AIM ¶ 6-5-3 — ARFF Emergency Hand Signals
AIM 6-5-3 explains ARFF emergency hand signals used between firefighters and flight crews when radios fail: evacuate, stop, and emergency contained.
When radios fail during an aircraft emergency on the ground, the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) Incident Commander (IC) and the flight crew need a backup way to communicate critical decisions. AIM 6-5-3 describes standard emergency hand signals to bridge that gap.
Per AIM 6-5-3, these signals should be known and understood by all cockpit crew, cabin crew, and ARFF firefighters — note this is a recommended practice in the AIM, not a regulatory mandate. The three standard signals depicted in FIG 6-5-1 through FIG 6-5-3 are:
- Recommend Evacuation (FIG 6-5-1) — ARFF is advising the crew to get everyone off the aircraft.
- Recommend Stop (FIG 6-5-2) — ARFF is advising the crew to stop the evacuation or movement already in progress.
- Emergency Contained (FIG 6-5-3) — ARFF is signaling that the emergency (e.g., fire) has been controlled.
Why it matters: in a smoke-filled cockpit or after a comm failure, these visual cues drive life-or-death decisions about whether to evacuate passengers into a hazardous environment or hold them aboard.