Pre-flight safety demonstration

A Royal Australian Air Force aircraftswoman demonstrating the use of an oxygen mask during a pre-flight safety demonstration on board an Australian Airbus A330 MRTT

A pre-flight safety briefing (also known as a pre-flight demonstration, in-flight safety briefing, in-flight safety demonstration, safety instructions, or simply the safety video) is a detailed explanation given before take-off to airline passengers about the safety features of the aircraft they are aboard.

Aviation regulations do not state how an airline should deliver the briefing, only that "The operator of an aircraft shall ensure that all passengers are orally briefed before each take-off".[1] As a result, and depending on the in-flight entertainment system in the aircraft, as well as the airline's policy, airlines may deliver a pre-recorded briefing or provide a live demonstration. A live demonstration is performed by one or more flight attendants standing up in the aisles, while another flight attendant narrates over the public address system. A pre-recorded briefing may feature audio only, or may take the form of a video (audio plus visual). Pre-flight safety briefings typically last two to six minutes. In consideration for travelers not speaking the airline's official language and for the passengers with hearing problems, the video may feature subtitles, an on-screen signer, or may be repeated in another language.

Some safety videos are made using three-dimensional graphics.[2] Other videos were made to be humorous, or feature celebrities, or were based on popular movies. Many safety videos were uploaded to YouTube.[3][4] The flight attendant featured in a Delta Air Lines video from 2008 has become an internet celebrity known as Deltalina. The former British Airways safety video, featuring several comedians, actors and other celebrities such as Rowan Atkinson, Gordon Ramsay and Gillian Anderson, is of humorous character and seeks to raise funds for the Comic Relief charity.[5]

  1. ^ Civil Aviation Safety Authority. (2009). Civil Aviation Orders (CAO) 20.11. Canberra, Australia: Author.
  2. ^ "TAM." Pixel Labs. Retrieved on February 25, 2009.
  3. ^ Montgomery, Bill. "Who needs clothes in an airline safety video? Archived 2009-09-20 at the Wayback Machine." Houston Chronicle. June 30, 2009. Retrieved on July 21, 2009.
  4. ^ "Nudity, cartoons grab air travelers' attention Archived 2009-09-14 at the Wayback Machine." CNN. Friday July 31, 2009. Retrieved on August 26, 2009.
  5. ^ "STARS SHOW OFF SAFETY IN NEW BRITISH AIRWAYS VIDEO". BritishAirways.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 8 June 2018.