Originally Posted by
danielonn
The FAA requires the passengers to read and understand English. What if in an emergency the passengers don't understand other languages exiting the aircraft can be done with watching cues. If you see people going to the Exit then open it if needed. Who would be stupid enough to not know what to do.
The Exit is not some rocket science. In fact Airlines show the Emergency Film in different languages so why would this preclude someone who spoke French on Air France? Seems like an odd rule to me. In an Emergency who the hell has time to worry just open the damn exit and get out of there . Its not rocket science to know not to open the exit if you see smoke and if the slide does not inflate to pull the red handle.
Just my 2 cents.
The English requirement is an FAA rule, for carriers registered in the US and operated by American crews. The primary and operating language of the crew is English. Therefore, in an emergency situation, the default language for the crew will be English, and the training provided uses English commands, regardless of whether they are capable of giving commands in other languages. Carriers registered to other countries may have a language requirement that is native to the country - so for AirFrance, it may be required that those sitting in an exit row are capable of understanding French, German for Lufthansa, Mandarin for China Southern, etc.
Have you ever watched a F/A training video? The synchronicity of the F/As calling commands is spine-chilling.