Airline Pilot Reveals The Meaning Of 11 Secret Code Words Used During Flight

The pilots and attendants on an airplane must be able to communicate with each other over the intercom without alarming people, so they use jargon that makes no sense to passengers in order to speak in secret.

But thanks to pilot and author of Cockpit Confidential Patrick Smith the jargons out of the jar, and now you'll know what they're talking about when they discuss all-calls, crosschecks and "the equipment":

All-call

Used in a sample sentence: "Flight attendants, doors to arrival, crosscheck and all-call."

Definition: According to Smith, all-call is usually part of the door arming/disarming procedure. "This is a request that each flight attendant report via intercom from his or her station — a sort of flight attendant conference call," he wrote.

Doors to arrival and crosscheck

Used in a sample sentence: "Flight attendants, doors to arrival and crosscheck."

Definition: The announcement, usually made by the lead flight attendant as the plane is approaching the gate, is to verify that the emergency escape slides attached to each door have been disarmed — otherwise the slide will deploy automatically as soon as the door is opened.

Equipment

Used in a sample sentence: "Due to an equipment change, departure for Heathrow is delayed three hours.”

Definition: The airplane. "Is there not something strange about the refusal to call the focal object of the entire industry by its real name?" Smith wrote.

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