline offers, therefore repeat business. Remember that it is crucial to have teamwork in a potential
emergency situation and shows your success in dealing with it effectively and at the end of the day,
you may have to trust a crew member with your own life – could you do that?

On a bright positive note, being part of a great team not only makes work more fun and efficient but
enables a safer and more secure environment for all, whether you are working onboard, staying
down-route or flying as a passenger. Teamwork and cabin crew are very much hand in hand, so we
should appreciate it and make it especially important to our every day work life.

Importance of Communication among the Crew :

The majority of aircraft accidents are caused by human error and an accident or incident is linked
together by a chain of errors. Most of these accidents could have been avoided by the crew if they
would have been communicating to each other better. Some common errors that occur among the
crew are poor task delegation, assertiveness, and distractions. Crew training in communication and
teamwork will increase the crews' performance level. Programs like Crew Resource Management
(CRM) have been developed to try to help the crews work together and reduce the human factor in
accidents. CRM includes training in leadership/followership, assertiveness, management,
communication, teamwork, decision making and task delegation. Through programs like CRM crews
learn to work together as a team and when they are working together it is less likely there'll be an
accident.

INTORDUCTION : Background

The cause for most aircraft accidents (65%) are by crew error (FAA News, 1996). When
the Crews performance level is low due to poor teamwork and communication this is
when accidents happen. How can crew error be reduced? Even though human error can't
be reduced completely through constant training and effort by the crew performance will
increase and accidents will be reduced.

Importance of Communication among the Crew

People communicate to each other every day. From a kids talking to their parents about
their report card, to doctors working in an operating room. In order for us to understand
one another we must be clear in what we say. For instance, if a doctor tells a nurse to
pull a certain plug on a machine, he'd better be clear on what he says or the nurse might
end up harming a patient. Likewise, the cabin and flight crew must work together. In a
typical cockpit the flight crew is very busy and they need to be well organized to handle
the many tasks they perform. They need to communicate properly and clearly for safe
operations, if they don't their actions could result in a tragedy.

Main Cause of Aircraft Accidents

Mechanical problems and technical malfunctions do contribute to aircraft accidents, but

human error is the main cause, accounting for 65% of the accidents (FAA News, 1996).
This figure is quite high, and if it were possible to reduce human error the accident rate
would drop significantly. Accidents that occur because of human error are not a direct
result of just one error but of a chain of errors. The human error chain results when one
bad decision leads to another which leads to the accident. The question is, how can we
reduce human error in the cockpit? Studies have shown that most incidents could have
been prevented if communication and leadership skills were improved.

Duties of Crew Members

In order to have a clear understanding of who's involved in the crew, these positions
with their duties will be discussed. There are usually 2-3 flight crew members and 1-3
flight attendants aboard an airliner. In the flight deck are the Captain, Co-pilot and flight
engineer. When there are only two flight crew members there's no flight engineer. (This
is to reduce costs). The Captain is the Pilot in Command (PIC). He/she has the final
authority of all decisions and all responsibility rest on his/her shoulders. The Co-pilot
assists the Captain in his/her duties, like calculating fuel consumptions, weight and
balance, navigation etc. He/she is Second in Command (SIC). The Flight Engineer helps
reduce the work load of the Captain and Co-pilot. Some of his/her duties may include
fuel consumption rate, weight and balance and communicating with the cabin crew. The
cabin crew consists of the Flight Attendants. Besides serving coffee and making sure
passengers are comfortable, they are also responsible for briefing passengers on
emergency procedures, evacuations and informing the flight crew when problems arise.
Flight Attendants are very important and are an asset to the crew as a whole.

Expectations of the Crew

Many aircraft accidents have occurred because of role confusion among the crew. It is
crucial that each member knows what their job is and what is expected of them. A way
for them to know is through communication. An example of miscommunication is the
Avianca jet that was in the pattern for over an hour waiting to land at Kennedy Airport.
The flight crew had told Air Traffic Control (ATC) they were low on fuel and would run
out if they did not land soon. The plane crashed on final approach to land, the reason…
fuel exhaustion (Nader & Smith, 1994). The crew didn't declare an emergency to ATC. In
aviation saying the right key words can make a difference. Had the pilots declared an
emergency because of the low fuel level ATC would have cleared them to land earlier? Or
if ATC inquired about their fuel situation, the accident wouldn't have happened. This
accident also shows the human error chain. One mistake leads to another which leads to
an accident.

A Crew is A Team
The words Crew and Team have the same meaning. A group of people working together.
The flight & cabin crew are a team and each crew member is a team player. A military
phrase heard often is "there are no individuals here! You are a team!" It should be the
same way aboard an aircraft. In order for flights to be safe, efficient and enjoyable the
crew needs to be able to work together. It's not enough for the Captain to give orders
and the crew obeys no matter what, there needs to be open communication.

Intimidation in the Cockpit

The Captain is the commander on board but this doesn't mean he can't listen of take
advice. Each member of the team is interdependent on one another. Sometimes in
aviation the Captain is thought of as god, you don't dare approach him or question him.
A lot of cabin and flight crews are afraid to approach the Captain about a safety concern
for fear of how he'll react. Slowly this attitude has been changing. How can a cockpit be
effectively run if the Captain's own crew cannot work together?

One example of how these attitudes can affect the way hazardous situations are handled
is the Air Ontario flight from Dryden, Canada. The airliner had been waiting a long time
for its turn to takeoff. The weather was bad, it was snowing hard and the visibility was
low. The last time the plane was de-iced was a half-hour ago. From the pilots view out
the window everything looked normal. Meanwhile, a flight attendant noticed the snow
that was accumulating on the aircraft's wings. She wanted to inform the flight crew
before takeoff but was intimidated by what their response would be to her, so she said
nothing. There was also an airline pilot aboard who wasn't on duty at the time, but was
also concerned about ice forming on the wings. He thought about letting the flight crew
know what he saw, but didn't want to interfere with their operations. The Air Canada
barely took off when it crashed because ice had built on the wings causing loss of lift
(Chute & Wiener, 1996).

Cabin Crew is part of the Team.

Here again is the human error chain. If one of the links could have been broken the
accident wouldn't have happened. These attitudes can and do cause harm. The flight
attendant and off duty pilot should have informed the crew of the possible danger and
the Captain should have requested another de-icing before takeoff. The crew should
welcome the cabin crew on their concerns. After all they too are a part of the team.

Trusting the Crew's Judgment

Trusting each other's judgment is a necessity. Without it, how can the crew work
together? The Captain must be able to trust that his/her crew is performing their duties
properly and vise/versa. Besides having authority the Captain is also the leader. He/she
is the one when emergency situations arise pulls the crew together to work as a team
even when they don't know each other. A true leader is willing to listen to others, be
respectful and be able to take command.
Crew Resource Management (CRM)

A program called Crew Resource Management (CRM) has been developed to help
implement this leadership, communication and decision making skills in crew members.
Since the main cause of accidents is due to human error it is hoped that through CRM
training crew members will communicate and work together more effectively. CRM is not
required by the FAA, but it is recommended. Many airlines are having their crews go
through this training and they look highly on pilots who not only posse the technical
skills but also the people skills.

Outline of CRM Training

In years past emphasis was put on the technical, stick and rudder aspects of flying. In
recent years it has become evident that these skills by themselves are not enough, but
that training in people skills is needed. That is what CRM is about. It provides crews'
training in…

1. Communication

2. Decision making

3. Assertiveness

4. Leadership/Followership

5. Teamwork

6. Task Delegation

7. Managing

Crew members going through CRM training will attend classroom instruction, watch
videos and participate in role playing on these subjects (FAA- AC, 1995).

LOFT Training

Because crews rarely work together more than once and don’t have time to build a
commodity, using the Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT) simulator crews practice
managing a cockpit with members they've never met (Chute & Wiener I,1996). This
simulator is like virtual reality. Pilots sit in a cockpit where the windows are where the
video screen is, all the buttons and knobs work. (Pilot has come out of these LOFT
simulators sweating, because what they've just experienced seemed so real). In LOFT
crews can fly routes and have emergency situations come up, like an engine failure,
deteriorating weather, and navigation problems. The benefit about LOFT is that it's a
simulator, there's no danger involved and yet the crew still learns (Helm Reich, 1996).
Crews going through LOFT training are evaluated on how well they handled the different
situations, communication with each other and task delegation. These training sessions
are videotaped so the crew can debrief afterwards how well they did and what they need
to change.

Organize Resources and Priorities

Crew members are not only leaders but also managers. They must be able to use their
time and resources wisely. There’s only so many tasks that one person can handle and
be efficient at the same time. That's why Captains need to know when to delegate duties
and when to notice that another has too many. Also, they need to prioritize, know what
duties are the most important and when they need to be done. This is all part of being a
leader and manager.

Human error is the main cause of aircraft accidents, and it's a chain of errors that sets
the accident into motion. Poor flight and cabin crew communication does exist. A
program called Crew Resource Management has been developed to improve teamwork,
proper task delegation, communication and trust among the crew. Interpretation of the
Findings the need for crew communication is evident. When crews' don't work together
their performance level is low and this is when they are vulnerable to accidents.

Programs like CRM are very helpful in instilling these principles and breaking the bad
habits. Poor attitudes and habits can't be changed overnight. That's why there is a need
for recurrent CRM training. Communication and teamwork is the key to safe and
effective operations.