How Airlines Work

Once the plane has taken off, the pilot radios the departure air traffic controller. The controller is responsible for maintaining separation between aircraft within a designated airspace sector, and clears the aircraft to ascend to higher altitudes for cruise and descent. Throughout the flight, controllers monitor whether the pilots are complying with routing, speed and separation.

Once the cabin door is closed, the crew assumes responsibility for the security of all of the passengers. The Flight Attendants continuously monitor the functioning of the cabin elements of the aircraft and the behaviour of the passengers. They are fully trained to deal with any situation which could arise during the course of the flight.

The flight deck (cockpit) must be secured at all times, so the door is kept closed and locked and access is limited to authorized crew members. The flight crew is always in contact with Air Traffic Control and Flight Dispatch in the event additional support is required or important information needs to be passed.

Every NACC member airline operates a flight watch system through its Flight Dispatch department which continuously monitors the aircraft's location during flight.

Flight dispatchers follow the entire flight through a continuous feed from air traffic control on the details of its progress. If a dispatcher needs to reroute the flight around a potential hazard, or consult the pilots about any other flight concerns, he or she can communicate directly with the flight deck via radio or data link.

Another part of the flight watch system includes a Maintenance Operations Centre that has communications capability with the aircraft and the flight crew. Any faults detected by the flight crew, onboard monitoring systems and ground personnel are reported to the Maintenance Operations Centre which will in turn alert maintenance personnel so that they can take the appropriate action to resolve the fault before the aircraft's next flight.

Cabin crew are responsible for maintaining the safety of all passengers throughout the flight. All cabin crew members are trained and certified in CPR and First Aid and undergo annual training to ensure that they can master all safety-related aspects of their role and cope with a wide variety of emergencies in flight. Any passenger safety concerns should be referred to cabin crew for handling.

Passengers are required to obey all instructions from the crew. Passengers should always wear their seatbelts when seated in case of unexpected turbulence and take their seats as soon as cabin crew or the pilot request it.