The pilots were given a checkmate – Newspaper Kommersant No. 5 (7450) dated 01/13/2023

As it became known to Kommersant, the Federal Air Transport Agency demanded that airlines report on the cultural level and behavior of pilots and flight attendants. Officials cite passengers’ complaints of profanity as the basis for inspections, as well as videos on the Internet where pilots are allegedly looking for a button to turn off the speakerphone with obscene expressions. This video is considered fake by the industry. Some carriers note that they strictly regulate even the tone of voice with which crew members address passengers. Others claim that the informal jokes of the pilots cause a standing ovation in the cabin. The pilots themselves emphasize that it is technically impossible to forget to turn off the microphone, but incidents when communicating with dispatchers are possible.

According to Kommersant, the Federal Air Transport Agency sent a letter to the heads of airlines asking them to monitor the culture of speech and the behavior of pilots and flight attendants. The text of the letter from the deputy head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Dmitry Yadrov (Kommersant has it) states that they are increasingly receiving complaints from passengers about “improper observance of procedures” and profanity by crew members (including during pre-flight preparation procedures). This provision, the text notes, makes it possible to judge the crew members’ inadequate knowledge of standard operating procedures, “aircraft cockpit fittings” and “poor interaction” with each other.

The Federal Air Transport Agency asks to “conduct additional classes” and double-check the crew’s knowledge of standard phraseology during passenger information service, which is recommended to be double-checked by selective listening to audio recordings. Submissions must be made by January 16th.

As an illustration of “inappropriate behavior”, the appeal of the Federal Air Transport Agency cites a link to a video where the pilot allegedly forgets to turn off the microphone and, without embarrassment in expressions, is looking for the “radio mute button”. Apparently, this is a fake video: the same overlay audio track has been used in a number of other videos on social networks for several months.

Any such “episode” is always a fake, explains Andrey Litvinov, commander of the A-320 of Aeroflot, since it is technically impossible to forget to turn off the microphone. Broadcasting on the speakerphone to the passenger compartment, according to him, takes place through headphones or a microphone.

“In both cases, you need to hold down the mute button, which automatically depresses as soon as you release it at the end of a message,” he says. “Assuming that pilots are unfamiliar with the cockpit and recording devices can only be people who are not familiar with either the aircraft or aviation in general,” he says. Pilot-instructor Aleksey Kochemasov emphasizes that such incidents with allegedly accidentally turning on the speakerphone are impossible regardless of the type of vessel: “Obviously, the inspectors had no other problems and had extra free time.”

Checks of the level of communications between crew members and passengers are mandatory and are carried out regularly, Aeroflot told Kommersant. Knowledge of speech modules and speech culture are assessed by linguists of the instructor staff at mandatory technical classes at least once every six months. In addition, the company regularly conducts trainings in Russian and English, during which communication with conflict passengers, intercultural communications with clients from different countries, as well as the etiquette of business correspondence are studied. More than 65% of cabin crew members have higher education, and 35% of cabin crew members speak two or more foreign languages, Aeroflot added.

In “Russia” they said that all texts of information messages were developed in accordance with the standards of passenger service and exclude the use of “unspecified vocabulary and their own wording” by crew members. In the messages of the crew members, the use of professionalism, wordy definitions, vernacular and slang is not allowed, the company representative emphasized.

Pobeda noted that the discipline and cultural level of the company’s flight crew “cause no complaints.” All crew members are fluent in typical phraseology for informing customers on board, while allowing “some degree of freedom and friendliness” in communicating with customers. “Once a pilot, during a standard notice of a temperature overboard of -50 ° C, jokingly asked our customers not to open the windows, and after the flight this caused a flurry of positive feedback in the form of feedback,” the press service said.

S7 Group also conducts regular trainings for crew members. They reported that the company adopted a number of documents reflecting the norms of official and business etiquette and “fixing the mandatory standards of interaction both with passengers and between team members.”

Smartavia emphasizes that they pay increased attention to the communication process between crews and passengers. “Pilots and flight attendants in their communication with passengers strictly follow the developed standards and regulations, which take into account all the details of communication, including vocabulary, tonality, voice expression and other elements on which perception depends,” the company assured.

However, a Kommersant source in one of the major airlines said that on their Boeing, the communication buttons with the dispatcher and with passengers are located nearby and are easy to confuse. “But pilots don’t swear to controllers except in rare cases,” he says. At the same time, Boeing passengers can never accidentally hear communication between pilots in the cockpit.

There were no complaints from passengers about incorrect communication and behavior of pilots, Ilya Zotov, head of the All-Russian Association of Passengers, clarifies: “Otherwise, this would have had numerous confirmations and would have become a reason for serious proceedings.” In Rosaviatsia, Kommersant did not answer.

Aigul Abdullina