Pre-brief
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Callsign: Lufthansa 451
Route: Frankfurt (EDDF) to Lisbon (LPPT)
Current state: You are cruising at flight level 370 over south-western France when the outer pane of the left windshield cracks with a loud bang. Cabin pressure is holding, but procedure requires a descent to a lower level and a precautionary diversion. The Captain is the Pilot Flying; you are working the radio. You are on Bordeaux Control frequency.
Souls on board: 196
Endurance: 2 hours 30 minutes
Your role: First Officer, working the radio (Pilot Monitoring)
How this works
How this works. You’re playing the pilot. A instructor will introduce the activity in her own voice, then the controller’s first transmission begins. Every radio transmission — controller or pilot — ends with a short roger beep, the cue that the speaker has finished. After each controller transmission, the instructor gives you an instruction — telling you what information to communicate back to the controller (e.g. read back a clearance, declare an emergency, report your status) — and reminds you that you have eight seconds to respond. Your job is to relay that information to the controller using proper ATC phraseology. Speak your reply aloud — recording yourself on a phone voice memo makes review easier. You’ll then hear one model pilot response against light cabin background — that’s one acceptable phrasing, not the only correct one. Take notes while you listen if it helps.
Comprehension questions
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In the first transmission, what did the controller instruct before the crew declared the urgency?
The controller said ‘maintain flight level three seven zero’ — a routine cruise instruction — before the crew broke in with the Pan-Pan.
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After acknowledging the Pan-Pan, what descent level and heading did the controller assign?
The controller said ‘descend to flight level one zero zero, turn left heading two seven zero’.
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What did the controller ask before giving the final approach clearance?
The controller asked the crew to ‘confirm cabin pressurization is stable’ and whether they required any further assistance.
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The crew declared a Pan-Pan, not a Mayday, for the cracked windshield. Why is that the correct call here?
A windshield is made of multiple panes. An outer-pane crack with the cabin still pressurised is urgent but not immediately life-threatening, so Pan-Pan is correct. If the cabin began to lose pressure, the crew would upgrade to Mayday.
Full transcript
Controller: Lufthansa 451, Bordeaux Control. Identified. Maintain flight level 370. Report any change in your requirements.
Instructor cue: Declare the urgency, report the cracked windshield, and request a descent and a diversion to Bordeaux.
Pilot (model response): Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan. Bordeaux Control, Lufthansa 451, cracked windshield, outer pane. Cabin pressure stable. Request descent to flight level 100 and diversion to Bordeaux. 196 souls on board, endurance 2 hours 30 minutes. Lufthansa 451.
Why it works: Pan-Pan spoken three times (urgency, not distress), then station, callsign, the nature of the problem, the immediate request, souls on board and endurance in time. Stating that cabin pressure is stable tells ATC why this is a Pan-Pan and not a Mayday.
Controller: Lufthansa 451, Pan-Pan acknowledged. Descend to flight level 100, turn left heading 270. Vectors for ILS runway 23 at Bordeaux. QNH 1016.
Instructor cue: Read back your descent level, the heading, the approach, and the QNH.
Pilot (model response): Descending to flight level 100, left heading 270, ILS runway 23, QNH 1016. Lufthansa 451.
Why it works: complete read-back in the same order as the instruction — level, heading, approach and runway, QNH — with the callsign last.
Controller: Lufthansa 451, confirm cabin pressurization is stable. Do you require any further assistance?
Instructor cue: Confirm the cabin pressure is stable and the crack is not spreading, and request emergency services as a precaution.
Pilot (model response): Cabin pressurization stable, no further cracking. Request emergency services as a precaution. Lufthansa 451.
Why it works: answers the controller’s question directly, adds the reassuring detail that the crack is not spreading, and makes a sensible precautionary request.
Controller: Lufthansa 451, roger. Descend to altitude 3,000 feet, cleared ILS approach runway 23. Wind 250 degrees, 8 knots. Emergency services are standing by.
Instructor cue: Read back your descent altitude and the approach clearance.
Pilot (model response): Descend to altitude 3,000 feet, cleared ILS approach runway 23. Lufthansa 451.
Why it works: a concise, complete read-back of the descent altitude and approach clearance. Wind and emergency services are information items, not instructions to read back.
Key vocabulary and phraseology
| Term | Definition / note |
|---|---|
| Pan-Pan (urgency call) | International urgency call, spoken three times. Signals a serious situation that is not (yet) an immediate threat to life — one step below Mayday. |
| windshield (outer pane) (noun phrase) | A cockpit windshield is built from several bonded layers. The outer pane can crack — often from a heating-element fault — while the inner panes continue to hold cabin pressure. |
| cabin pressure / pressurization (noun) | The air pressure maintained inside the cabin at altitude. If it stays stable, a windshield crack is a precautionary issue rather than an emergency. |
| flight level (noun) | Altitude in hundreds of feet referenced to a standard pressure setting. “Flight level 100” is 10,000 ft; descending reduces the pressure difference across the windshield. |
| diversion (noun) | A change of destination to a nearer suitable airport when continuing to the planned destination is no longer the safest option. |
| vectors for ILS (phrase) | ATC-assigned headings that guide the aircraft onto the instrument landing system beam for the named runway. |
| QNH (noun) | Local atmospheric pressure used to set the altimeter so it reads height above sea level. Spoken letter by letter. |
| read-back (noun) | The pilot’s word-for-word repetition of a clearance to confirm it was received correctly. |
Variation prompt
How else could you have phrased the Pan-Pan declaration? What would change if the cabin pressure began to fall during the descent — at what point would you upgrade from Pan-Pan to Mayday, and how would your radio call change?
Level
Level: CEFR B2 / ICAO Level 5
Want to read about a real in-flight emergency that ended safely? See our news article: All 80 Survive After Delta Flight Overturns at Toronto.