Unless you are a frequent traveler, getting on an airplane comes with its fears. Your flight phobia just gets multiplied when you hear the flight crew communicating in weird and unfamiliar terms. You can get an insight into the secret language of flight attendants, but one term that you will almost always hear is “Arm Slides and Cross Check” or “Disarm Slides And Cross Check.”
The term implies that flight attendants have cross checked the tasks of one another to make sure that the doors are armed or disarmed as per the requirement. The list of things that they are checking at that time includes:
- All the doors are closed.
Image: Air Canada’s Blog - All the doors are armed or disarmed for automatic emergency exit slide deployment before and after the flight respectively.
- “Girt Bar” pins are engaged before the plane Taxis and disengaged after Block In.
Image: Quora - Some aircraft doors are equipped with armed lights that signal that the GIRT bars are engaged.
- The slide pressure gauge is in the green range.
The “Cross Check” is neither about the pilot nor the crew but about the safety of the passengers where the flight attendants ensure that they are completely ready for the flight including events like an emergency evacuation. Ensuring that the exit doors are armed or disarmed is important, so the exit slide does not blow off when the door opens. The Captain only pushbacks from the gate when he hears the lead flight attendant saying “Cross Check” to notify that they are ready.
Now you wont be making that weird face after listening to this phrase of ‘Cross Check!’