Mid-Flight Secrets That Only Flight Attendants And Pilots Are Privy To
BuzzFeed
5 min read
Redditor u/YamesfrankO asked the question, "Flight attendants and pilots of Reddit, what are some things that happen mid flight that only the crew are aware of?" Pilots and cabin crew provided some shocking, funny, and scary answers.
Here's some of the best:
1."As an Air Traffic Controller we are constantly swearing and yelling at pilots when we’re not on the frequency and then when we key up we use our nice guy voices."
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2."Sometimes we'll be flying faster to get there earlier if a crew member has a commute to catch home."
3."Flight attendant here. Crop dusting. Basically farting whilst we walk down the aisle due to the bloating. If you fly frequently there's a high chance an FA has farted right by your head as they walked down the aisle."
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4."There is a radio frequency we all are required to monitor. Its called Guard. It’s for emergency use and is designed for maydays, and for Air Traffic Control to reach aircraft that may have lost radio contact, or to relay messages from aircraft to other aircraft, etc. Every day this frequency is abused."
"You will hear hundreds of professional aviators meowing, yelling obscenities at each other, and making fun of one airline or another. Often times what will start it is some poor guy accidentally transmitting his PA announcement to passengers on the guard frequency, followed by the very “mature” outbreaks for about 5-10 minutes." —u/Gravity88x
5."One split second of instinct combined with piloting skill decides if you land on the runway or on the side of it. Most of the runways are 45 meters wide and on a gusty summer afternoon or during thunderstorms I take God's name more than Pope himself."
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6."Pilot here. We only get paid when the doors are closed and the push back has commenced. If we’re delayed or sitting with the door open, we’re just as annoyed as you are."
"At altitude we’re constantly in contact with air traffic control and change to different 'center frequencies' (or control for other than US locations). We’re also doing fuel checks to make sure the fuel burn isn’t abnormal, dodging weather, and probably bitching about scheduling." —u/cornbreadcasserole
7."One of my all time favorites is the captain accidentally broadcasting his passenger briefing (welcome aboard, weather in Chicago, and so on) on frequency instead of the aircraft PA system, blocking up ground, ramp, tower, etc. for a solid 15 seconds. You automatically become the laughing stock of the airport."
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8."I was learning to be cabin crew at college and in the event that someone dies onboard, the CC (Cabin Crew) make it less obvious that they have passed. Put glasses on them, maybe a hat. Essentially dress them up as subtle as possible to not alert and or panic the other passengers."
9."That the captain had a heart attack and passed away mid flight and he's the reason we have to have an unscheduled stop, not to refuel."
10."Pilots are on their phones or reading the newspaper all the time."
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11."The scariest moment of my day is when the FA opens the internal bag door (the closet we all throw our overnight bags in) without calling us in the flight deck first. That ding and master caution gets me every time."
12."Pilot here. We will not only transport dead bodies, but also live transplants, like hearts and lungs. I particularly like the live transplants because we get to cut to the front of the line for take off and we get all the short cuts to our destination."
"Also, don't take off your shoes to go to the bathroom. People pee on the floor all the time." —u/purcerh
13."An instructor told me that he and his training buddy BOTH fell asleep for about 45 minutes at the same time, while gaining hours for licensing. The plane was in complete auto pilot mode, clear skies, zero turbulence. They both swore if they ever flew again they would 'hand off' sleep like handing off the controls."
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14."Pilot here. Most of the time the passengers are not given the full answer on why a flight is delayed or cancelled. Airlines will typically blame cancellations on unrelated events (weather) instead of mechanical issues so they don’t have to pay for hotel rooms/meals etc."
15."Sometimes the pilot is sleeping and co-pilot is flying and there are dead bodies in the cargo."
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16."There's a 600-page book in the cockpit with Every. Single. Thing. that can possibly go wrong, from a bulb going out to an engine falling off, a biohazard or a bomb threat."
17."My uncle was a pilot. He says that most people don’t understand how much of the airplane is run by computers. The pilots are necessary but a lot of the elements of flying are automated nowadays."
18."Sometimes the pilot and co-pilot are exchanging files and playing video games together via Wi-Fi."
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19."Flight attendants don't get paid on the ground. Only flying hours are paid. We are slave labor on the ground and duties are continually added to our unpaid work time because the company knows they don't have to pay us. We show up 2 to 3 hours before we even start getting paid and some days we will work up to 14 hrs and only get paid for 5 or 6 of those hours. It should be illegal."
20."There's a special frequency called Guard that all aircraft are supposed to monitor. It's for emergencies, or for when an aircraft ends up on a wrong frequency and the controllers need to get contact with them to change them to the right frequency."
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"It's full of pilots meowing at each other, and people accidentally asking for gate assignments and making other radio calls." —u/dog_in_the_vent