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Originally Posted by jungle
(Post 527908)
Being from a mostly military and cargo background, I was shocked to see how terrified many people are about flying. After flying some of the public around on corporate gigs, it was a revelation to find out that many folks are scared to death to board an aircraft, but they do it anyway.
Please try to understand that it is a terror of the unknown, and yes it is dangerous. They just haven't had as much exposure to it as two cars (loaded with who knows what) passing each other on a two lane road at a 140 MPH closing speed. Try to understand their fears and deal with them as gently as possible. And yes they can be very funny afterward. The fear is very real for them. As others have pointed out, you never know, perhaps the designer of your aircraft is on board. I appreciate this comment. I'm not an airline pilot, but I definitely realize that you deal with rude, ignorant, and annoying passengers on a daily basis. However, some people truly live in terror of flying on airplanes. My own father is more scared of flying than anyone I know. He has gotten a bit better over the last several years--I'm pretty sure seeing me take flying lessons and being able to remain safe in a 152 has helped him be able to fly on airliners with a little bit less stress. With that said, he ALWAYS takes note about pilots/FA's who were either rude or nice to him when he has asked questions such as "Are we going to be okay?!" and "Is this turbulence dangerous?" Again, I realize that you get asked dumb questions daily, but I guarantee that fearful fliers take note of which airlines have employees that attempt to calm their fears. |
my father is captain of 75 76 and been with american for 20 years and is more than capable of telling me every possible emergency in the book (not in reality) and im about to start on my instrument but for some reason i still have that small amount of fear in my belly that this could be the day i bite it.
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Look at them and say "You know, I think you're right"
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Originally Posted by BURflyer
(Post 527188)
I just had a pretty long and tiring last day and on the flight home for the commute all I wanted to do was pass out. I happened to have one guy in his 50s sitting next to me, one of those pax. How does an airplane fly? How are we going to get from here to there? So what could I do, I proceeded to tell him everything until he was a sleep to which then I fell as sleep as well. It never ends.
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Originally Posted by prican1121
(Post 527156)
I fly the Dash and while we single engine taxi (me sitting in the back in uniform), ppl usually will ask if we know that number 1 isn't turning and if we will start it before we depart. It's funny to see them sweating bullets while I'm just reading or trying to sleep. I tell them we do it to save fuel and that the jets do it too, you just don't see the blades turning. Some of them totally think I'm still "BS" ing them.
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Originally Posted by captain152
(Post 528069)
That's why I ALWAYS bring and wear earplugs when i'm commuting home after working ... if you get the unfortunate privilege of sitting next to a chatty pax, just pull out those ear plugs and close your eyes. If they're not a complete idiot they'll get the point and leave you alone :) It may be rude, but after a long few days I sometimes just need some sleep on the way home
Yeah, sometimes I'll just sleep but remember, you choose to commute so that interaction is inevitable. You also don't have a job without those passengers buying that seat. |
Was CA on a PDT Dash flight from CLT to HHH. Everything was completely normal.
Board up the pax in HHH for the return flight. Before closing the cockpit door, the FA says that there is a lady sitting in row 4 (window emergency exit row) that is concerned about a hole in the side of the airplane. I ask the FA what she would like me to do about the passenger's concerns. Since we were plenty early, I went back to chat with this lady. There is black rubber weatherstripping around the edges of the interior cabin panel on this window exit plug door. The rubber serves no purpose other than to "fill the gap" between the interior cabin panels that surround the window exit. On this particular aircraft, the weatherstripping was a bit wavy and did not fill the gap very well. The lady was looking through one of these gaps in the weatherstripping on the forward edge of the interior panel at row 4. Based on her line of sight, she was also looking through the exterior window pane that is secured to the aircraft fuselage skin ahead at row 3. This made her feel that she had an unobstructed view of the outside world, simply by looking through this gap in the weatherstripping. I tried to explain to this lady what she was seeing. I tried to explain how the particular piece of rubber was not there to seal the window exit. I tried to explain how there are two panes to the windows, and even though she could see the outside, she was only able to do so because of the outer pane at row 3 was actually still there. I tried to explain how obvious it would be to me as a pilot if there was actually that large of a hole on this airplane during the inbound flight. I asked if there was anything else I could do to reassure her. She was still uneasy, but unfortunately about the only other thing I could have done was to take her outside the plane to see from the exterior that there was not a hole in the side. I also didn't offer her the opportunity to take a later flight, because I knew that it would just be another Dash 8, which just might have the same wavy weatherstripping. So off we went, into the wild blue yonder. Just for fun, I ran the pressurization at max differential for that leg. If the ol' Dash was gonna spring an air leak, this would be the time. But as usual the workhorse got the job done. Once safely at the gate in CLT, I even stood at the door to say goodbye to the folks and joke with the concerned lady that everything turned out ok, just as I said it would. |
Originally Posted by Pilotpip
(Post 528101)
I usually don't have a problem with talking to them. Most of the time it's just their curiosity about a subject they aren't familiar with. I find it a good time dispell many myths about our field and it can be a great way to kill a ground stop.
Yeah, sometimes I'll just sleep but remember, you choose to commute so that interaction is inevitable. You also don't have a job without those passengers buying that seat. I was just saying that sometimes after you've been on a long 4 day and your last day you've been up since 0330 and are finally catching a flight home at 2000, you just want to sit back and zone the world out and klonk out for the trip home. |
If you really want to raise eyebrows, tell 'em how much the flight crew is NOT making, especially when the jerk sitting next to you starts in on how it is the crew's fault the plane is late, etc. And depending on your uniform, airline affiliation, etc., you can inform that jerk how much you are not getting paid to sit there and listen to him. When the person expresses surprise, ask 'em how much they paid for their ticket.
It can be a rather eye-opening discussion for these passengers and maybe, sometime in the future, that person may think twice about lighting into one of your fellow crewmembers, making that crewmember more pleasant, and thus making one of your flights just a little bit less difficult. Or maybe not. |
Originally Posted by jungle
(Post 527908)
Being from a mostly military and cargo background, I was shocked to see how terrified many people are about flying. After flying some of the public around on corporate gigs, it was a revelation to find out that many folks are scared to death to board an aircraft, but they do it anyway.
Please try to understand that it is a terror of the unknown, and yes it is dangerous. They just haven't had as much exposure to it as two cars (loaded with who knows what) passing each other on a two lane road at a 140 MPH closing speed. Try to understand their fears and deal with them as gently as possible. And yes they can be very funny afterward. The fear is very real for them. As others have pointed out, you never know, perhaps the designer of your aircraft is on board. 1. How much sleep we both had the night before and if we had been drinking 2. How long we've been flying airplanes and our backgrounds 3. What the weather was for takeoff and landing and how we felt about that Although she asked very detailed questions, she is the third person this year to ask me questions similarf to this before flying. -Fatty |
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