Flight deck
The pilots' compartment at the front of the aircraft, and by extension the pilots themselves as distinct from cabin crew.
Definition
The flight deck is the compartment where the pilots work, sealed from the cabin by a reinforced door on every commercial airliner since the early 2000s. Crew also use the phrase to mean the pilots as a group — "the flight deck wants boarding to finish" — and regulators divide crew into flight crew (pilots) and cabin crew, each with their own licences, training and duty rules. Flight crew and cabin crew together form the operating crew.
What it means for you
Your relationship with the flight deck is procedural: coded door-access rules, a fixed set of interphone calls, a pre-flight briefing that covers weather and security, and CRM training that exists to make sure you speak up to them when something is wrong. Under EASA your FDP may legally start earlier than the pilots' when you report before them for pre-boarding, which is why your duty day can be longer than theirs on the same trip.
In practice
During an easyJet turnaround at Gatwick the flight deck calls "cabin ready?" on the interphone, and the number one answers only once every door is armed and cross-checked.
Related terms
4 terms- CaptainRoles & ranksThe pilot in command, legally responsible for the aircraft, everyone on board and every operational decision.
- First officerRoles & ranksThe second pilot, fully qualified to fly the aircraft and sharing the flying with the captain, who retains overall command.
- Sterile cockpitSafety & trainingThe rule that bans non-safety contact with the flight deck in critical phases of flight — taxi, take-off, landing and below 10,000 ft.
- CRMSafety & trainingCrew Resource Management — the training in communication, decision-making and assertiveness that lets a crew work as one team.