Originally Posted by
Airhoss
Pilots have a job to do on an airplane. That job is to safely operate it and in doing so insure that safety of billions of dollars liability in the form of revenue and lives. It is a huge responsibility. It takes years of training and experience to get to be able to sign the release on a big aircraft carrying that revenue and those lives.
Flight attendants are in the trenches with those souls in the back and have to deal with all the in your face BS on a minute by minute basis all while being trapped in the same tightly packed tube. I don't have the desire or the personality to deal with that crud. flight attendants are also your front line NCO's if the SHTF and there becomes a need to moves those souls to safety in a rapid intensive moment of life saving need. It is important to keep that in mind.
I am of the opinion that we should treat our NCO's (flight attendants) with respect and dignity. Despite all the BS that goes on from time to time, if and when the moment of truth ever happens to you, the front lines of the battle to save lives shifts to the cabin and the training and capabilities of your flight attendants. It may even be your sorry carcass that they have to save, it's happened before.
I'm not sure how one F/A being a dumb shiz is indicative of the group as a whole. Because yeah, we've had some unbelievable stuff happen in the pilot ranks over the years. Anybody recall the FedEx pilot with a spear gun and a hammer? How about the two airline pilot (Usair I think it was) geniuses who got caught with a Chieftain full of Coke in Sedona a few years back?
Glass houses being what they are you probably ought to leave the stones on the ground.
Thanks for such a well-written, thought-out post. I've always done my best to protect my pilots and was always vigilant while working as "A" while you guys were deep into your pre-flight stuff and a bit on the vulnerable side. It burns my ass when some of you (mostly young FOs it looks like) act like we're dog**** under your shoe. Some of you really need to check your egos AND go for a refresher course on CRM. It's frightful to think how some of you post and I guess act (unless it's just keyboard bravado). Are there bad apples in the FA ranks, for sure, but there are some real doozies in the pilot "hall of fame" as well. The Allegiant creep from a few days ago jumps to mind, the dude who murdered his gf then drove a plane through a fence is another. Some of you are too young to remember at least one who murdered his wife at home in Connecticut (?) then ran her body through a woodchipper (I think there was another one who murdered his wife as well.) Do we also want to talk about the entire cockpit crew who showed up AND FLEW stinkin' drunk?
As Airhoss said, people should put the stones down.