Posted: 2/18/2011 3:53:59 PM EDT
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I've noticed while at my small part 61 airport when the flight plan is made passengers are reffered to as "souls"
But at any big 141's they are just Passengers, did I miss something in GS? (besides having my shirt tail removed) |
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Quoted:
I've noticed while at my small part 61 airport when the flight plan is made passengers are reffered to as "souls" But at any big 141's they are just Passengers, did I miss something in GS? (besides having my shirt tail removed) Part 61 is certifications. Maybe 91? Souls was a common term, since I got into it. The old crusties that I worked around used it and some of them must have flown with the Pterodactyls. Would you like to be sitting at an airport and for them to say "All souls travelling on XX flight can now board"? Why? I don't know........... 
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FWIW in my experience on the radios it has always been referenced as souls on board.
I would say it eliminates any doubt as to how many persons are on board (passengers would not include crew, souls refers to everyone on board), plus each time you say it, it has more meaning to the lives on board. It reinforces the fact that we are all living humans, and if there's an emergency that the pilot intends to bring them all back safely. |
| While the historical use of the phrase "souls" when referring to total passengers and crew is not, necessarily, exclusive to this, it was brought into common usage by the military where it could be all too common that not all of your "passengers" were/are always actually still alive. |
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Souls on board includes ALL souls on board. Flight crew, cabin crew, passengers, half weights and babes in arms. For FAR purposes, If it's a living human being it counts toward the tally of how many souls are on board. It is a requirement for all commercial operations flying revenue passengers that the station of origin as well as the flight crew must retain records of total souls on board for each flight. If there is an emergency then rescuers must know how many people it is they're searching for.
There is another handy purpose for SOB counts at times because of the confusion that can take place when counting passengers. BIA's (babes in arms) don't count as extra weight. They are included in the weight of their guardian. Unless they have their own ticket (which does happen from time to time) in which case the infant counts as a half weight (child). Example: The parents are traveling with their infant and they decide to buy a ticket for the baby so they can have some extra room and keep the seat next to them empty. For takeoff and landing they have to be holding the baby. When the FA walks through the cabin counting empty seats they also make note of any half weights as well as BIA's. The confusion comes when the FA sees somebody holding a baby and counts it as a BIA (weight 0 lbs) when it is in fact a ticket holding half-weight passenger (weight 87 lbs) gate agent tries to reconcile the count with the flight attendant. The two numbers are supposed to match. Things get extra complicated when the FA hands the pilots a slip of paper with these numbers on them (example) 8,6,7/1, 8, 8, 6/2, 7, 8, 8, and 3 BIA's. This is supposed to mean that zone 1 has 8 pax, zone 2 has 6 pax, zone 3 has 7 pax one of which is a half weight, zone 4 has 8 pax, zone 5 has 8 pax, zone 6 has 6 pax 2 of which are half weights, yada, yada, yada... You ask yourself, Is this FA telling me zone 3 (7/1) means 7 pax one of which is a kid or 7 pax AND a kid? It's supposed to mean the first way but some FA's are new and get confused. Some FA's have been there longer then you have and are dumber then a bag of hammers. And what about the BIA's? Are they BIA's are do some of them have tickets and thus count as a half weight for w/b purposes? Does zone 2 really have 6 pax or does it have 6 pax and 2 half weights but the FA thinks they are BIA's. It all becomes clearer when the FA writes down the number of souls in the cabin and circles it. 8, 6, 7/1, 8, 8, 6/2, 7, 8, 8, and 3 bia's = 69 SOB's. (63pax X 190 = 11970) + (3h/w X 87 = 261) + (3 bias X 0 = 0) = 12231 lbs. Without giving the total SOB's those same numbers could be misinterpreted as being 72 SOB's and 3 BIA's Throw in 12 hours of duty with 7.8 hours of flight time already for the day after a 8.5 hour reduced rest overnight and that simple pax count just prior to your last leg can be a real challenge. |