Well put Get out of my Galley.
I spent 8 years as cabin crew and passenger nervousness/fear is a powerful disabler of logic (and come to that hearing).
Yes a p.a. at the beginning of the flight to warn of possible 'smoke' would seem sensible. The pax would have been calm enough to understand assuming they are alert and not burried in the latest copy of Heat. (Which incidently seems to be the preferred method of receiving the safety demo).
I would say though that I always took notice of pax concerns - anything that they pointed out as unusual I would either be able to reassure (yes turbulence is normal) or double check with the chaps at the pointy end. CRM training hammers this point home - accidents are a result of a chain of events and that the observation of pax/cabin crew can remove a crucial link - even if I felt ridiculous pointing out something that was in all probablility normal.
Going back to this incident though - they were on the take off roll - there is a limit to how much you can do at this point - Hurtling down the runway is not the time to explain the finer points of mist/smoke differentials or get on the interphone to chat to the pilot as he calls V2. Shouting at the pax to sit down and issuing curt p.a.'s is about the limit.
I believe that more emphasis should be placed on the 'unexpected' realities of flight - be it misting, how bad turbulence can actually be - or how you actually check to see your o2 is flowing in a decompresion. The airlines general emphasis seems far to much skewed towards beer, peanuts and flowery music.
Last edited by bunkrest; 1st Aug 2008 at 16:53.