skunker

Aborted takeoff.

84fiero

I can see a nervous passenger getting spooked, but for a seasoned traveler and writer/reviewer to get that freaked out about an aborted takeoff roll, and want to get off of the plane, is odd.

I can't really judge the review of the actual flight as the one post so far didn't have much content beyond the takeoff issue - hopefully more to come in a future post.

kokonutz

As a veteran of one aborted take-off and maybe a half dozen go-arounds on landings, I gotta say: Jeez, what a wuss. And what's with all his 'mom' stuff.

Millennials are so freaking weird.

sbm12

All the cabin crew knows at that point is the plane stopped. No alarms or indications of fire so no need to race into action. They followed protocol, waiting for further instruction from the pilot.

Nothing wrong with that at all IMO.

kokonutz

Yep.

TMM1982

They could have taken a leadership position and asked the pilot(s) what they are doing and why they stopped so they could communicate to the passengers. All too often pilots feel like they don't need to communicate with passengers.

sbm12

Absolutely not. The pilots are busy doing their job; getting interrupted by the FAs calling to the flight deck would disrupt their ability to perform their tasks as trained.

The mantra for pilots is:
Aviate
Navigate
Communicate

Make sure the plane is okay. Make sure you know where you're going. Then - and only then - deal with letting everyone else know what is going on.

I've had aborted take-offs and aborted landings/go arounds a few times. In each case it was minutes before the pilots came on to explain the situation. That is the normal situation, not an exception.

TMM1982

If the flight is stopped on the tarmac, what exactly are the pilots "busy" doing besides awaiting further instructions from the tower?

TheBOSman

Likewise, although I've been somewhat fortunate to have no aborted take-offs and only one go-around in 366 flights. I would much rather have people looking out for my safety and well-being and not be informed in this scenario, instead of being distracted in an attempt to inform me of it and failing to actually achieve my safety and well-being due to that. An aborted takeoff can cause quite a few issues for ATC at the airport as well, as planes approaching for landing on the runway have to be sent around, and any planes awaiting takeoff may need new instructions.

"Taking a leadership position" is not in the protocol, and the protocols are written in blood for better or worse. The pilots know the most about whatever is happening 99% of the time, and they also have 99% of the possible options available to them. They have all the training, let them use it. Unlike the flight attendants that claim "we are here primarily for your safety" often as a way to excuse poor service, the pilots actually are there primarily for your safety. They don't just let any Jane or Joe into a cockpit to have some fun at the controls.

TheBOSman

Making sure the brakes have not overheated, which can cause a fire. Making sure any indicator lights are addressed. Making sure that the takeoff was not rejected due to something seriously wrong with the aircraft, i.e. BA 2276. Alerting the tower that they have rejected takeoff, which requires (if plane is operable) a new set of taxiing commands to be relayed to the pilots by the tower.

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aer...off_story.html

Troopers

Sorry I wasn't more clear. I was referring to the flight deck...needing a second to figure out what happened is a direct reference to the pilot; his words, not mine.

Clearly, the pilot was confused why the takeoff was aborted.

sbm12

Yeah, I've still got no problem with that. We're not talking about the guy taking a coffee break in the middle of an incident. They were working the checklists to get things squared away. ATC is going to ask what's going on so as to be ready to handle whatever is happening. Taking a few seconds to get the correct answer rather than panicking and reacting without all the details is just fine by me.

kokonutz

It's a symptom of the fact that the planes are now sometimes smarter than the pilots.

Watch Air Disasters/Mayday and count the number of times the cockpit crew does something stupid/contributes to a chain of mistakes.

Engineers have worked very hard and been relatively successful at requiring the cockpit crew to not make stupid mistakes/contribute to a chain of mistakes. @:-)

TMM1982

^^^

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster

B747-437B

Ideally, they should have had pre-printed handouts with various reasons for aborted take-offs ready to distribute - then they could have just checked the relevant boxes and handed out immediately.

The worst thing a normal crew member can do in an emergency is ask the pilot what is going on. In a non-emergency situation, the flight deck will brief one designated crew member whose job is then to disseminate the information among the rest of the crew. The communication should optimally follow the NITS format - Nature of incident, Intent of response, Time available, Special instructions - with nothing extraneous to that.

One of the biggest reasons I'm glad I no longer work with passenger airlines is having to deal with the ridiculous questions, demands, statements and outright lies from passengers during the smallest type of irregular operation. Cargo is so much easier to work with.