Why do they refer to passengers as souls?

Aircraft (and previously, ships or trains) are frequently used to transport casketed remains en route to funeral. “Souls” was devised to remove any ambiguity about which “passengers” were among the living.

Why do ATC ask souls?

The reason for the question about souls on board is actually fairly simple in that people often don’t show up for their flight. This count allows ATC to inform emergency services of the potential requirements of medical services such as ambulances, hospital beds or morgue places if everything goes horribly wrong.

Where did the term souls on board come from?

A vessel responding to a sinking ship needed to know how many “humanoid life-forms” there were on the sinking ship so they could tell when they had found everybody. As noted above, “person” or “people” might exclude slaves or servants in some situations whereas the term “souls” would mean every human on board.

What do you call passengers on a plane?

flight crew noun. the people involved with flying a plane including the pilots, the flight engineer and the navigator. The people involved with looking after the passengers are the cabin crew.

Why do they say bingo fuel?

During WWII fighter planes had fuel gauges ( they later added a warning light). When one pilot noticed he had the minimum amount of fuel to make it home, he would announce over the radio Bingo, or Bingo Fuel. That ment it was time to break off, and the entire flight would head for home.

How many ‘souls’ are there on a plane?

The number of “souls” on an aircraft refers to the total living bodies on the plane: every passenger, pilot, flight attendant and crew member, according to Lord-Jones. Pilots often report the number of “souls” when declaring an emergency, she says, so rescuers know the amount of people to search for.

Why do airlines call passengers ‘souls’?

In this case, some might consider these “people” as well. Also, in an incident, the bodies should not be confused with the regular passengers. So, “souls” effectively communicates the number of living humans on board. There may certainly be holdovers from the maritime influences on aviation as well.

What is the difference between a passenger and a crew?

Technically, “passengers” is the number of seats occupied, “crew” is both the pilots and flight attendants on duty. So any small children brought on as “lap children” will not be included in the “passengers” count, but should be included in the total number of people on board.

How many souls are on a cruise ship?

In this case, where a passenger died, the total count will be 199 passengers and 11 crew members or a short and sweet version, 210 souls onboard. Another term is closely associated with a SOB, that is TOB or Total aboard passengers or souls depicts the number of passengers onboard.