Cabin crew caught unaware of landing?
 

Noticed this on a recent flight, and got me thinking.

How often are flight attendants still walking around and preparing the cabin for landing when the plane actually touches down? On a recent flight, the cabin crew were still securing items in the galley when the plane touched down. They thought they were higher than they were, so they weren't seated and strapped in. Does this happen often? I thought the pilots would signal the crew some how (like how they signal they're passing 10,000ft) before touching down so the crew would have time to strap themselves in.

I've seen very few times when they are actually still standing for landing. Most have a pretty good idea where they are in the flight processes if nothing more than by the noises the plane is making. With that being said as we began our takeoff roll last week an FA went running through first on the 757 trying to get to the mid door jumpseat.

What part of "Cabin crew, take seats for landing" don't they understand? Every flight I've been on, the captain made that announcement before or right as the landing gears extended.

There was no such announcement on that particular flight where I noticed this.

I have been on flights many times where the cabin crew was caught by surprise and were hustling to get the final "safety check" done as we were touching down. I'd say I hear the captain say "flight attendants prepare for landing" about 30% of the time.

Usually it's "Cabin crew, please be seating for landing" is what I hear though the meaning is the same all along.

On some airlines, a chime is substituted for the "prepare for landing announcement" to aid in keeping a sterile cockpit during a critical phase of flight. If the flight crew completely blew off the anouncement/chime (which has happened, and I'm sure will happen again), then that's kinda a big "oops".

Then maybe it was the pilots who were taken surprise by the landing. :eek:

It Happens
 

I noticed this on a Garuda Flight from DPS to SYD.

I was seated in row 2 and knew exactly where we were, over Botany Bay on very final approach.

The cabin crew were still gossiping in the galley, trolleys were still unlatched and out, I was starting to move away from aisle as I could imagine carts flying down the aisle as the breaks were applied, when a FA rushed forward and goes - we are about to land.

A mad scurry and everything was secured, the crew were stapping into jump seats as we hit the runway.

There was no announcement - re preparing the cabin for landing or cabin crew take your seats for landing.

Adam

"Folks. Howdy from the flight deck, and welcome to...uh...the ground, somewhere."

10% of the time I've seen this happen, most flight crews know the sounds of landing and even with the announcement don't really take action until they hear something happen to the aircraft.

I was even catching cans rolling past on one landing when a trolley got loose.

They offered I could keep them, but I declined, had 10 in the spare seat next to me.

Made landing a new experience, just wish I could top the score!

Only seen it happen once.. on a Dash 8-Q400 :eek:

She was chatting to a guy in the back row (maybe off suty crew or friend or something) and we must have been over the perimiter fence before she realized and she had to run the (short) length of the plane and must have just clicked her belt when we touched down.

"Cabin secure" or equivalent has been an item on every landing checklist I have dealt with. Indeed, some operators require positive verification (cabin call to confirm all crew seated) to the flight deck before the checklist item can be cleared. Of course, like any item that requires human intervention, there is the potential for error/oversight.

Certain airlines like USAir use chimes to indicate FAs to be seated (or at least USAir did pre merger with America West) and others like AA have no indication that FAs are to be seated (just an announcement to prepare the cabin for landing). Interestingly, AA does use chimes to indicate entrance onto the runway. On AA, never saw FAs still up and about upon landing although one night at JFK they sat down within less than a minute from landing.

I was flying not too long ago and noticed that we were about to land in JFK and the flight attendants were still running around trying to secure the cabin. Usually they are all strapped in by the time we are clearing the airport parking lots, but this time they were still running around. I took keen interest in watching when they would sit down, and the last one started walking to her seat as we were over the runway. She probably buckled up a second before we touched down. The captain did make an announcement about sitting down a few minutes earlier.