Custom PA & Callout Audio

Table of contents

  1. The folder
  2. Naming a file
    1. Several files for one announcement
    2. The .fx suffix
  3. When the folder is read
  4. Cabin announcements
  5. Crew interphone
  6. Flight-deck callouts
  7. First Officer callouts
  8. Cruise chatter
  9. Recording tips
  10. Related

FlyAround speaks its cabin announcements and flight-deck callouts with a synthesized crew. If you would rather hear your own recordings — a real airline PA, your own voice, an announcement in a language we don’t offer — drop the audio files into one folder and FlyAround plays yours instead.

Nothing is replaced unless you supply a file for it, so a folder with three recordings in it changes exactly three announcements.

The folder 

Documents\FlyAround Files\pa

FlyAround creates it the first time it runs and installs a reference PDF there — How to use local clips.pdf — listing every announcement you can replace, who speaks it and when it plays. It is the same list as the tables below.

On macOS and Linux the folder is the equivalent path under your home directory: ~/Documents/FlyAround Files/pa.

Naming a file

Every announcement has a name in capitals with underscores — V1, WELCOME_ABOARD, FO_LINEUP. Name your file after the announcement and FlyAround plays it in place of the crew voice.

Documents\FlyAround Files\pa\
  V1.mp3                  → the First Officer's "V one" callout
  WELCOME_ABOARD.mp3      → the welcome-aboard PA
  SEATBELTS_ON.fx.mp3     → played through the cabin loudspeaker effect

.mp3, .wav, .flac and .ogg all work. A file whose name doesn’t match an announcement is ignored, and the app log says so — useful for catching a typo.

Several files for one announcement

Add _1, _2, _3 and the files play back-to-back in order:

  HELLO_CREW_1.mp3        → the Captain calls the cabin
  HELLO_CREW_2.mp3        → the cabin answers

This suits the crew interphone exchanges, which are a call and an answer. Recording both voices into one file works just as well.

The .fx suffix

By default your file plays exactly as recorded. Name it SEATBELTS_ON.fx.mp3 instead and FlyAround adds that announcement’s own treatment — the cabin chime and loudspeaker colouring for a cabin PA, the call chime and telephone colouring for a crew interphone call. Flight-deck callouts have no treatment, so .fx changes nothing there.

A recording taken from a real cabin already sounds like a loudspeaker — leave .fx off. A line recorded cleanly into a microphone sounds like someone standing next to you — add .fx and it will sound like it is coming over the cabin speakers.

When the folder is read

Once per flight, as the flight starts. Add or change files between flights and the next flight picks them up. There is no setting to switch on and nothing to restart, and an empty folder costs nothing.

Your own clips never go through the crew-voice service, so they play even with Voice Experience switched off in Settings → PA & Callouts — and they play instantly, with no internet connection involved.

The announcements marked live below normally speak your callsign, airline, cruise altitude, arrival time or destination weather. A recording is fixed, so those details are replaced by whatever you recorded.

Cabin announcements

Spoken to the passengers over the cabin loudspeakers. .fx adds the cabin chime and the loudspeaker colouring.

File name Voice Plays when
DEPARTURE_REMINDER Senior crew During boarding — stow baggage, take your seats
DEPARTURE_PREPARE Senior crew Doors closed, cabin prepared for departure live
WELCOME_ABOARD Captain + crew Boarding complete — the welcome PA live
SEATBELTS_ON Senior crew The seat-belt sign is switched on
SEATBELTS_OFF Senior crew The seat-belt sign is switched off
TURBULENCE Senior crew Turbulence — be seated, belts fastened
BE_SEATED Senior crew Passengers asked back to their seats
CRUISE Captain Levelling off in the cruise live
DUTY_FREE Senior crew The duty-free round begins
TOP_OF_DESCENT Captain Starting the descent live
FINAL_APPROACH Senior crew Final approach — seats, belts, tables
ARRIVAL Senior crew After landing — destination, local time, weather live
ARRIVAL_DELAY Captain Held short of the gate on arrival live
DEBOARDING_START Senior crew Doors open — the farewell PA

Crew interphone

Handset calls between the flight deck and the cabin — each is a call and an answer, so these are the natural place for _1 / _2 files. .fx adds the call chime and the telephone colouring.

File name Voices Plays when
HELLO_CREW Captain ↔ crew Crew sign-on at the start of the day
READY_FOR_BOARDING Captain ↔ crew The flight deck releases boarding
PREPARE_DOORS_DEPARTURE Captain ↔ crew Arm doors and cross-check, before pushback
BOARDING_COMPLETE Captain ↔ crew The cabin reports boarding complete
RELEASE_CREW Captain ↔ crew The Captain releases the crew
PREPARE_DOORS_ARRIVAL Captain ↔ crew Disarm doors and cross-check, after landing
DEBOARDING_COMPLETE Crew ↔ Captain The cabin reports the last passenger off

Flight-deck callouts

Heard live in the cockpit — no chime, no colouring, and .fx does nothing here. Keep these short and dry; they are timed against the aircraft.

File name Voice Plays when
SPEED_80 First Officer 80 knots on the takeoff roll
SPEED_100 First Officer 100 knots on the takeoff roll
V1 First Officer Decision speed
VR_ROTATE First Officer Rotation speed
V2 First Officer Takeoff safety speed
GEAR_UP Captain + FO Gear-up command and the positive-rate answer
TOP_OF_CLIMB First Officer Reaching cruise altitude
APPROACHING_DESCENT First Officer Nearing top of descent
PREPARE_LANDING Captain ↔ crew Cabin secured for landing

First Officer callouts

Spoken by the First Officer as they work the switches for you. These follow the First Officer callouts setting and are silent on single-pilot GA flights.

File name Plays when
FO_DEPARTURE_CONFIG Before departure — speedbrake armed, cabin signs on
FO_DEPARTURE_CONFIG_SIGNS The same call on a Boeing, which arms no takeoff speedbrake — cabin signs only
FO_LINEUP Lining up on the runway — lights on
FO_AFTER_TAKEOFF After takeoff — positive rate, gear up, speedbrake disarmed
FO_CLIMB_10000 Passing 10,000 ft climbing — landing lights off
FO_DESCENT_10000 Passing 10,000 ft descending — lights on, belts on
FO_APPROACH_CONFIG Configuring for the approach — speedbrake armed
FO_ROLLOUT Rollout after landing — speedbrake up, flaps up

Cruise chatter

Idle conversation at random moments in the cruise. Each happens at most once per flight, and never inside a sterile-cockpit phase.

File name What it is
CREW_CHATTER_DRINKS The purser offers the flight deck a drink — interphone
CREW_CHATTER_CABIN_CHECK The Captain asks how the cabin is doing — interphone
COCKPIT_CHATTER_WEATHER Captain and First Officer talk about the weather ahead
COCKPIT_CHATTER_PROGRESS …about how the flight is running
COCKPIT_CHATTER_ROUTE …about the route and what is below
COCKPIT_CHATTER_BANTER …about nothing in particular

The two CREW_CHATTER_ lines are interphone calls, so .fx gives them the handset treatment. The four COCKPIT_CHATTER_ lines are spoken in the cockpit and stay dry.

Recording tips

Level. Your clips play at the Voice and Master volumes from Settings → Sound, with nothing added. If a clip sounds quieter than the rest of the app, normalise the file rather than raising the volume for everything.

Length. Takeoff-roll callouts are triggered at a speed and should be over in a second or so — a long V1 is still playing well past V1. Cabin PAs can run as long as you like; the next announcement waits its turn rather than talking over yours.

Silence at the edges. Trim leading and trailing silence. FlyAround already leaves a beat between a chime and the announcement, and between the two halves of a crew exchange.

Checking your pack. Start a flight and look at the app log: it lists every announcement it found a clip for and names any file it had to ignore. An ignored file means the name doesn’t match one in this page — check the spelling and the capitals.

Sharing a pack. A pack is just the folder. Zip it up and another pilot can drop the files into their own Documents\FlyAround Files\pa.