lomapaseo:
So as passengers you can scream yell and wave your arms to attract attention, but realize that the cockpit crew has got to fly the aircraft by virtue of the warning lights and displays in the cockpit designed for the purpose.
Why would any uninformed first time passenger realise anything of the sort?
Even as a simple PPL, a major part of my test was exactly how I dealt with my passengers and what I told them, and when, so as to manage their expectations. And any time I take a passenger with me, I go to considerable lengths to brief them about what is going to happen, and when, including some, but not all, of the emergency actions, and what their role will be in such situations.
Sitting back on ones fat behind sneering at people whose reactions are perfectly normal given the absence of knowledge that would tell them they were not encountering an emergency when their eyes told them different, is not a tenable position.
The crew stuffed up, not the pax.