What To Know About Flight Attendant Code Words Before Your Flight
By AARON BAGGETT
Much of the airline industry uses abbreviations, including the scheduling terms "ETA" for "Estimated Time of Arrival" and "ETD" for "Estimated Time of Departure."
Abbreviations
"Pax" means "passengers," and "lav" is "lavatory," or some call it the "blue room," like the toilet sanitizer color. "Fwd" is the front section, and "aft" is the plane's rear.
The terms L1, L2, R1, and R2 are specific to the left ("L") and right ("R") sides of the plane, indicating cabin crew positions and the door sides.
L1, L2, R1, R2
The numbers are the sequence of the doors from the front to the rear. A "situation at R1" means something has happened on the right side at the front of the plane.
The bulkhead refers to the dividers or walls separating sections or aircraft classes, such as the galley (kitchen), first class, business, and economy.
Bulkhead
It is also a sought-after seating area for those desiring extra legroom unless you're avoiding crying babies, as this is typically where the crib is stored.
You may hear the announcement to "arm doors and cross-check." This means to activate or deactivate the automatic inflation of emergency exit slides.
Arm, Cross-Check, Disarm
Attendants turn a door handle to the "armed" position before takeoff and "disarmed" after landing. The term "cross-check" reminds the crew to confirm all doors are set correctly.
To prevent errors or oversights, the FAA mandates that pilots remain undistracted when planes are below 10,000 feet, especially during takeoff and landing.
Sterile Cockpit
The Sterile Cockpit rule focuses on minimizing non-essential communications, allowing pilots to give their undivided attention to safely navigating these critical phases of flight.