When flying over the holidays, I noticed the stewerdesses saying something like “1R 1L” and “2R 2L” over the plane’s PA system, during landing and maybe during takeoff.
What does this mean? My best guess s that R=right and L=left, but even so what are they telling each other?
Hmm… it’s the FA’s saying this that’s throwing me off. Pilots use chatter of that sort to identify parallel runways, but it might mean something different coming from FA’s.
On the off chance it’s “pilot jargon”, “2L” would mean a runway laid out to conform with the magnetic direction of 20 degrees, which is to the left of a similar runway, which would be called “2R”.
But it may mean something completely different to FA’s
WAG: Telling each other that the passengers in the first and second left-side and right-side seating sections are buckled down and behaving? (With the sections indicated/blocked out by emergency exits or bulkheads.)
You obviously mean the cross check.
“Cross-check 1L, 1R – 2L, 2R, etc.” or “cross check complete,” means that the inflatable evacuation slides on the cabin doors are armed or have been disarmed."
Yes, the numbers refer to doors (numbered from the front of the airplane aft) and the L or R refers to the side of the airplane.
When the airplane gets ready to push back from the gate the doors that contain emergency exit slides must be “armed”. Arming a door means that when it is opened it will automatically trigger deployment of the slide. Likewise when a plane pulls into the gate the doors are “de-armed” so that they can be opened by gate agents or caterers without the slides deploying.
Doors that do not contain emergency exit slides (ie overwing exits) are not armed or disarmed.
Procedures differ among airlines as to how to verify that all doors are armed prior to pushback. Some have the FAs make a PA that is really for the lead flight attendant only. Once he or she hears “2L and 2R” or whatever then he can tell us up front that the airplane is ready for departure.
Broomstick scribbles furiously in notebook, so she does not look like an idiot next time someone asks her about this, expecting her as a small plane pilot to know everything about all aviation everywhere, even though she hasn’t set foot on an airliner for 9 years…
Thanks folks!
To add to what Pilot 141 said Narrow body airliners (older designs) have a bar at the bottom of the slide that is hooked into the floor to arm the slide. This bar is called a girt bar. When the plane is ready to depart the FAs will hook the bar to the brackets on the floor. At arrival the bar will be unhooked and stowed on the bottom of the slide.
Wide bodies and more modern narrow body planes have a lever on the door under a clear cover. The lever has 2 positions armed and disarmed. The FAs do not have to get on their knees to get the craft ready for departure.
[nitpick] Some planes do have slides on their over wing exits, but since those exits are never opened EXCEPT in an emergency there is no need for the FAs to be able to disarm them.[/nitpick]
-Rick who spends too much time on airplanes