Of seat belts and theatre…

I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things - Antoine de Saint-Exupèry

There are many facets to an airline career. One of the big attractions, which fascinates many people, me included, is the opportunity to travel. " an airline pilot! So you get to travel the world and see all sorts of cool places?" is a common question when first hearing I am an airline pilot. “Yes, I do get to see all sorts of different places, but right now I am on a domestic cargo fleet. We mostly travel within Southern Africa. Our flights across the border return on the same day, without us so much as leaving the apron.”

The apron is the name of the hardened surface in front of the terminal building, where all the aircraft are parked as you gaze out in wonderment. It is usually tar or concrete. The aircraft are parked there to offload and reload.The apron is a hive of activity. There are many different services that come and go, in a very short space of time. The part that concerns you the most, are the passengers. Sometimes you feel as if takes an eternity to disembark. The time between, parking and the seat belt signs being turned off is approximately ten seconds. The delay is attributed to the sequence of switches and systems, being turned off in the flight deck. 

The choreography of movements is similar to short play. There are many cues that are signals for the next act. One such cue is the seat belt light. The observant among you will hear regular chimes throughout the flight. The sound is a companion to the light. When the light goes on, a chime will sound. When it goes off, it will chime again. The first time you will notice the chime is shortly after your flight has commenced. An aircraft moves along the ground in a similar manner to driving a car, but is called taxiing. Taxiing takes us towards the beginning of the runway, all the while the cabin crew ensures the passenger cabin is ready for the imminent departure. Once they are satisfied that all is well, they will indicate this to the pilots by pushing a button that alerts us with a tone in the flight deck. Our response to acknowledge receipt of the message, is to flick the “no-smoking” light off and on, thus two tones will be heard in the passenger cabin. We are now ready for act two.

The first officer is an aspirant captain, waiting for his upgrade to the left hand seat. He sits on the right hand side of the flight deck. The captain sits on the left hand side, unless of course you are flying in a helicopter, then he would sit on the right. Fixed-wing aircraft (those that have wings bolted on to the body and do not have a rotor overhead) have brought over the tradition from sea faring. The commander-in-charge of the aircraft is called “Captain” and he runs the show from the left.

Although the flight deck is a busy place with rows and rows of switches, lights and levers, the area of responsibilities in the flight deck is clearly defined. Each pilot knows what to do and when it is required of them. There are many different phases of flight. Each of these phases may offer a change in responsibility between captain and first officer. At the end of the flight, when the airliner is parked safely in the bay at the terminal building, the aircraft is shut down. The fuel levers are moved to the shut-off position by the pilot flying. The ground engineer will insert wheel chocks to prevent any movement. While that is taking place, there is a sequence of systems and switches to turn off. One of these switches is the seat belt light, critical for your safe exit.

As the performance draws to a close, the final cue from the flight deck is the turning off of the seat belt lights. The cabin crews’ final act begins. They unstrap themselves, pack away the seat belts and fold up their jump seats. They will move to their assigned door and disarm the escape slide. The escape slide is a vital piece of safety equipment when a rapid exit is required, but lethal if inadvertently activated when safely parked at the terminal building. There are people that wait outside the doors, ready to commence preparation for the next performance. If the escape slide is still armed when the door is opened, the force of the slide inflating outward may result in a lethal blow to the smiling individual waiting outside. The doors are now disarmed. Each crew member will check the opposite door, to confirm it has indeed been disarmed. Once that has taken place, a thumbs up from the ramp agent outside, tells the crew it is safe to open the door. The passengers may now disembark. It so happens, that on this occasion, this is my stop too.

The adventure during the layover is a huge drawcard to the profession of airline pilot. The layover is the time between getting off the aircraft to rest and getting back on to return home. My layover has started. I grab my waterski, my briefcase and my luggage. All I can now focus on, is this day unfolding just as I have planned. We are headed up the Cape West Coast in a Toyota SUV, to find flat, warm water for a ski.