Originally Posted by
username
I was really scared listening to Channel 9 approaching PVG. Not only the Chinese ATC talk to the Chinese pilots in Chinese, they also used metric. That is just a bad bad idea in my mind....
Even between Taiwan and Mainland, where the official language is both Chinese Mandarin, the ATC language is different and requires a cross-reference:
http://www.ivaocn.org/cn_events/2009..._and_TW_SI.pdf
Yes same here landing in HKG. Hearing altitude in meters and feet or no unit at all. I suppose a pilot should be able to use common sense and figure out which. But still ....
As for the main topic, I always hear "arm" "disarm" "crosscheck" I assume the FA saying it on every flight, it would be so routine, they wouldn't forget such a thing. Also, it is brightly colored and very prominent of it is ARMed. Although if you see it every day, it is easy to not see it. With no trucks or anything next to it (seemingly just after the occurrence), I wonder if it was some sort of malfunction. Or a passenger that really wanted to get off the plane quick.