"From the Flight Deck"

I always adlib, sometimes I skip it. Sometimes there's too much to do, and I know that most people don't care. For the in-range announcement, I just translate into English.

Enroute, I like finding random little towns with big-city names to point out. Heading to OKC tonight, we flew near Miami, OK. It got a laugh last time, so I offered it again.

- - - - - -

As for air in the CRJ1 and 2, it's bad without the APU. Fuel savings be damned, I'm going to keep that thing running. We switch the bleeds climbing out of acceleration altitude, since the engines can keep up. On the arrival, once we're below 15,000' and less than 300kias, I'm starting that thing and keeping the air going. Nothing I hate more when non-revving / DHing is a the lack of air in the back. If I'm APU-less (more often than not), I'll use the spoilers during descent with the power up to keep the air going. The passengers didn't ask to get stuck in a hamster wheel; I'm not going to ventilate it like one.

In the 700 and 900, the "set it, and forget it" is great, except that once you start descending, the freaking thing cranks the heat. Gotta watch it. Whilst doing the "walk of shame" in the 700, I've noticed that the front of the aircraft is cold, while the rear is stuffy. Ya just can't win.
 
If I'm APU-less (more often than not), I'll use the spoilers during descent with the power up to keep the air going.
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Now that is a great idea. I wish I'd thought of that one. I hated that "dead air" feeling when we went back to idle to descend.
 
Bog said:
Whilst doing the "walk of shame" in the 700, I've noticed that the front of the aircraft is cold, while the rear is stuffy.
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Why are you doing the walk of shame in the 700? In the 200 I could see, but there isn't a need in the 700.
 
I've enjoyed squeezing in "Ladies and Gentlemen, we're about 10 minutes out from Washington's DULLEST airport..."

No one has noticed yet...

Also, if you know a foreign language, it might be cool to repeat the announcement in that language. I've been doing German, and on the past 2 flying days have made the 1 or 2 (hahaa!) passengers that know german REALLY happy.
 
Doug Taylor said:
Nah, it'd be more like a few pointers like:

* Keep it short.
* Keep it to the point.

But that's about it. :)
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Cruise: "Welcome aboard ladies/gents please keep your seatbelts fastened and hows the temperature?" [insert various hand gestures/snipets of foreign languages here]

Landing: "Ladies/gents we're beginning our descent for landing please keep your seatbelts fastened and make sure all items are stowed underneath the seat in front of you or behind you, thank you."

Taxi in: "Ladies/gents, welcome to XXXX, please remain seated with your seatbelt securely fastened until the aicraft has come to a complete stop and the props have stopped spinning, thank you."

:rawk:
 
BobDDuck said:
Why are you doing the walk of shame in the 700? In the 200 I could see, but there isn't a need in the 700.
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Because I don't want to take a leak in the galley.

(hint: we only have one lav in the 700, and it's in the back)
 
Bog said:
Because I don't want to take a leak in the galley.

(hint: we only have one lav in the 700, and it's in the back)
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Aww, come on... What else is that sink for? I didn't know you guys didn't have the second lav. That's got to suck for a full flight.
 
BobDDuck said:
Aww, come on... What else is that sink for? I didn't know you guys didn't have the second lav. That's got to suck for a full flight.
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Yeup. 13 of our 15 CR7s were originally put into service for HPX and first class up front, so maybe it was decided that a stinky lav for the high rollers wasn't a good thing.
 
I rode in first going to DFW once out of PHX. It was "nice", but I was a little concerned with the practicality of it. I'd much rather have that second seat next to me so I can stash my crap in flight.
 
I keep it short and sweet. The less you say, the less you can mess up, and that just means you have a better chance of sounding professional IMHO. Before departure, it's just "______ please be seated for departure." Arrival, it's "______ please be seated for arrival." None of this droning on and on. As for in-flight PAs, I'll just give the basics. Usually the same PA every time:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have just reached our cruising altitude of __ thousand feet, and we expect a smooth ride so the seat belt sign is now off. You are free to use the lavatories or to stretch your legs if you wish, but as always we do ask you keep your seat belt lightly fasted about your waist in case we hit any unexpected turbulence along our route of flight. Currently 1 hour 30 minutes remaining in our flight, we'll talk to you closer in with arrival weather and gate information. Enjoy the flight."

On descent, just give the temp and clouds, rain/snow showers, maybe heavy winds (might be bumpy), and gate information. Thank them for the flight, and go on my way.

I have given PAs for really cool landmarks, like flying directly over Manhattan, but otherwise that's all fluff.

Check out www.smartcockpit.com in the "Operations" section. There is a good PDF file on in-flight PAs.
 
Speaking of long, drawn-out PA's, if you've got an FAA ACI onboard, keep it as short as possible during taxi operations (w/out parking brake set) or reached your top-of-descent because it's a violation of the sterile cockpit rules.

"Flight attendants be seated for takeoff" or "flight attendants prepare for arrival". Anything beyond that and they can potentially violate you.
 
sorrygottarunway said:
Also, if you know a foreign language, it might be cool to repeat the announcement in that language. I've been doing German, and on the past 2 flying days have made the 1 or 2 (hahaa!) passengers that know german REALLY happy.
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On an ANA flight from NRT to IAD, the captain did the announcement not just in English and in Japanese (kind of expected there, right) but in Spanish and French!

Very impressive!

Although I do have to say by the time I heard the third language I didn't understand, I was ready to go back to sleep.
 
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