Brief & demonstrate use

A passenger who has touched the door latch will function under stress. One who only heard you describe it will be hunting for it with the cabin filling with smoke. The difference is demonstration.

Show, don't just tell

The execution here is physical, not verbal. Walking through the gear out loud is the floor; the skill is demonstrating it so the knowledge lives in the passenger's hands, not just their memory:

• Exits — show how the door release actually works, and have them put a hand on it and feel the latch. Under stress, muscle memory beats a remembered sentence.
• Fire extinguisher — where it's mounted, how to release it, the pull-aim-squeeze; let them hold it.
• ELT — point it out and say whether it's automatic, and where the manual switch is.
• PFDs / raft (overwater) — how to don the vest, and the rule that decides everything: inflate only after egress, never inside the cabin (K3).

The principle is simple and it's why "demonstrate" is in the element title: words alone won't survive panic. A passenger who has physically operated the door release and held the extinguisher will do those things when it counts; one who only nodded along while you described them will freeze.

Keep the demonstration brief and unhurried — a couple of minutes at the gate, not a lecture. Do it before engine start, while it's quiet enough to be heard and calm enough to be absorbed; the runup is too late and too loud. And confirm understanding rather than assuming it: "show me how you'd get that door open" turns a passive nod into proof the message landed. On the practical test, the examiner is watching for exactly this — that you don't just recite the gear but make a passenger genuinely ready to use it.

Tailor to who's aboard and where

"As appropriate" is doing real work in this element — the brief matches the passenger and the route. A child gets a simpler, calmer version focused on staying buckled and quiet; a nervous first-timer needs reassurance woven through it; a fellow pilot can take a crisp, technical rundown and even share the workload. And the route sets the content: a local daytime hop needs belts, exits, and sterile-cockpit; an overwater leg adds the full PFD demonstration that a flight nowhere near water doesn't.

The judgment being graded mirrors S1 — the same read of who is in the seats and where you're going — only here it's delivered out loud and hands-on. Brief for confidence, not fear (R2): specific, calm, and demonstrated leaves a passenger prepared and useful, which is the entire point of doing it before the day goes wrong instead of during it.