Unseen efforts behind flight operation

March 13, 2017-Kathmandu

How do most of us assume about the flight operation, who is the successor behind every flight operation? Most of us, we book our air trip ticket, pack our baggage and move to the airport. Later after arriving at the airport we then enter the departure gate by passing the security scans and head towards the airlines counter to collect our boarding pass.

We then wait at the airport terminal for the voice message to call us for our departure. If the flight is in time, we proceed for the check in procedure and move to the aircraft for the journey and if the flight is delayed we keep waiting. We reach to the aircraft either via a bus or by a tunnel.

After reaching the aircraft we are welcomed and guided about our trip by the flight attendants. The flight attendants then make an announcement of the flight take off process and request us to belt up our seats before the takeoff. Flight pilots now announce the takeoff and precede the procedure to lift the plane. We then land to our desired destination.

Through our entire air trip, we just assume the flight operation was only possible because of the flight pilots and credit them for the successful landing. But there were lots of other key activity carried out unseen by us.
So who is the actual set of team involved to operate a flight successfully?

Starting from the very beginning of the process, the marketing officer of the airlines work day and night to help us with information about the availability of the air tickets and guide us about the flight information. A team of IT enthusiastic are also been hidden, they have made our ticket booking process easier with the online booking system.

Now coming at the airport the security person plays a key role to maintain safety for a safe flight operation. The security persons also need to stop the penetration of hazardous items in the aircraft. So they are very concentrated to their job. It’s them who work strictly to stop the crime scenes from happening.

Besides, the flight dispatcher is also the key hidden worker. They work on the mathematical calculation of the aircraft’s paid weight and divide the load accordingly to aircraft’s freight. The dispatcher is also the responsible person to prepare the flight plan and carry out the division of load accordingly to aircraft central gravity. Dispatcher performs the weight and balance calculation of the aircraft as a whole.

The ground handler of the airlines takes on the responsibility of the ramp. The officer safely loads the passengers and baggage as per the load calculation made by the flight dispatcher considering the flight safety rule of the airport. Ground handlers are the person who takes the responsibility of safe ramp movement. Here ramp refers to the distance of area between the outer terminals section to the aircraft. Unwanted movement can result in accidents which can harm both the aircraft and the airport premises.

The bus driver and the cargo loaders are also the main workers of the airlines. They are the persons who move you to the aircraft from the terminal and also load up your baggage in the aircraft.

Similarly, the aircraft maintenance and flight engineers are the most important staffs because they have to perform sensitive activities like routine inspection along with timely maintaining the aircraft airworthiness. You may not know but the aircraft before each takeoff and after every landing is inspected for the safe operation by the engineers. The engineers have to check the aircraft for the airworthiness and maintain them if needed. The inspection responsibility has to be carried out as per the aviation law by the engineers. A minor error can lead on to serious crashes. In short, aircraft maintenance and flight engineers are also known as the doctor of an aircraft.

You might have heard airlines officer and flight pilots having a conversation with their microphone. They are actually having their conversation with air traffic control officer. The ATC officers are the chief person for the safe flight operations. It is them who examines the weather conditions, air traffic, and runway movement and guide the pilots to move fly the aircraft accordingly to the situation. The pilots cannot operate a flight safely without their guidance. Simple carelessness can result on to bring apocalypse in the aviation industry. The responsibility executed by the ATC officer is very sensitive and is also considered as one of the toughest jobs on earth. The ATC officer is the guardian of the flight operation guiding the pilots from take off to landing.

The flight attendant is known as the front officer of the airlines and is amongst the team member working hard to make your journey safe and comfort. They are concerned to comfort the passengers with their safety and services. Every flight attendant is trained to comfort passengers with their courtesy and is also prepared to assist the passenger in the time of emergency.

Pilots also known as the controller of the flight controls the safety operation of the aircraft. In general, an aircraft cannot be operated without its controller. Pilots are bounded with the aviation law and need to know their flying machine very well to overcome the obstructions.

So the overall coordination of marketing officer, IT staff, security personnel, flight dispatcher, ground handler, bus driver, loader, air traffic controller, the flight attended and the pilot lead on for a successful operation of an aircraft. Every individual has their key responsibility for the operation of the aircraft. A safe and successful operation can never be carried out in absence of any of the responsibility.