You Don’t Say! Better Announcements Enhance Profession

An old lady reached the end of the jet bridge and looked up, down and out the window, everywhere but toward the airplance door.  She was baffled.  She asked in a voice of irritated despair, “15E? 15E?”

           A flight attendant, seeing the woman spinning in slow circles, her boarding pass held aloft, said, “Why, yes ma’am, right this way … that seat is inside the airplane.”

           Aircrew members need to keep travelers’ confusion in mind when thinking about how to communicate with passengers on airliners.  It sometimes seems that modern air travelers get things backward:  They bring all their bags on board … and check their brains. 

           This phenomenon does not necessarily point to an intellect problem.  It can be a psychological event caused by the environment.  Passengers are herded, inspected and prodded in such a way that a Martian visitor might not be able to tell the difference between a Chicago cattle yard and the terminal at O’Hare.  At the end of the first part of her stressful journey, the airport odyssey, a passenger packs her person into a long, unfamiliar tube and sits in a seat that mocks at any idea of personal space.  “Enjoy your flight” indeed.  She may even see the airplane environment as hostile. 

            So it is no surprise that a lot of airline travelers suffer from tunnel vision … and listen with tunnel ears.  When pilots and flight attendants talk with passengers on the public address system care need to be taken if the messages are to be heard and in flight directions complied with.  With good announcements crewmembers can also promote the professionalism and implied worth of airline pilots and flight attendants.  To accomplish these goals messages must be planned and then gotten across loud and clear, using a few carefully selected words.

           Crewmembers need to speak to passengers in understandable terms … using slow, clear enunciation.  Pilots and flight attendants often rattle off announcements at too rapid a pace.  Add the lousy sound systems on a lot of jets, especially the older ones, and the result can be incomprehensible garble.  Crewmembers need to overcome the crummy speakers, engine noise, the slipstream and many seated cases of “selective hearing.”  Pilots and flights attendants need to speak slow, loud and clear and E-NUN-CI-ATE.  What is the point of speaking at all if the words are not understood? 

          The actual words used are important, so the speaker might want to consider these questions when preparing an announcement:  What if each member of the P.A. audience was my eighty five year old grandmother (maybe she is the same lady who was looking for her seat 15E in the jet bridge)?  What if this same person was a former pilot or flight attendant?  How can this person be spoken to so she will understand me?  What would I, if I were she, a former crewmember with bad ears seated in a passenger seat, want to know on this flight?

           Only individuals hear the announcements.  Even though the total audience may be several dozen or hundreds of people, only one pair of ears hears the words at a time.  Effective public speakers know this and address each person individually.  They do not “speak to the crowd.”  It is important for a speaker to plan to provide the most information using the fewest number of words.  For example, once a flight is off the gate and underway, is it really necessary to say “Luxury Air Flight Eight Six Three Four with service to
Cedar Rapids?”  All a passenger needs to know is that they’re heading for Cedar Rapids.  Likewise, is there a point to telling passengers at which gate they will be parking when they are flying to a “spoke” airport where there will be no connections and for which there is no map in the onboard magazine?  This kind of information is useless filler.  It is better to give passengers “news they can use.”

            Passengers’ airborne concerns can be addressed with a good P.A.  These include estimated time of arrival (not just time en route), connection information (will they be tight or is there plenty of time?), weather en route and at the destination and perhaps the route of flight.  Passengers are very interested in hearing about delays and irregular operations.  Anything that affects them getting off the airplane at something other than the planned time is important to talk about.  

          The goal is to give the maximum information with the fewest number of words.  The weatherman on a radio station gives a quick “weather snippet.”  He says, “It’s partly cloudy, windy and 75 degrees.”  He does not, nor does a crewmember have to, talk about dew point, visibility, knots or millibars.  While keeping brevity in mind, it is good to ask ourselves questions:  What is interesting or unusual about this flight? 

          Is there pea soup fog?  Is it blowing a gale?  Is that paper plant in the Bitterroot Valley going to be perfuming us when we land?  It is a lovely day?  What are the factors affecting us on this flight?

          A crewmember does well to consider all the announcements as part of a program, as choreography.  What have my other crewmembers already said?  How can I “add to the verbal dance” so that our information is not repetitive or redundant? 

          In non-critical phases of flight, a crew can often group announcements together.  To monitor the flight attendant announcements, pilots may be able to keep the P.A. volume low but audible in their headsets.  By hearing when the flight attendants are speaking they can “piggy back” to create a seamless, two-part announcement (and avoid “stepping on” a flight attendant announcement in progress).  Segued messages give the impression of just one announcement in two voices.  This is like having fewer commercial interruptions on radio or TV.  Care must be taken, however, to ensure that en route and emergency channel volumes are set to override the monitored P.A. selection. Delivering an effective announcement requires planning.  Instead of having a “standard patter” that one has used for years (and which is often cobbled together from phrases that are airline clichés), it is better to be deliberate and plan the P.A.’s for each flight.  There can be a standard structure but it can be tailored it to make each announcement unique.  Customizing a script, one that gets vital information across and is interesting enough so that people actually listen goes a long way toward eliminating incomprehensible, rapid-fire delivery.

          Mindfulness and planning will prevent announcements that are given during trying and stressful conditions from sounding just like announcements delivered on routine, sunny and smooth days. A rote “standard speech,” delivered without engagement of higher brain function, gives the impression that a crewmember is just reading a required script and does not really care about the people riding in the revenue seats. 

          People will listen when announcements are kept interesting.  They want to listen.  They want to be informed and entertained.  After all, they have nothing to do for hours but enjoy the in-flight amenities, which in the early 21^st century are too often just a barf bag and a Sky Mall catalog.  Announcements can inform and entertain; but are best kept few and short.  Passengers do not need to be worn out with words … keep ‘em wanting more.

          Planning also minimizes the “uhhs” and clicks of the microphone button that pepper a lot of airplane announcements.  Planning solves several communications problems at once.

         Humor is dangerous.  Inaccurate statements … even in jest … should be avoided.  For example, a pilot on a DC-9 flight to Virginia welcomed people on board “our service to Rome by way of Richmond.”  Huh?  This type of thing confuses people. 

            Derogatory comments about a locale, person or company, even the speaker’s own, are inappropriate.  The same pilot, when the same flight encountered rain associated with turbulence, deadpanned, “This is the way Wild West Airlines washes its jets … saves money.”  Phrases should be planned with a positive, or at least neutral, slant … and kept true.           

          Airline clichés and jargon, unless explained, are not understandable by most passengers.  Likewise, when describing a mechanical irregularity, phrases like “We have a little red light” are best avoided.  They convey little and can be condescending.  It is better to tell the passengers exactly what is the problem.  “We have a failure in one of our three inertial reference units, a device we use for navigation” tells them exactly what has gone bad.  They may not know how an IRS functions, but they will appreciate not being “talked down to” and they will appreciate the crew sharing some “insider information.”

          Language is important.  What are the real messages and meanings a speaker wishes to convey?  When a passenger hears, “You are now free to move about the cabin” he may think it is social time and he is free to stroll the lofty promenade deck and hang out in the galley.  In fact, the point was not to invite he to an airborne soiree.  Flight attendants and people interested in aviation security do not want a lot of people milling around the cabin.  Different and better language can be chosen:  “The seat belt sign is off.  You may now leave your seat to take care of your personal needs.”

          Precise and clear language can be a goal.  For example, when a pilot says, “I’ll just go ahead and turn on the seat belt sign,” a lot is left unsaid.  What he really means is that the seat belt sign is a signal that passengers are required by law, for safety reasons, to return to their seats, buckle up, stay in their seats as long as the captain determines it is unsafe for them to get up and the lavatories will be available once the sign is turned off.  A speaker needs to say what he means and mean what he says with precision and brevity.  “The seat belt sign is now on. You must remain seated with your seat belt fastened.” Then he must remember to follow up.  In this example, he must communicate when passengers may again leave their seats.  He must turn the seat belt sign off as soon as it is safe.  Forgetting this important step is a communications failure.

          Announcements should be planned with the time of day in mind.  On red-eye and early morning flights most people want to sleep.  The Sky Mall commercial, informational pilot P.A. and other non safety announcements can either be made during the boarding process or when the aircraft is close to landing, both times when people are awake.  Announcements during “sleepy hours” are a nuisance.  Safety announcements and non-verbal signals, however, must still be given.

           The actual mechanics of speaking into a microphone are also important.  Holding a microphone close to the mouth, making sure the sound waves arrive perpendicular to the receiver, results in a clear, loud sound.  Air and energy for quality speech comes from the chest and the actual words are crafted just behind the teeth.  Speaking from the body’s diaphragm and then forming the actual words in the forward part of the mouth is the way professional announcers deliver rich, “pear shaped” tones that are pleasing to the ear.  The whole apparatus is a beautiful wind instrument.  It is not necessary to try to “sound like an announcer.”  A properly formed phrase properly delivered to a microphone in a person’s natural voice is a beautiful thing on its own.

          It is also important to eliminate a noisy background before keying the microphone button.  Turning off cockpit speakers reduces crosstalk, which often gets in the way of clear hearing.

          Crewmembers need to let each other know if the announcements cannot be clearly heard in the passenger cabin.  Once a problem is known work can be done to remedy any barriers to clear communication.

          To make people on airplanes feel warm, secure and to increase the public perception of the high worth of the crew members, a pilot should use his name; introduce himself.  “This is Captain Holcombe,” sounds a lot friendlier, a lot more personal, than “From the flight deck.”  If a pilot speaks as if he is a cog in the machine and sounds like he is reading from a trite script, he becomes a disembodied functionary; he is not perceived as a real person.

          A trusted, caring professional is perceived as being worth a lot more than an interchangeable pilot voice.  Quiet, assured, self-promotion of the flying profession, without pomp, hauteur or windiness is good for passengers sense of well being and, with hope, for professional flyers’ pocketbooks.

           An airplane public address announcement is a way for crewmembers to promote and increase the perceived worth of members of their profession.  Carefully chosen words and phrases enhance perceived worth in a way that does not sound pompous or contrived.

           There are choices.  One can says things like, “Well, the computer says we’ve got about 30 minutes to go,” or “ATC (whatever that is) has assigned us a new flight level,” both of which imply that a computer or other entity is doing the work; that a pilot is just a button pusher.  It is better for a pilot to say things like “We are working out a course that will keep us clear of the bad weather,” “I am taking the airplane out over the
Gulf of Mexico to avoid weather closing in over central Florida,” or “We estimate that we will land at 8:16.”   It is important to project the correct impression that aircraft are flown at all times by pilots, not computers or air traffic controllers.

          Passengers can be assured, through chosen words delivered with caring, respectful authority, that pilots are well trained, seasoned, competent, responsible, disciplined and in command.  An important message is that pilots care about their passengers and will keep them safe … that passengers are not just traveling in some faceless system operated by automatons. By delivering them a message of care and concern a passenger just might return the thought  “The person who is making the decisions that are keeping me alive and safe is worth a lot, in fact more than he can ever be paid.”

          “Our estimated time of arrival is 9:23,” is precise and sounds like a pilot has actually done some figuring.  “Around 9:30” sounds more like a guess.  The vagaries of the approach have already been covered by the use of the word “estimated.”  Precise language conveys the idea of bright, disciplined pilots and flight attendants.  It is an important image to convey.

          When most people give airline crews any thought at all it is often in response to a talk show host’s joke about incompetence or alcohol.  The media’s goal seems to be to search out the macabre and sensational.  The airline corporate interests desire to hire aircrew services at the lowest possible cost.  Neither the media nor the corporatocracy has an interest in promoting the high value of flight crews.  Like a physician, an airline pilot holds the lives of people in his hands.  Unlike a surgeon, a captain may have dozens or hundreds of “patients on the table” with every takeoff.  Crewmembers must promote a professional image.  They are, in fact, the only people who are going to do it.  Even in the absence of high salaries, the idea that aircrews’ true value is beyond price is an important message.  Today, more than ever, perception creates reality.  Aircrews would like to see the reality of higher wages.

          The goal is to fully inform passengers, communicate instructions to keep them safe and to promote the professionalism and implied high worth of airline pilots and flight attendants.  This needs to be an intention.  Public address messages must be planned and gotten across loud and clear, using a few carefully selected words.  In years to come people may not remember on which airline they traveled on a particular trip, but the positive image created by a professional crewmember can live in memory for a lifetime.

R. D. Roberts is an airline captain and former radio broadcaster