The responsibilities of a flight attendant include ensuring passenger safety and comfort, conducting pre-flight safety checks, greeting passengers, serving meals and beverages, presenting emergency equipment instructions, assisting passengers during emergencies, managing the cabin during flights, adhering to aviation regulations, and preparing incident reports.
During their training, flight attendants learn basic aircraft terminology to effectively communicate with the flight crew in emergencies. They also undertake 'pilot incapacitation training' to safely remove incapacitated pilots from their seats and assist the remaining pilot by reading checklists and using hand signals for communication.
It is not uncommon for some flight attendants to pursue pilot training while working as cabin crew. Having a private pilot's license provides basic flying knowledge that may be useful in extraordinary situations.
In cases where both pilots are lost for some reason—a highly unlikely scenario—flight attendants would need to communicate with air traffic control for guidance. There is also some capacity for using the aircraft's automatic landing capability under certain conditions.
In most real-life commercial or business aviation incidents, the remaining pilot will land the aircraft without issue but may receive help from a flight attendant if necessary. If a professional off-duty pilot is onboard, their skills will likely be utilized.
If both pilots are lost and no other option is available, a trained flight attendant could potentially take over with guidance from air traffic control or rely on auto-landing technology if available. In general aviation and smaller aircraft types, there have been incidents where passengers with little or no piloting knowledge have landed safely with outside guidance.
The approach phase involves descending towards the airport at correct rates and angles using instruments and visual cues. During touchdown, speed and altitude adjustments ensure that main wheels touch down correctly on the runway. Deceleration involves applying brakes and thrust reversers to bring the aircraft to a complete stop before reaching the end of the runway.
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