Souls On Board

[SgurlEd]

Souls On Board
Curiosity has taken hold and I cannot let go. Prompted even more so after watching the movie “Flight”.
In the beginning of this movie the Stewardess handed the pilot the flight manifest and said “106 Souls On Board” (or something to that affect) and I always wondered about that saying. Perhaps as I get older things like that just mean more.
As Vance always says “ask questions!” So here I am coming to you Great bunch of folks with the question where did this term “Originally come from and why were they termed Souls?”

I’m no great think tank obliviously…but this has brought me to some interesting crossroads and personal experiences and I need to understand. I’ve researched but there doesn’t seem to be anything conclusive except for it started on board a ship possibly.

As I search for my meaning in life…my Soul. Well I guess my sense of purpose actually all of the above! I am not trying to go religious that is NOT who I am I just want to understand about us strange beings. I do believe I have all 5 senses…but maybe I better double check!

Baby I have the 1960’s and 1970’s Soul for sure…just can’t carry a tune in a bucket as my Grandma used to tell me! But I told her “Grandma they say make a joyful noise…I do!” Ask Vance…poor Guy!

This has nothing to do to do with flying and everything to do with what does Soul Mean. I believe I know what it means to me. Clearly back in the day it meant something to others. This is what the Dictionary says.
What does soul mean?
• SOUL (noun)
The noun SOUL has 5 senses:
1. the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
2. a human being
3. deep feeling or emotion
4. the human embodiment of something
5. a secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre in the 1960s and 1970s
Can we say souls on board a Train, Car, or Motorcycle? I’m just sayin’ I got soul weather it’s on Board an Autogiro in a car or on a Harley….By GOLLY!!

I’m also sure that Guy that got hit by the texting driver had a Soul though he was taking an early morning stroll along side of the road…he was on Board the Blacktop? YES I believe he was!

That Movie got me to thinking about many things…as in our responsibilities to others as we scurry about our lives. How our behavior affects others…how our Souls affects others.

OK…sorry carrying on about that, I really do want to know can anyone help! I am a history / Trivia nut too. My mind won’t rest until I have some sort of answer.

I was talking this over with Vance and felt if it was used in Flight for all passengers is it because we are closer to the heavens and we are considered souls because of the risk we take up in the air, stands to reason for that matter in the ocean as well it’s fairly dangerous as well! My pondering…such as it is...

Thanks for letting me vent. Hope I haven’t upset any Apple Carts! ;-)
:hippie:
Cheers! Ed

What on my mind right Now...

 

[scottessex]

Don't know the origins, but when I was in the Air Force,
they were always pax (passengers) on the ground,
once the aircraft was in flight, refered to as souls, in when an inflight emergency,
the aircraft commander would radio in -------- ending with # souls on board.

 

[brett s]

It's a way to let them know how many living bodies are on board - there are times when you might be transporting deceased, this way there's no confusion.

 

[SgurlEd]

;-)

;-)

Don't know the origins, but when I was in the Air Force,
they were always pax (passengers) on the ground,
once the aircraft was in flight, refered to as souls, in when an inflight emergency,
the aircraft commander would radio in -------- ending with # souls on board.

Scott,
Thanks for your Knowledge it's appreciated! History is a fascinating thing! The Airforce huh? Well Sir Thank You for your Service! Your an Angel! :angel:


Thanks Ever So Much! Ed

 

[SgurlEd]

It's a way to let them know how many living bodies are on board - there are times when you might be transporting deceased, this way there's no confusion.

Brett,
Thank for that...makes sense more than anything I've found yet...Just curious don't they say....they say somewhere "the Souls of the departed"...meaning the departed have souls they are just in another place or perhaps heading to that destination?

Yeah... I complicate stuff...I make my own head hurt.

I'm sure they just keep it simple also not to panic the passengers perhaps like a code. Instead of: "Attention Air Traffic Control...12 dead, six still arriving on time" Sorry not really to be joked about but I wonder who thinks up this stuff? I find the History of our beginnings so fascinating and I really do mean that!

Thanks for your help! ;-)

 

[brett s]

It's simpler using souls - and the reason it matters is if there's a crash they want to know exactly how many living people they're looking to rescue or account for.

 

[SgurlEd]

It's simpler using souls - and the reason it matters is if there's a crash they want to know exactly how many living people they're looking to rescue or account for.

Brett,
Thanks for your patience with me! Do you know of it's origins?

 

[JEFF TIPTON]

Stepping back to earlier times it looks like the term Souls on Board "SOB" has roots in morse code.

... --- -...

. This would make for a short transmission followed by the number.

 

[SgurlEd]

Stepping back to earlier times it looks like the term Souls on Board "SOB" has roots in morse code. . This would make for a short transmission followed by the number.

Thanks for the input Jeff!
So...I'm just taking a stab that Souls on Board started with.. is Navel the right word? Or Nautical?? How far back did morse code go?

In my"Blonde World" I'm thinking morse Code just starting during say the mid to late 1800's?

I remember my Brothers Boy Scout book I think it had Morse Code in it and I remember my walkie talkie having a morse code button...I could never figure it out but I felt...very Top Secret!

I sure do appreciate the input guys...this is KOOL!:flame:

 

[E6B]

Stepping back to earlier times it looks like the term Souls on Board "SOB" has roots in morse code.

Yep. In the airlines, we often refer to the "self loading freight" as SOBs.

 

[VanceUK]

Souls and passengers on board are not interchangeable terms.

275 pax plus 17 crew = 292 Souls on Board.

It's all about reducing the possibility of ambiguity.

I might say I have 292 souls on board.

ATC might say, "Say souls on board."

If the phrase was simply I have 292 on board, how would that be turned into a request by ATC?

People or persons might include human remains but their 'souls have departed' so I'm not carrying them

Origins - nautical certainly but as with all such common usage phraseology, I doubt it was invented to much as spread virally.

 

[Scary Gary]

I was told it was nautical and from a time when the church was a much more prominent fixture in peoples lives.
It always for some reason struck me as odd to make my souls onboard statement on the radio.

WOLVER

Never mind

 

[Earthboundmisft]

Sgurl, your best post to date.
I have pondered this saying myself,
having heard it first during flight training
at PatrickAirForceBase. I just figured it meant
a living person. Plus I figured I had a 'lil bit o soul''.:smokin:

 

[JAL]

I have read where this very question was asked in edition of flying magazine years ago. Their answer was that apparently in the 1950s that many funeral homes were transporting bodies in by air and many had their own dedicated aeroplanes for this purpose.

It was that prevalent at the time that the authorities asked for souls on board to distinguish live people from the dead as mentioned in the previous post.

I think it is actually a legal requirement not a spiritual one because you are a person whether dead or alive so in pure legal sense if a pilot was asked for how many people on board he would have to count both the living and the dead.

 

[PW_Plack]

"Souls" is defined in many religions as a body joined with a spirit, or a living person.

To expand on what's been noted above, a word was needed to describe the total number of live humans including passengers and crew. "Souls" is one syllable, and gets the job done.

Note - There's a distinct difference between "100 SOB" and "100 SOBs on board."

The first indicates 100 total people on board. The second means you're transporting the entire US Senate somewhere.

 

[bryancobb]

...Note - There's a distinct difference between "100 SOB" and "100 SOBs on board."
The first indicates 100 total people on board. The second means you're transporting the entire US Senate somewhere.

LOL:first:
That got me ready for work today!

 

[Bumperdog]

I have always thought of a soul as being the energy that resides in all human beings and it belongs to God. When the human host body can no longer function the soul returns to where it came from taking all the information as to who and what we were with it.

 

[Scary Gary]

Good job Bumperdog .

 

[NoWingsAttached]

Geez...the things ya take for granted at face value and never think about. Good question, good answers. Ya learn somthin every day.

 

[Heron]

Pretty close . . .
Soul is present in all things, it is not the spirit, present in some living creatures be it animal or vegetable.
Soul remains for some time (rules) spirit is forever as God needs it to be!
God is the Main Frame, the little pilot inside your mind is directly attached to It, when the Space Suit dies or malfuncion catastrophically, the PIC goes back to Main Frame.
The question is: why is the Space Suit always trying to reproduce?
Jews think we have three souls, upper level is the most refined, they are not wrong!
Or so I think
Heron