Originally Posted by
Dawgfan6291
Okay, I'll bite.
Lets see the data, actual data, that says this is the case. I'll wait.
and then you cut the light out, hit heavy chop, someone (or multiple) people get hurt or worse...........and you just tossed your career right down the drain because you decide not to listen to the meteorologist who, at least at Delta, get paid very well to make that decision.
If the company tells the pilot to turn the light on and the pilot just "makes an executive decision" then that pilot won't be a pilot very long.
PS, the forecasts coming out of Delta's meteorology department are some of the best. Quite a few airlines pay Delta very well for Delta to do it for them.
First of all, I doubt OP was working through DL’s meteorology department on a flight from EWR to ZRH. With that said, forecasts are just that, predictions. No matter how good one might be at it, it isn’t the same as actual conditions. I don’t doubt that this centers around the lawsuit culture of the US and not actual safety, however at some point it becomes a double edged sword. There is no reasonable expectation that everyone on the aircraft is going to be able to remain seated for 3+ hours at a time. In fact there’s about a zero percent chance of that being possible. By leaving the sign on continuously people are going to stop observing it, and I’m admittedly one of them.
With that said, I’ll usually do my own research before getting up to make sure we’re not about to fly over a thunderstorm or line of storms ahead of a cold front.