Passengers I can handle and I react the same as Saab2000. The way I look at it the PAX are going to judge every response I give whenever something doesn’t seem quite right. If something’s wrong then you as a professional pilot should help the FLT crew by remaining calm and collected; on the outside…………ignore it. This way everyone who is paying attention to you thinks that it must not be that bad sense you’re not panicking. Remember that you're in the back; you don't have any authority on that FLT unless the CA calls for you and delegates a task. Until then leave the problem solving to them, that is if there is even a problem. If you think the FLT crew may be unaware of the potential problem then get up and calmly bring it to their attention but out of the way of any passenger ears.

Now when a FA over reacts it’s a completely different problem. I was on a 757 from ATL to LAX when I received a tap on the shoulder from a FA telling me that I am needed in the aft galley. I calmly stood up and walked to the back, he then overreact to the smell of something near his jumpseat. OK, I worked as a Professional Coatings and Industrial Marine sales rep for Sherwin-Williams for 5 years………………it’s safe to say that I know a lot about paint and its related products; to me the smell was obviously caused by a Xylene (R2K4) based product. I told him that Mx was probably back here cleaning up something and they commonly use products like “Goof Off”. I added that I'm very familiar with what torched Packs, Electrical fires and many other aircraft problems smell like and other than a canister of R2K4 being below in the cargo hold (hmmmmm not on a Pax jet) there is no reason to be alarmed. The FA then called the CA and demanded that we land. The CA asked to speak to me and I explained the smell plus my history, he made his way back and agreed with me, we then pressed on to LAX.

After a while I noticed the FA was back at it. He was now turning off the in-flight entertainment systems and sniffing around the cabin in a suspicious manor. About 20 minutes later he tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to return to the aft galley. Once in the back he stated that he now smells something else and he can’t quite place it. It was coming out of one vent and one vent only. I sniffed around and told him it smelled like extremely burnt coffee. About that time another FA heard me and stated that she had a coffee maker over flow. Case solved again, the coffee maker was near the vent and once I approached the maker I knew immediately that was the culprit. After about an hour two FA’s approached me and said that he’s the “boy who cried wolf.” The scary part is someday he might actually be right and no one will listen.

After we had landed in LA and everyone was off the CA said that he had gotten a hold of Company who tracked down the mechanic who was working on the aircraft. Come to find out the 75 had just been painted in the new DAL livery and he was using a low key reducer to remove some adhesive residue that was left behind.

Disclaimer: Not all FA’s are crazy but they don’t understand the a/c like we do. Their input on what’s going on in the back is extremely valuable but in the end we must use their information plus the information gathered from other sources, to make the decision….ourselves.