Passenger Briefing

Clayviation

Clayviation

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Clayviation
Training in a 172, the Passenger Briefing line is often a glaze over item when you have your usual instructor on board. Do any of y'all have a passenger brief for when you take up a friend or family member that you enjoy? How about when you are flying with another pilot?

Help me inspire tomorrow's pilot at www.clayviation.com
 
I used to give a detailed briefing to everyone, but I don't think it was very helpful. Too much information. Now I taylor to the experience of passenger and mostly stress the important things:

-emergency exit procedures.
-no distractions during critical phases of flight.
-blue straight-and-level button.
-parachute operation.
-help in looking for traffic.
 
That I enjoy? Not really.

You have to tell them how and when to use the seat belts. Other stuff is no smoking, comfort, sterile cockpit, controls, CRM (at least looking for traffic), emergency procedures, and the mission if it isn't obvious.
 
Clayviation said:
Training in a 172, the Passenger Briefing line is often a glaze over item when you have your usual instructor on board. Do any of y'all have a passenger brief for when you take up a friend or family member that you enjoy? How about when you are flying with another pilot?

Help me inspire tomorrow's pilot at www.clayviation.com
Click to expand...

I always give passengers a SAFETY briefing the first time we fly together:

Seats/seat belts/smoking
Air (vents, airsickness bags)
Fire extinguisher
Exits/emergencies/equipment
Traffic/talking (sterile cockpit)
Your questions
 
mjburian said:
I always give passengers a SAFETY briefing the first time we fly together:

Seats/seat belts/smoking
Air (vents, airsickness bags)
Fire extinguisher
Exits/emergencies/equipment
Traffic/talking (sterile cockpit)
Your questions
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

When flying with another pilot I always make sure we each know what each pilots duties are if any... :yes:, especially during an emergency.
 
At my current flight school in Argentina, we have to memorize the passenger briefing and say it almost every flight. The 5 main items are: doors, seatbelts, ELT, fire extinguisher, survival kit, and no smoking.

Of course we have to say it in Spanish, so when I get back to the US I'll probably confuse my English-speaking passengers the first few times.
 
How to operate the door. The rest is either on demand or self evident, in a 172.
 
I tell them that I will close the door, to not slam it, keep their feet off the pedals and wear the seat belt. Sometime while taxiing I discuss my need for a sterile cockpit; if necessary I remind them when I need it. It's very obvious that they are sitting beside the only door. I also help with the headset & microphone.
 
With other pilots I always discuss sharing duties. Will they be dialing in frequencies, codes etc? I always do a complete engine loss on departure briefing with who is going to do what. This includes when I'm getting dual with a CFI.
 
Hand them a safety briefing card and tell them not to touch anything and that I may isolate them when they ask 100 questions while I'm communicating with ATC
 
mjburian said:
I always give passengers a SAFETY briefing the first time we fly together:

Seats/seat belts/smoking
Air (vents, airsickness bags)
Fire extinguisher
Exits/emergencies/equipment
Traffic/talking (sterile cockpit)
Your questions
Click to expand...
:yeahthat:
 
I use the SAFETY briefing, too. It's better than, "sit down, strap in, shut up".
 
When I first got my license and took people up I would always give a briefing. Now, I dont as much, even though I probably should. A lot of the info you tell your pax goes right over their heads. I still like to give them a brief of what to do, if we have to make an emergency landing. Other than that I dont give much.
 
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"Welcome to Sean's 182J airlines. Expect a modest climb rate, ok cruise speed, high noise level and average piloting capabilities."

In all seriousness, evac/forced landing protocol, sterile cockpit, expectations for see and avoid, and basic aircraft (radio, yoke, trim, throttle) operation.
 
How about don't touch the controls unless I specifically say you may? I could have sworn I read an accident report where a passenger panicked, grabbed the yoke with a death grip and caused an accident.
 
PaulS said:
How about don't touch the controls unless I specifically say you may? I could have sworn I read an accident report where a passenger panicked, grabbed the yoke with a death grip and caused an accident.
Click to expand...

That's part of my "equipment" briefing. Basically "All of this (pointing at the controls, radios, etc) is kind of important. So don't touch anything unless we've talked about it ahead of time and you've been given the OK. Also, please make sure your seat is locked in position (show them how to verify that) so you don't slide back as we're taking off... because your instinctive reaction MAY be to grab for something, which will most likely end up being the yoke... and that could be bad news."
 
It depends on the passenger, but in general my goal is to give a briefing of what's important without anything extra. I have learned that giving details of emergency procedures doesn't comfort anyone because it just makes them think that emergencies happen all the time. "The engine won't fail, but if it does here is what we will do. I was required to practice it numerous times in training and during my test to become a pilot," seems not to build a lot of confidence in the engine. "The wings are designed to handle severe turbulence without breaking" just makes your average passenger think that the light chop you experience is actually extreme turbulence that is all but guaranteed to break the wing. And so on.

Give a briefing that helps your passengers to remain calm throughout the flight. A passenger emergency like a panic attack or vomiting on the radios is a lot more likely than an engine failure or wing fire and probably more dangerous. I just say to keep the seat belt on unless you ask me and I say it's okay, that some turbulence is normal in a small plane and we have bags in case you need one, to ask any questions you have, to hold your thought when someone is talking on the radio in case they are talking to us, and when I ask for quiet so I can focus on flying to stay quiet. And try to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery, because I mostly fly solo and it's hard to take pictures and fly at the same time.
 
I brief every time I fly with someone (even with instructors that know me). It's good practice, shows you know your airplane and makes the passengers feel more comfortable.

I definitely do NOT brief emergencies with them, but if I'm with another pilot I do the standard brief for engine out on takeoff, etc.

The three things I always go through regardless of who's in the plane:

Seat belts
Doors (exits)
Who's PIC (for everyone) and what does that mean (for non-pilot pax).

Anything else is extra and depends on who I'm flying with. I like the one that @rwellner98 did :). It's pretty frickin' hot here in FL and people don't have the time or patience for me to spend more than a few minutes talking. Sitting in a plane when its 100 degrees on the tarmac with no A/C going through a briefing isn't exactly my idea of fun :).

If I can do any of the briefing in the building before we even walk out to the plane I'll do that too.
 
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