Much of what we regularly overhear is standard procedural stuff, which — even if we can’t understand it — means everything is ticking along as it should.

A common example is “arm doors and crosscheck”, which you’ll hear when the plane is just about ready for takeoff. It calls for the doors to be readied for emergency evacuation (in the case it’s needed) and double-checked by someone else.

But there are other things you don’t want to hear on a flight. And a recent Quora discussion has unearthed one of the most fear-inducing: “easy victor”.

A Quora user took to the forum to ask if it was true passengers should always pay attention to the words “easy victor” on a flight.

Kevin Barrett, a flight attendant of 20 years, explained the meaning behind the phrase.

“It stands for evacuate,” Mr Barrett said.

“However, you as a passenger will never hear the pilot just blurt it out. And passengers will already know there is a problem long before a pilot says this.”

Mr Barrett said in his two decades of flying he heard the phrase “easy victor” only during emergency drills in training sessions.

“This fact should put you at ease to know that in the very, very rare event there is an emergency, you will finally get to see what a flight attendants job really is about,” he said.

“The reason we spend weeks in training and two days every year! We save your lives!”

The former flight attendant said there were only four things passengers needed to do in an emergency evacuation — or easy victor — situation.

They are: listen to flight attendants, follow their instructions, leave everything behind, and make for the exit — which you should have located as soon as you got on the plane.

He said not all emergency landings required an evacuation, and in those cases, pilot would say, “do not evacuate”.

“But if it’s necessary to evacuate, some airlines have trained pilots to just say over the PA, ‘easy victor’,” Mr Barrett said.

“Then you will hear the flight attendants go into evacuation mode.

“Or the pilots may just say ‘evacuate!’ Or, he may give special instructions, like, ‘evacuate aircraft right only’, or he may say ‘forward doors only’, or ‘no overwing exit’.

“Sometimes they have info the cabin crew doesn’t. Like if the plane lands hard and a fire starts under the right wing. The tower may see this and notify the pilots of the fire under the right wing before the plane has stopped. The pilot would then pass that on by saying ‘evacuate aircraft left only’.”

He said the key thing was passengers shouldn’t expect to hear “easy victor” out of the blue.

“But do always listen to the flight attendants. I hope this helps and puts you at ease,” he said.

OTHER SECRET FLIGHT CODES

Code Adam

This is used by airport staff to alert other staff of a missing child, in honour of Adam Walsh, a child who was abducted in a Florida department store in 1981.

7500

If a pilot squawks “7500” it means the plane has been hijacked, or has a hijacking threat.

Last minute paperwork

You’re in for a delay.

According to Patrick Smith from Ask The Pilot, this “paperwork” is usually a revision of the flight plan, something to do with the plane’s weight-and-balance record, or simply waiting for the maintenance staff to get the flight’s logbook in order.

Crosscheck

If you hear this phrase, usually made by senior cabin crew, it means that the emergency slides attached to each door have been deactivated.

Otherwise the slide will deploy automatically as soon as the door is opened.

All-call

According to Mr Smith, all-call is usually part of the door arming/disarming procedure.

“This is a request that each flight attendant report via intercom from his or her station — a sort of flight attendant conference call,” he said.

Ground stop

This is when departures to one or more destinations are curtailed by air traffic control; usually due to a traffic backlog.

Equipment

Definition: The plane.

“Is there not something strange about the refusal to call the focal object of the entire industry by its real name?” Mr Smith said.

Flight deck

Pilot speak for the cockpit.

Air pocket

Pilot-speak for turbulence.

Deadhead

“A deadheading pilot or flight attendant is one repositioning as part of an on-duty assignment,” Mr Smith said.

“This is not the same as commuting to work or engaging in personal travel.”

Doors to arrival

An instruction often heard issued to the flight attendants as the plane is landing.

“The intent is to verify disarming of the emergency escape slides attached to the doors to prevent them from deploying at the gate,” Mr Smith explained.

“When armed, a slide will automatically deploy the instant its door is opened.”