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Galley Gossip: What to do when the flight crew yells brace!
You've just boarded the airplane, stowed your large bag in the overhead bin, smaller bag completely under the seat in front of you, and taken your seat. As passengers continue to file past you down the aisle, you place those headphones in your ears, crank up the Ipod, and recline your seat way back. This flight is just like all the other flights you've been on before. After the safety demo is over, an evil flight attendant comes sauntering down the aisle, stops at your row, and asks you to put your seat back up and turn your Ipod off. When you ignore her, she tells you again, reminding you that anything with an on and off switch needs to be stowed and put away for takeoff. You give her a look. What's the big deal?
Three minutes after take-off you hear a loud bang. The crew, still strapped into their jumpseats, begins yelling Brace! Brace! Brace! Do you know what to do?
Hopefully you'll never find yourself in the brace position, but if you are told to brace most likely the flight attendants will stand in the aisle and actually show you the different brace positions, as well as brief you on how to open the emergency exit doors and windows - in case the crew is injured and unable to get to the exit. That's why it's always important to look over the briefing card, particularly if you are sitting in an exit row. Because sometimes things happen without warning, like it did for those who crashed into the Hudson River onboard US Airways flight 1549 yesterday. Amazingly everyone onboard survived, including an infant, thanks to the heroic efforts of Captain Chesley B "Sully" Sullenberger and the entire cabin crew who popped opened those doors, inflated the slide / rafts, and commanded the quick evacuation!
THE BRACE POSITION:
- Standard brace position (facing the cockpit): Sit as far back in the seat as possible with lap belt low and tight across the hips. Keep feet flat on the floor, out from underneath seat. Rest chin to chest and bend over as far as possible, chest to knees, wrapping your arms around your legs and clasping hands under knees
- Standard brace position (facing the tail of the aircraft): Sit as far back in seat as possible and press head against seat back. Keep feet flat on the floor, out from underneath seat. Rest hands on knees or hold onto the seat arm rest.
- Pregnant women: Pad stomach area with blankets and pillows. Seat belt should be worn under the stomach, not over. Cross wrists and rest forehead on the back of hands against the seat in front of you
- Lap children: Place child in an approved safety seat. If a car seat is unavailable, make sure the seat belt is secured only around the adult. Place child on the seat, between the legs of the adult. Lock arms around the child and bend over child. Infants: provide support to head, neck, and body.
While it's important to know how to brace, it's also important to have room to brace. This is why flight attendants ask you to keep your seat backs in the locked and upright position on take-off and landing. When seat backs are upright passengers are able to get out of their row and into the aisle much easier, which makes for a quicker exit. Every second counts when it comes to evacuating an aircraft, particularly one that is sinking in the Hudson river on a snowy day in freezing temperature.
Not only is it important to keep your seat upright, it's just as important to place all your carry on bags in an overhead bin or completely under the seat in front of you. Again, it makes for a faster evacuation when there aren't bags blocking the aisles and tripping passengers on their way out the exit doors and windows. This is also why the exit rows must remain clear and why the seats don't always recline in these rows. So next time I come to your row, the emergency exit row, to brief you on the window exit, it is very important to pay attention. It could just save your life.
Photo courtesy of Derek7272
Filed under: Airlines, Galley Gossip
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
masanddjs Jan 16th 2009 9:45AM
Thanks for the information. It's fun reading your blogs and learning about airline life. I came across this website today. Another flight attendant blog that is very informative and entertaining.
http://www.theflyingpinto.com/
Bill Jan 16th 2009 9:45AM
Heather -- yet another of your very informative posts. I'm guessing that a lot of folks will read this one thoroughly, after yesterday's mishap.
Marilyn Terrell Jan 16th 2009 9:47AM
Thanks Heather for explaing the brace positions and why it's important to follow those often-ignored instructions. It's good to get your insider perspective.
Traytable Jan 16th 2009 10:20AM
I don't know whether to be scared that I made a very similar post about a month back, regarding exit rows, seat backs and why we're not just saying words when we ask passengers to do these things!
Also demonstrates the importance crew play in keeping everyone calm, as seen in the photos. Despite descriptions of panicked passengers, I didn't see too much chaos from those standing on the wing. Well done to al the crew involved!
Barbara Jan 16th 2009 11:12AM
Hi Heather,
I have been enjoying your blog having just discovered it recently. I, too, am a flight attendant with a major carrier, so I was watching the news with rapt attention yesterday. I couldn't believe what I saw: in the photo of the passengers standing all along the wing, there was a fellow holding firmly to the extended handle of his roll-a-board suitcase!
Heather Poole Jan 16th 2009 3:30PM
Barbara,
I am now on the hunt for the photograph with the passenger holding onto the rollaboard! I want to say, Unbelievable! Yet it is totally believable.
Carol Jan 16th 2009 6:25PM
Once again the training, skill, and courage of the airline professionals saved the lives of many people. Not only those on the aircraft, but also an uncounted number of people on the ground. Kudos to the pilots for a superb job making an incredibly difficult decision and then skillfully carrying it to completion. Kudos also to the cabin crew, second only in sequence, equal in importance. Without their swift and effective actions, the best ditching in the world, (which this may well have been), would still have ended in disaster.
Whenever I leave a plane and the flight attendant smiles and says "Buh Bye", I always say, "Thank-you." My thanks are not for the "extra" peanuts, or the headset, they are for the knowledge that you folks are the ones who would have saved my butt if saving was in any way possible. It really doesn't matter how fast you pour a drink, it's how fast you would get/keep me out of the drink that matters.
frank96 Jan 16th 2009 2:51PM
Ok, I've been glued to the tv for the past two days. Here in NYC, they had non-stop coverage of this event yesterday on TV. They began to interview some of the survivors and one explained that the Pilot announced, "Brace for impact". The passenger continued to say, "how do you brace for a crash?" and sighs. I just shook my head and your article, Heather explains what I was thinking. THANK YOU!
Carol Jan 16th 2009 5:45PM
Re: Passenger with rollaboard
That passenger should be prosecuted and at the very least receive a hefty fine for endangering the lives of the other passengers and crew. How totally selfish to create a situation in which losing his grip on the luggage could block those behind him, possibly preventing them from getting out of the plane. If there is no legislation under which that prosecution might proceed, I urge the state and federal governments to create it to punish and discourage such dangerous behavior in the future.
Leesa Jan 17th 2009 9:47AM
Great Blog Heather! How many times have you felt like "the evil Flight Attendant" sauntering down the aisle? Only to have passengers roll there eyes at you- not once but twice! I know, I have felt that way! I don't want to have to be the evil one! People you've done this before... understand the rules are there to save your bum! Not for us to make your life miserable! We (the F/A's) really don't like to be the seat Gestapo's! Some of us really hate having to have to remind you of these things! Some of us do NOT gather pleasure- being the EVIL seat monitors! I for one hate having to do this! I know it's part of my job- so I do it! Just remember that, and don't roll your eyes at me, next time- okay? We are so thankful for the outcome of USair's flight! That was a masterpiece of crew coordination and training. No better outcome was possible! It was amazing! I hope that people read your blog, Heather and learn some valuable information. Digest it and remember it, folks. Someday this information could save your lives. Heather is doing you a valuable service by getting this information to you! Fly safe!
Skygirl1 Jan 17th 2009 7:58PM
Scully and I go way back... He is the pilots pilot. Always does a breifing, worries and cares about the crew and passengers and you always feel VERY comfortable flying with him. he started CRM Know as Crew Resourse Management that started at Usairways and was later intergreated and most if not all air carriers. I will have to say... with most major carriers changing flight crews during several flights we at Usairways EAST do not do that. We are with our crew the entire trip. This was the final leg home from a 4 day trip.... our crews"knew" each other and what to expect from the other. As a USAIRWAYS EAST employee I am so glad we still do this. Usairways WEST still does not. Can you imagine a flight crew and cockpit crew meeting for the first time on that flight? It would not have went to well. Despite all the hardships that the airline employees have faced over the years, this is an example of why the airlines need to respect thier "experienced crew" Our employees have been around longer than those who attempt to manage them. Some of us have been through 3-4 CEO's and yet they still do not listen.
I guess the moral of this post is that EXPERIENCE does matter. As far as the cabin crew, their experience was 38, 28, and 21 years of safety and service to our customers.
WTG DONNA, SHIELA, DORIS. Nothing more can be said about SCULLY and JEFF that the news media has not already said. WTG FELLOW CREW!
Leesa Jan 18th 2009 8:46AM
Skygirl1, you are so right about the ENTIRE Crew flying together, the whole trip. It is so importan situations like this, prove it! We do not stay with our cockpit crews- all the time. I often wonder how safe that is?
Sometimes, I have no idea when I am working a widebody trip; in business class or coach -who our cockpit is. That is till we are on the hotel van, after our flight. Scary, you bet! Kinda hard to have good crew coordination, if you have never meet the crew before. The agents are in such a hurry to board our flights- and the Captains sometimes do not Insist on putting the brakes on the whole process - doing a briefing- so hence we might never meet- till we are on the way to the hotel. Unless it's an cockpit crew, I know from my 25 years of past flying experience with the company, I fly for. It really should be an FAA directive. This USAir flight is perfect clarification on the situation, I agree with you-wholeheartedly!
I use to fly for a smaller airline. We all knew each other and each pilots flying style and personality. This was before we were gobbled up by the big guy, I fly for now, Yes, we had better crew coordination. Yes, since we were a young airline most of us were junior- and not nearly as experienced, as we are now. Yes, we had an excellent safety record, to boot- too! Miraculously!
Paul Davis Jan 18th 2009 8:48AM
I don't know when the last time they took a good look at the brace position was but I bet it was back when there was room to sit in economy without your knees hitting the seat in front of you. I tried the brace position just for fun on my flight home yesterday on AA and I didn't get anywhere near the position described. All I was able to manage was crouching forward a bit.
Tucking your head down seems to me a bad idea too as it just puts a lot of pressure and the base of your spine and skull. A better position and one that is actually achievable in economy would be to hold on to the seat in front of you and place your forehead or face on your hands. You might end up with some lower back problems but your neck won't snap right away.
Bil Jan 19th 2009 1:31AM
I work as a Flight Attendant. Whenever I fly other than work I always pay attention to the Flight Attendants when they do their safety demo. I learn how the doors open and where my nearest exit is. Folks usually pay attention when they think they are going to die. It's a human condition period. So folks do yourself a favor learn where, when and how to get off that plane BEFORE it leaves the ground.
kiwi Jan 30th 2009 1:59PM
Hats off to Heather!!
Someone sent me this blog because I am a retired airline employee (DAL). I often sit at the exit and I take my responsibilities seriously. That being said however, I do not always pay attention to your valuable safety briefings, I rarely read the safety card any more and I assume that everything will be fine with the flight. This incident was a wake-up call for me and I promise to be a better passenger from now on when I fly.
Note to Skygirl1, I attended one of the first CRM classes mandated at DAL in 1990. As I recall, UAL created the commercial airline version of CRM which was later credited for minimizing the UA 232 disaster in 1989. Most commercial carriers adapted the UA module to fit their needs.
George Feb 1st 2009 11:29PM
Although I fly almost every week -- and I do pay attention to the safety demo! -- I really found this informative. And what I really didn't know is that if you are facing backwards (toward the tail) that the correct brace position would be sitting straight up in the seat and pressing back into the seat, rather than bending forward and grabbing around your legs. On the new United international business class configuration, with over half the seats facing backwards, I'm surprised that they don't actually make this part of the safety briefing, as I don't think most passengers realize this. Thanks for doing it! GD, San Francisco.
Allie Feb 2nd 2009 3:28AM
I am not a FA or have anything to do with airlines, but I am proud of how the FA,, pilots and all fellow employees of this crew reacted to this emergency. Dont think for one minute that there are not some of us out here who have nothing to do with airlines that we dont admire you. You certainly are much more than glorified waitresses, you are gifts from the heavens in times of horrific circumstances. Thank you all for being there.