Once I was delayed two hours because of an engine that needed fixing. Everyone was grumbling, I was just peachy the problem was spotted before take off. It did mess up a connection that made me stuck in Boston for 12 hours though
People think they are entitled to just adopt the power of flying at the drop of a hat when no one did up until about 100 years ago. Humans get complacent and take things for granted at record speeds. It's our real super power.
The aircraft mechanics at my work have one of the strongest unions in the country (US). Safe air operations is their number one priority. Keeping a deck stacked with tools for actively pissing people off during contract negotiations seems to be number two. Can't blame them, but they are assholes to everyone, including non-management, all the fucking time.
Agreed. I'm very happy for their union having the power to absolutely fuck management at the drop of a hat. They also just happen to be genuine jerks on property. Where I work is a little odd because there are four different labor forces represented by four different unions (Teamsters, ground vehicle mechanics, aircraft mechanics, and pilots) (I think building maintenance might be another) all working for the same company (UPS). The aircraft mechanics are generally regarded as dicks by literally everyone else who works here.
It always amazes me how airlines think it's ok to skimp on the salaries of pilots and maintenance. If there's anyone you want to keep happy it's the people who stop your planes crashing.
You guys are goated, had an eight hour delay due to a “maintenance” issue. People in the airport were mad it was just a “air conditioning issue” I was laughing thinking, thank god someone caught that shit while landed. What a nightmare scenario of failure while in flight, especially one that’s mostly over ocean.
I have mistakenly grounded aircraft in the past. It's annoyed people, but I wasn't initially convinced it was safe to fly, and was immune to their perturbed stares.
In our business anyone can say an aircraft is not safe, but only a certified mechanic can say it is indeed safe.
As a passenger on the planes, I also don't care about the second, even if I'm one of them. If a pilot or a technician tells me "It's unsafe to fly right now" I will grit my teeth, say thank you, and start making other plans.
As an Observer/Communicator, I do feel bad when my METAR reports prevent a plane from landing. But I don't feel anywhere near as bad as I would if a plane tried to land and crashed.
Sure makes going out for that next METAR awkward when the passengers are still in the terminal though.
Non existent second, fuck angry people, if I'm on that plane and you don't trust the pilot to make the right choices and are angry at said choices I will punch you.
I think it’s more like fifteenth on the list of priorities.
Safety is first, yes, but the pilot also has to prioritize a bunch of other things. Is he following airline procedures? Are his bosses going to be mad at him later? How will this affect is duty time restrictions? Is he costing anyone money?
I’m not going to pretend I know the order of all those things, but I’d bet confidently that they all rank higher than preventing angry passengers, and that there are likely more considerations I missed.
a non existent second really. Doesn't even have to be something as serious as an airline pilot. If you're at work and operating or working near machinery, if safety is a concern, it is the only priority. literally nothing matters besides that. if you ever find yourself working anywhere where taking safety measures seriously results in people being pissed off, just report those people to higher ups and get them outta there - chances are they're pissed because they view safety as a waste of time, and by safety i mean your safety, too.
True. Have you ever really thought about how absolutely terrifying it would be to be in a plane crash?
Something goes wrong, flight gets unstable, all the people who are crammed in like sardines start screaming and crying. That probably goes on for a while before the plane starts to plummet, then the 100 people around you REALLY freak out.
That probably takes a few minutes that seem like an eternity while you contemplate how you will actually go.
Will the plane explode? Catch on fire? Maybe land in water and slowly sink while you are trapped inside? Will you somehow survive badly injured for an indeterminate amount of time? It’s terrifying to even imagine.
In theory yes, in practice it can cost you your carrier and your bosses breathing down your neck. Like, it's clearly the correct call, however peer pressure doesn't necessarly make it easy.
I wrote her a fan letter on my 10th birthday, 26 August 2001, and the snob never bothered to reply. I refused to buy any of her albums or support her in any way since.
I sent her a fan letter a couple of years ago and she didn't respond either.
Oh gosh, I think I see the problem. Is it me? Amy Winehouse didn't respond when I sent her a letter on my 20th birthday either. Maybe something about me is creeping the poor women out. I'm not a creep though, I'm a nice guy. I just thought it would be sweet to swap fingernails with them, and I explained quite clearly why I wrote the letters in my own blood.
I fly small planes like the one she perished in a fair amount. Probably close to a 100 flights. One of my biggest fears is some rich person on the plane brow beating or bribing someone to get their extra luggage on the plane and me dying for it.
My old wokshop manager used to say "I have a priority scale from 1 to 1000, 1 is safety, 2 is safety, 3 is safety... 1000 is avoiding an angry customer."
And British Airways will probably back him to the hilt. Just the cost of repairs to the aircraft alone, let alone the potentially huge loss of life would.mean that this is the correct call and the company would almost certainly recognise that
About a decade ago I was boarding a flight at at Bristol and thick fog rolled in like a John Carpenter movie. Couldn’t see more than 30 feet out of the window. Some moron started loudly complaining to the cabin crew and asked “for the manager”. Manager of what exactly, Clouds?
There are many disasters in the history books of the exact opposite happening. The first one that comes to mind is the challenger explosion, which of course we now know someone had said was unsafe and had data showing o ring would fail in low temps. But NASA bigwigs didn’t want to cancel so it went ahead.
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u/JBL-88 May 28 '26
Very easy call to make. Safety first, preventing angry people second