Ask the Pilot

From "cross-check" to "wind shear": A glossary of airline-speak for the curious passenger.

By Patrick Smith

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May 4, 2007 | There's a cartoon on Page 71 of the April 30 issue of the New Yorker. It depicts two pilots sitting in their seats. (It's obvious from the small touches that the artist went out of his way to realistically portray a cockpit: the jump-seat briefing cards tucked into the chair-back pockets; the retracted shoulder belts; the sidewall-mounted fire extinguisher with metal tension clasps; the correctly placed altitude indicator and horizontal situation indicator instruments; even the elevator trim rocker switches, right where they should be on the control yokes.) The caption goes like this: The captain (wearing the correct four-stripe epaulets) is saying to the first officer (wearing the correct three-stripe epaulets): "Whether I have five passengers or five hundred, I try to make the same inane announcements."

As a pilot who tries hard to keep his public address chatter brief and informative, my feelings are hurt. But I have to ask: Is it true? Do pilots, as a rule, make inane announcements? I don't always listen, frankly, but I assumed we did a pretty good job. I mean, what passenger doesn't want to hear that "we'll be shooting the localizer to one six left?" Or that the wind in St. Louis is blowing from the southeast at 8 knots? Or that the dew point is up to 16 Celsius? People need to know.

OK, so maybe the artist has a point.

The experience of air travel is unique in that people subject themselves to a long string of mostly anonymous authorities. From the moment you step through the terminal doors, you're subject to orders -- stand here, take your shoes off there, put your seat belt on, do this, put away that -- and a flurry of information. Most of it comes not face-to-face, but over a microphone, delivered by employees, seen and unseen, in a vernacular that binges on jargon, acronyms and confusing euphemisms. There are people who make dozens of air journeys annually and still have only a vague understanding of many terms.

So, to help the baffled flier, what follows is Part 1 of a glossary. This week, we'll concentrate on those expressions you hear while aloft or otherwise on board an aircraft. Next week, we'll cover terms you encounter in the terminal and at the gate (plus any on-the-plane items that have managed to escape me). Not every word or phrase is included -- some, as you'll see, are presented tongue-in-cheek -- but I've focused on those most easily misunderstood, or not understood at all. Some entries have been covered in prior columns, or in my book, most often as part of larger discussions. They are presented again below, alone and more concisely.

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CROSS-CHECK "Flight attendants, doors to arrival and cross-check."

This one goes first because I'm been asked about it more often than any other word or phrase. "Cross-check" is a generic term used by pilots and flight attendants meaning that one person has verified the action of another. It's quite common, for instance, during the read/response choreography of the cockpit checklist. In the cabin, it pertains to verifying the arming or disarming function of the emergency escape slides that are attached to the doors. When armed, a slide will automatically deploy the instant its door is opened. Disarmed, it needs to be deployed manually. After the plane leaves the gate, the slides have to be armed in case of an emergency evacuation; when it docks, they're disarmed to keep them from billowing into the boarding tunnel, or onto the apron, when the doors are opened for servicing or DEPLANING. The flight attendants cross-check one another's stations to make sure everything is in the right position. The exact phraseology varies airline to airline. Some don't use "cross-check" at all, but say only, "doors to arrival/departure," or "arm doors," or "doors to automatic," or something to that effect. (Note: Contrary to what many people think, these announcements are made exclusively for and by the flight attendants, not the pilots.)

ALL-CALL "Flight attendants, doors to arrival all-call."

"All-call" is another variation on the doors procedures, above. Each cabin crew member reports to the lead flight attendant or purser that the doors and slides are properly set.

LAST-MINUTE PAPERWORK "Good morning from the flight deck. This is the first officer speaking. We're just finishing up some last-minute paperwork and should be under way shortly."

Everything is buttoned up and the flight is ready for push-back. Then comes the wait for "some last-minute paperwork," which winds up taking half an hour. Usually it's something to do with the weight-and-balance record. Or it might be a revision to the takeoff performance data. Or it could mean waiting for the maintenance guys to deal with a write-up and get the logbook in order. Whatever is going on, the pilots aren't trying to fool you. They don't know exactly how long these things are going to take. It should be quick, but it's pretty much out of their hands.

FLIGHT DECK

Meaning: the cockpit.

FIRST OFFICER (also, COPILOT)

Second in command on the flight deck. He (or she) sits on the right and wears three stripes. The first officer is fully qualified to operate the aircraft in all stages of flight, including takeoffs and landings, and does so in alternating turns with the captain.

CAPTAIN

The pilot in command, ultimately responsible for the aircraft and everybody in it. He (or she) is the one with four stripes and the larger paycheck. (Unless it's a regional airline, where he's the one with four stripes and a slightly smaller food stamps allocation.)

ATC "Unfortunately, ATC has assigned us a holding pattern for at least the next 45 minutes."

Meaning: air traffic control -- a collective term for the many personnel who guide, supervise and coordinate the movement of aircraft. These aren't just the people you see in movies hunched over radar screens; ATC has many responsibilities, and the controllers themselves are in many different locations, some of them nowhere near the airport. They function separately as "clearance delivery," "ground control," "TOWER," "approach control," "departure control," "center" and assorted others. A given flight contacts each of these in sequence. Air-to-ground communication is normally via two-way radio, but satellite and other computerized linkups are increasingly common, especially for flights across the ocean and on trans-polar routes.

TOWER (or CONTROL TOWER)

The control tower oversees only takeoffs and landings -- i.e., traffic on the runways or in the immediate vicinity of the airport. Attempting to keep things simple, airline staff often use the word interchangeably -- and wrongly, most of the time -- as a general reference to ATC. The tower itself does not assign or coordinate delays.

HOLDING PATTERN

A racetrack-shaped course flown by aircraft during weather or traffic delays. Most holds are flown "as published" on aeronautical charts, but can be improvised almost anywhere.

Next page: "Wind shear" is one of those buzzwords that scare the crap out of people