Boarding the flight airlines"Austrian Airlines" on the A320 has started. Nadine Vetter is the cabin crew chief. She greets the first passengers: "Good day, welcome! Do you know where you are sitting yet?" She first carefully looked into the face of each of the 180 passengers, writes DW.
The eyes of flight attendants and flight attendants: what information can be read from the first eye contact? Is it anger? Are alcohol or opiates involved? Or is it a simple fear of flying?
"When boarding, for example, I notice that a guest is aggressive, we approach them again to properly assess the situation," says Vetter, who is responsible for safety, service and cabin crew management on the flight. "Then we have to decide relatively quickly: can that passenger fly or, as a last resort, do we take him off the flight?"
Estimate in seconds
What our eyes do is truly amazing. They help us to recognize shapes, colors and movements, to orient ourselves in space and to evaluate people and situations.
A person's mental state can indeed be assessed quite well through careful eye contact, confirms Professor Leonhard Schilbach - psychiatrist, human interaction researcher and chief physician of the LVR clinic in Düsseldorf.
In the ARD public service documentary on health called "My body. My eyes," this scientist explains that our "scanner-view" is actually neurobiologically based. "Regions in the brain react within milliseconds, so the first judgment is formed in a flash."
Eye reading is not the same as profiling
In addition to training in crisis situations, self-defense, first aid and hospitality, this practiced "scanner-view" is one of the most important skills of flight attendants. However, this visual "superpower" should not be confused with professional facial expression reading used in psychotherapy or FBI profiling.
"However, through years of work, experienced flight attendants develop an unerring feel for specific situations during passenger boarding," explains Alexander Zees, communications manager at the Lufthansa Aviation Training Center.
This center in Munich trains pilots and cabin crew of all airlines from the Lufthansa Group, which also includes "Austrian Airlines" since 2009.
Communication through sight
With more than 20 years of flight experience, Nadine Veter also works as a cabin crew instructor. In her workshops, she explains that the eyes serve not only as a scanner, but also as a key communication tool within the flight team itself.
Working indoors at an altitude of up to 12.000 meters brings special challenges. For more than 2.500 flight attendants at Austrian Airlines, non-verbal communication is therefore of crucial importance.
"We are trained to resolve the situation in the shortest possible time and we know that at any moment we can rely on each other 100 percent, even if we don't know each other at all," says Vetter. Teamwork and calmness are key, especially when the situation becomes stressful. "If you panic, you can't just open the door and walk out."
Control of facial expressions and gestures is key
"It's enough to just unconsciously roll your eyes - the passenger will notice it and that one gesture can cause a conflict," says this instructor. That is why it is extremely important to control your own facial expressions and movements.
The golden rules are: keep your hands relaxed, never crossed; have an open body posture, do not lean anywhere and always maintain eye contact both with colleagues and passengers.
Synchronization of brain waves
Our eyes have a dual role - they simultaneously receive and send signals, and are therefore a key part of human communication. Through sight, we absorb visual information, but at the same time we send social signals and initiate interaction.
Leonhard Schilbach explains what happens in the brain at those moments: "In the so-called mentalization network, which helps us put ourselves in the position of other people, there is a neurofunctional connection of these same networks in the brains of both communicating people."
This phenomenon is called interbrain communication and is most pronounced during playing, kissing or playing chess together.
"This process mostly takes place unconsciously," says the psychiatrist and neuroscientist. Fortunately, the ability to see a situation from another's perspective can be practiced, just like reading non-verbal signals.
Eyes and empathy - the basis of flight work
Both of these processes are driven by the mentalizing network just mentioned. "It is interesting that it is activated automatically as soon as we pay attention to someone's gaze. Our social brain then tries to figure out what is going on in that person, what they are thinking and what attracted their attention," explains Schilbach.
This ability is vital for cabin crew. During the flight, Vetter walks through the cabin and observes the faces of the passengers. "That's how I recognize discomfort, hidden calls for help or fear. Many passengers themselves openly admit that they are afraid of flying and seek help," she says.
In such situations, the cabin crew chief always makes time for a private conversation. Empathy is crucial here. As she talks to the passengers, she feels exactly how her inner peace is transferred to them.
A window into someone else's soul
"It's fascinating that the eyes can really be a window into someone else's soul," says Schilbach. "With her reaction, Nadine lets the passengers know that she sees them and understands how they feel."
This ability is invaluable when it comes to dealing with fears, emphasizes the psychiatrist based on his extensive clinical experience. "People feel safer when they see that someone understands what they're going through and asks how they're doing. It has an incredibly calming effect."
Nadine Vetter herself confirms that the "scanner-view" on the flight gives results only if it is combined with sincere empathy. "When getting off the plane, passengers often come up to me to thank me. They say that it meant a lot to them that I radiated calmness and instilled a sense of security in them."
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