Posted on 09/23/2005 10:43:08 AM PDT by Chicos_Bail_Bonds
For years, airlines controlled what passengers saw on their cabin screens, editing out scenes of graphic violence or sex, and banning movies altogether if they showed airline crashes.
But now, with three U.S. airlines offering live television feeds and on-board Internet access expected to be available within a year, passengers can see anything they want -- even news coverage of an event in which they might be taking part.
After the drama aboard JetBlue Flight 292 unfolded live on television Wednesday, executives of Denver-based Frontier Airlines, which like JetBlue shows DirectTV on its flights, began to rethink their policy of keeping on the feed until the pilot decides to shut it down. As a result, the company probably would implement a new policy that calls for turning off the service during in-flight emergencies, Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas said.
"If I'm panicked by what I see on TV, I'm not as likely to pay attention to the flight attendant telling me to put head between legs and prepare for landing -- or whatever they might be telling me," he said. "I'm not as apt to follow [directions] if I'm hysterical from what I'm watching on TV."
But a spokeswoman for JetBlue, whose passengers even watched the planes crashing into New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, said the company would not change its policy of allowing pilots to decide whether to turn off the TV.
Company officials have long chosen not to censor television feeds and believe that, on balance, it's better to have information available to passengers, spokeswoman Fiona Morrison said.
"We had quite a few planes in the air on Sept. 11," Morrison said. "People on the planes could see the coverage through CNN, and we found that the majority of people appreciated getting that information."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Me, too. If the passenger wants to turn it off or watch something else, that's their perogative.
Even if that causes a riot?!
So do I. I would have wanted to watch all that coverage had I been on that flight. But news shows should be more careful. MSNBC, who for the most part had the best coverage, had a doom and glooom guy on for awhile. They should have ended their on-air chat with him very quickly because they didn't know whether or not folks on flight were listening. It's a tough call monitoring what's said.
Why do you think it would cause a riot?
The vapid coverage of local news networks would be enough to plunge the cabin into anarchy.
Yesterday I heard an interview (I forget which talk show it was) with one of the passengers on the Jetblue flight.
She said they were watching the flight emergency on live TV. The pilot kept reassuring them, "This is a piece of cake, don't you folks worry about a thing, I'll put this plane down on a pillow," while the news media kept whipping up hysteria: "Very iffy," "about a 50-50 chance," "looks real bad," etc. etc.
This time the pilot was right, and the news media freaks were wrong, but why should the crew have to deal with passenger hysteria in addition to handing the emergency?
Well, apart from the "local news" doom & gloom comment, there may have been something the pilot did NOT want them to know about. Finding out on the news could certainly spread fear like wildfire.
In addition, from the article, Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas points out the obvious: "If I'm panicked by what I see on TV, I'm not as likely to pay attention to the flight attendant telling me to put head between legs and prepare for landing -- or whatever they might be telling me," he said. "I'm not as apt to follow [directions] if I'm hysterical from what I'm watching on TV."
IIRC, years ago..70's I think?..there was a UAL flight that crashed just after take off from O'Hare, when an engine fell off the plane..UAL had just recently installed a small TV camera in the cockpits of all their planes....and they would show the take-off roll and landing..LIVE in the cabin..it was very popular...so there was much speculation that the doomed passengers were all sitting there looking at the image as the plane nosed into the ground...Horrible thought..
"This time the pilot was right, and the news media freaks were wrong, but why should the crew have to deal with passenger hysteria in addition to handing the emergency?"
Very good point - what if instead of doing their jobs of safely landing, the crew gets distracted by the hysteria and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy?
MythBusters figured out that if you can make it to the ground without broken legs, your chance of surviving a plane crash is actually pretty fair.
Was there media-caused "hysteria" on the JetBlue flight in question?
Ummmm, this one's easy. There were real people on board - did they panic? How do they feel? Did they pay attention to the flight attendant? My guess is they felt awful - cried, prayed, tried to call families - they didn't panic - and they paid a lot of attention to the flight attendant.
Now, what did happen? If it was me? I'd want to watch.
FWIW, if your plane is making the national news, chances are the passengers have bigger problems than the captain pulling the plug on the in-flight TV.
Puleese! I would think if anyone were entitled to see what's going on, it should be the people directly involved. I mean, look at it like this: Pilot comes on, says there's "A little problem." I would base my prayers on his expert opinion. A few Hail Marys, an Our Father or two. But, if I were watching FOX....well, then I'd remember how to say the rosary on my fingers.
Now, all you non-Catholics, hold on. Saying the rosary requires concentration. Paying attention to one's prayers precludes hysteria and panic attacks. It also reminds me that God's will will be done, so I might as well play along!
Granted, THIS TIME, the hysterical news coverage did not cause a riot and the plane to crash - you are willing to bet your life on that next time?
Most of the channels emphasized how easy this should be and that pilots were trained for it. But MSNBC got this one guy on who kept saying that he'd never seen this before. But he was the only one singing the blues that I saw.
I had a friend on that flight. A very gifted architect and professor of architecture at Arizona State. The specific flight number was one that I took on a regular basis when traveling on business for PacBell.
"Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em crash."
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