[QUOTE]Originally posted by ESpen36:
Actually, I also would be VERY interested to hear the details about the electronic beeps, dings, and colored lights that appear at the front and rear of the aircraft. Here are some of the possibilities that I have theorized:

1) Somebody hitting the call button makes a red/orange light come on and makes a tone.

Red or pink light on the indicator panel, plus a few chimes means a crew phone call. The chime for crew call is double ding-dong.

Orange/gold light indicates a call from the lav.


2) Turning the seatbelt sign on/off makes a tone but no lights (besides the pax indicators, obviously).

yes

3) Reaching 10,000 ft (when it's okay to use electronic devices) makes a ding. However, there have been many instances when we're barely off the ground when we hear the ding and the FA makes the announcement.

Sometimes the FA is thrown off by a passenger chime going off. At that point you are just listening for the chime and sometimes not paying attention to the indicator panel.

The first chime is supposed to be 10,000 feet. This indicates that sterile cockpit, the period of time that we cannot contact the pit except in the case of an emergency, or the critical phase of takeoff is over. It used to mean that the FA's could assume their duties. The second chime after takeoff now indicates this. Since pilots know that FA's will get up on the first chime, many hold off giving it until they know that the weather is clear before making it. This is why it sometimes goes off way after 10,000 feet. Lately, that has been the case a lot.

4) Beginning descent - blue light comes on

A blue light is a call from a passenger seat.

The seat belt sign is recycled (turned off and on by the pilots) at the beginning of descent, which makes no light appear on the panel.

5) Right before takeoff roll begins - one or two dings

correct


[/b]Do these mean anything? Or do the pilots simply have a "ding" button that they can hit whenever they want?

Every ding means something. The pilots have a series of buttons from seatbelts, to no smoking, to crew call buttons to make noise in the cabin.

Oftentimes when we hear a "ding" the FAs will poke their head out of the galley to look up at the series of indicator lights. What are they looking for?

They are looking to see if it is a crew call, lav call, pax call. They are also looking to see if it is their cabin and on widebody which side it is on. The 777 will tell you on the monitors near the galley where it is originating from. Every other planes calls are determined by locating the light on the panel and over the seat or lav it is coming from. The Airbus is the most annoying of all airplanes because the passenger call lights ring throughout the airplane even if you are in the front and the light is on at the last row.



[This message has been edited by AAFA (edited Feb 08, 2004).]