Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Cockpit voice activation equipment?

Asked by: 3725 views , , , ,
Aircraft Systems, Commercial Pilot

I was watching and Air Canada 777 on Just Planes and noticed that on final when the computer voice says "Approaching minimums", the copilot said very clearly and loudly (like he was talking to a computer on a smartphone) "roger". Then a few seconds later when it said "minimums", the copilot said very clearly and loudly "Runway in sight, landing". Is there something in the cockpit that listens for a response from "approaching minimums" and "minimums" for some sort of safety thing? Here's the part of the video: http://youtu.be/dJ4keU4xcrM?t=9m3s Thanks

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

3 Answers



  1. Wes Beard on Aug 14, 2013

    No. As we all know there is a cockpit voice recorder recording everything that us said in the cockpit. The company must have SOPs that require the copilot to say those things. It is also good for CRM. The pilot flying still knows the pilot monitoring is alert and attentive to what is happening around them.

    Typically, the pilot flying will state “landing” or “going around” once he here’s the minimum call either from the airplane or pilot monitoring.

    The plane does not analyze what was said… only records it.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Mark Kolber on Aug 14, 2013

    Yes to what Wes said. It’s pretty common to have call-outs and confirmations between the pilot flying and the pilot not flying in 2-pilot crews for both running checklists and critical safety of flight items like those described in basil’s post.

    Vocalization is also not a bad thing for single-pilot operations.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Sam Dawson on Aug 14, 2013

    As Wes and Mark pointed out these are standard responses to automation in the cockpit. The idea is to get the pilots in the habit of acknowledging the automation instead of ignoring it and came about as the result of several crashes. You will normally see this during a standard flight- such things as that you observed as “approaching minimums”, the cue for the non-flying pilot (NFP), to look out the window for the runway. Then the response to “minimums”, normally one of three responses (wording may vary by air carrier):
    1. Runway in sight.
    2. Approach lights in sight, continue.
    3. No runway, missed approach.
    You will also have “nonstandard” call outs, such as responses to terrain and traffic alerts and CAPS (crew alert systems). Again, the idea is to get pilots vocalizing a response instead of ignoring the warning/caution/advisory… not that we would ever ignore a female voice.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.