07:00 pm
Sunday 05 September 2021
I wrote – Asmaa Morsi
Pilots have many perks, although you may think you know what a pilot does, you may not know everything about the things they are allowed to use, for example, did you know that in the roof of the cockpit there are a pair of ropes that can help them escape In an emergency?
And the Bright Sight website reviewed a list of 7 things that are hidden from passengers but used by pilots, as follows:
Bedroom for rest:
When they’re on long-haul flights, meaning a flight of more than 6 hours, cabin crew need rest too, just like flight attendants, so there are usually two hidden bedrooms where the crew can nap when they’re tired.
Shower and toilet:
On larger commercial aircraft, there is also showers located alongside these bedrooms where the crew can refresh after a nap, and you can even find equipment there in case of an emergency.
Imagine if you needed to fly 14-16 hours, you might not look or smell good at the end of that flight, so, during these long flights, there is always extra crew on board to replace those resting and rest periods are mandatory for all flight crew .
Emergency oxygen masks:
In some emergency situations, for example, when the plane is not well pressurized, everyone needs oxygen from somewhere, and passengers have their own oxygen masks, so pilots should have their own covers.
In the cockpit, there are special wearing masks located on the left side of each pilot, they are a little more complicated than those in the cabin and they also last longer because pilots need to be able to troubleshoot and land safely.
Crash ax for emergency use:
Although hidden from passengers, pilots have a crash axe at their disposal that they can use to either open panels to fight a fire, or to break a window if necessary.
Video camera:
Pilots communicate all the time with the air controller in order to check all flight details, but some cockpits also have video cameras that record pilots. The flight crew knows this, and also records all flight data. It can be checked later for various reasons.
Escape ropes for evacuating planes:
In each cockpit, there are two ropes that can be used to evacuate the plane through the windows, the ropes are a few meters long and knotted as well, this helps the pilots glide more easily.
sliding windows for evacuation:
In order to use those ropes we talked about above, they must evacuate the plane by other means if the door is not a good option, and the other option is the two sliding windows on the side of each pilot that open inward, and they are used as an emergency evacuation.
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