I'm sure you're all familiar with the "Cabin crew, x minutes to landing" anouncement, whicht tends to be either 10, 15 or 20 minutes. As cabin crew told me to switch off my electronics (how rude to interrupt my audio book just as it was getting exciting...) I had 20 minutes to ponder the question why it was only 10 audio-free minutes on the outbound and why this number is harder to guess than when the next IROPS will occur.
So is there any reason behind this number? Or does it every captain according to his/her liking?
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The question now, inevitably, is why the difference? As I understand it, CC no longer have to collect headsets, which might have been the reason, but perhaps alignment is on the cards?
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It is generally 10 minuits on shorthaul and 20 minuits on longhaul. It is longer on a longhaul flight because they are bigger aircraft and usually take longer to secure.
However if the Captain feels it might get bumpy and he might want the cabin crew to strap in early for their safety, he can make it any length he likes.
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BA is good compared to Virgin. Most Virgin flights are 30 minutes plus. I've had flights where I've been asked to turn off my kindle and 30 to 40 minutes later we land.
CC have a lot more duties on arrival than on departure. Checking that all is secure is largely done before-hand. Not so on arrival. CC also have to judge whether they've got a high # of nuisance pax to deal with and may well ask the Captain to give them more time to do so. As others mention can also be turbulence.
In the end, Captain's in charge of the aircraft and can do it whenever suits.
My experience is 10 or 15 on shorthaul and 20 on longhaul.
My experience is that time slows down when coming into land and 10 minute to landing is far longer than 10 minutes on the ground. The way to become the Time Traveller.
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I've been on a flight where we were told that it would be 20 minutes to landing and then after the cabin was secure with crew in their seats he came back on and said that we would be holding for a short while. There were some disgruntled passengers who had been made to stop using various electronic devices who didn't look happy at that news. We landed about 35-40 mins after his initial announcement.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmie76
I've been on a flight where we were told that it would be 20 minutes to landing and then after the cabin was secure with crew in their seats he came back on and said that we would be holding for a short while. There were some disgruntled passengers who had been made to stop using various electronic devices who didn't look happy at that news. We landed about 35-40 mins after his initial announcement.
Well that is just the way it is sometimes.
The cabin has to be made ready but then if the landing gets delayed by ATC subsequently, usually for a reason like a missed approach by another aircraft or something on the runway etc.etc.etc. there are a multitude of reasons, it can just take longer.
At that point you cannot unsecured the cabin because ATC can change their minds again and send you straight in! It is just something you will have to put up with when dealing with aircraft, airports and the multitude of issues that can delay your arrival. It's just life particularily at the busiest two runway airport in the world.
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I believe we had 'Cabin crew 30 seconds to landing' coming into ATH once.
They hadn't exactly been hurrying after the previous announcement, and the Capt was presumably getting a little anxious that he hadn't received the Cabin Secure message!
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Well he may have been trying to spur them on but without the cabin secure, the Captain will not land and would have been close to deciding to go around. They would normally call and find out how much longer we need and make a decision then.
Obviously we sometime forget to give the signal and then the flight crew will usually phone us and ask if we are secure and we will apologise profusely!
On the smaller aircraft they can see us strapped in on their camera screen and this gives them a clue we have just forgotten to move the slider over!
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Last edited by Littlegirl; Jan 17, 13 at 6:02 pm..
What happened to reading a newspaper or a magazine?
