Well, I would hope they did rebuke him. What he did was exercise a serious lack of maturity, self-discipline and judgment. More than that, it should be a crime and he should go to jail.
What’s been lost in all the discussion on this manchild is the true purpose of flight “attendants.” They are not there to hand out peanuts, although that is how they occupy their and passengers’ time. They are actually there as part of the flight “crew.” They are supposed to be highly trained at handling all kinds of emergencies and to be part of the crew that helps the Captain keep everybody alive.
HELLO.
Is that the first thing you think of when you get on board and have some of these divas tossing cold coffee at you?
I was on a flight once — national commercial airline — in a South American country that will remain unnamed. When we got over the airport, I noticed that the pilot made a sort of approach, pulled out and circled around again. I did not speak the language and, besides, no announcements were being made.
The pilot made another approach, also pulled out and circled around. I looked down and saw a creaky firetruck trundling out to the tarmac and a few airport officials squinting up into the sky as if they were trying to see what was wrong with our plane.
They were looking — not even with binoculars — at our landing gear and making hand motions.
At that point, the co-pilot came out of the cockpit, pulled back a piece of carpet on the aisle and began manually trying to crank down the landing gear. I kid you not.
The pilot finally made an announcement as all this was going on. Apparently, in Spanish he told the flight to prepare for a possible crash landing.
I was a little concerned because I had little way of knowing what was going on. I looked back in the plane and, whatdyaknow, all the flight attendants were huddled in the back, hugging and crying huge tears, wailing that we were all going to die. They had no idea of what they were supposed to be doing at that point, or else they had no discipline or judgment to execute their training in time of a true emergency. The passengers were completely on their own.
Finally the man next to me became indignant. He pulled out the emergency landing card in the seatfront pocket. He stood up and got everyone’s attention (probably a 100 or so people on board) and he began to explain calmly, in Spanish and English, what the passengers should do.
There were several babies on board and the card said the babies should be put in the mother’s lap and she should lean forward into the crash position with her baby in her lap. That’s when I really started getting a lump in my throat, because those mothers were really scared. I’ll never forget the sight of those mothers sort of wrapping their bodies around their babies to protect them. This man, a stranger to all of us, was assuring them. And he actually got us all into the crash position and so on. The flight “crew” was still in hysterical wailing and melted mascara in the back of the plane!
We made another pass then the pilot said he was going to try to land. He said the landing gear was down as far as they could tell, but it wasn’t clear it was locked.
The man beside me kept translating and showing real leadership. Then he got into position and we waited. I could hear people softly crying and praying.
We did have a hard landing, but we did not explode and all the babies were safe.
Those damn “flight crew” ninnies were still crying and wailing as we deboarded ourselves.
Anyway, long story. Thanks for your patience. I just wanted to say when you think these dorks on your flight are just annoyances, think again. Would you really want some clown like Slater trying to keep his cool and figure out how to handle a real emergency?
FWIW, I have tried to bring this forward. See my posts on the subject, and a few others here recognize the breach of responsibility but are mostly drowned out by the WAY TO GO, customers-are-all-crap crowd and the gay-bashing snickerers.
That is quite a story and one you will certainly never forget. It is one thing to be in an emergency and another to realize those you should be able to look to for safety or at least guidance have abandoned their duties.
Thank God a leader was amongst you. This story and others coming to my attention lately demonstrate we all need to be prepared to take care of ourselves and our own.
Local TV news reported last night on an incoming commercial flight from Maui that sat on the tarmac for hours without any explanation to the passengers. During this time, the crew “clocked out” and left the airplane. Can you believe this. The major airline admits they are short-handed these days. I’m sorry I can’t find the story right now.
Great Story.
That ‘stranger’ who stood up and took control of the situation was probably an angel.