I would have done exactly what you did and I absolutely agree it is not the FA's business to be telling you how to fly your airplane.

 

Once on take off (in a Mad Dog, a near emergency situation, every takeoff!) we got a ding ding from the back just as we raised the gear!

I'm thinking; Sh*t, we must be on fire..."

The F/O is flying, all the gauges look normal, no vibrations, it's sever clear, so I pick up the phone and ask, "What's up?"

She says, "Can you call ops and ask them if one of the cabin cleaners found my book on my jumpseat?"

I kid you not.

I said, "I'll call you back." and hung up.

So when we get to cruise, I called her. I was trying to be nice, because she was new, so I said, "You know, right after take off is not a good time to call us, unless we are on fire."

She said, "Well, last time I lost my book, when I called the Pilots they said I waited too long, we were too far away to call ops, so I wanted to be sure you could still get them."

OK...LAST TIME? How many times do you lose your damned book!?!

A few minutes later, she calls back and says, "Never mind, I found it in the overhead bin, I guess the cleaners moved it, because I left it right in my jumpseat, I swear."

I've had them call with "Someone just went in the Lav" on landing too, but I always say, "Ok, we'll be extra smooth." But sometimes you just have to ignore them.

 

The FA's know not to call the flight deck when sterile except during emergency. But they do anyway. Is someone jumping up to reach the lav during landing an emergency?

Maybe for the person having to go, but it's not to me.

I believe the risk of injury is greater to go-around than to continue the normal landing. And you're right. I don't like the FA to suggest a course of action to me -- just inform.

 

What you should have done is land the airplane. You don't own the airplane, the shareholders do.

 

Wave off Cougar! Wave off!

 

Unfortunately a FA's definition of an emergency seems to be drastically different than a pilots.

The two times we have had this situation we landed, but we were landing in JFK. The GA seems like it would be more dangerous in my opinion. Unless you were landing on a short or contaminated runway and were going to be hard on the brakes, I say just land. We told you to stay seated, if you get hurt now it is your problem.

 

Is there any crewmember who, riding as a passenger, would choose to $**t their pants and their seat rather than run to a lav on final -- I hope not.

The crew and the passenger did the right thing. Each performed a risk assessment and made a decision. Everyone was on time, nobody was hurt, and an innocent seat cushion was saved.

PIPE

 

I've had this exact scenerio happen, while getting vectored onto final, not a good time to be missing radio calls. Land the plane. If you answered the call under the assumption that it was an emergency, get off the line as quickly as possible. With the seatbelt sign on your obligation is complete, a passenger getting up to use the lav does so at their own risk.

 

Timbo

Looking at the other thread, your F/A has become a SWA pilot and still leaving books behind. Later in life, she can go around saving kittens.

GF

 

I've seen it happen once on a B6 flight, and I was grateful that they didn't go around since I had a tight connect! I think in the long run, it's worth the lower risk of just landing with one person unbuckled than going around and operating in the terminal environment any longer than you need to.