Flaps extension
A passenger story which I consider worth sharing with you.
Happened on 6 January at SVO. I was a passenger on a Boeing 737-300 of a European airline (I will not name it, to avoid any bias). Due to light snow, the departure from the gate is delayed for about 1 hour, while the services are cleaning the runway.
Finally, we are leaving the gate and de-icing is performed.
Soon after, we are heading towards the runway. I notice that the flaps are not extended. As normally at this stage they should be, I leave my seat, approach a flight attendant sitting at the back, and tell him my worries.
He gets up, looks through the window at the back of the wing, then goes towards the front of the plane and looks at the wing from the front. "It's ok, it's only 5 degrees. Anyway, the front is more important than the back", he tells me.
Well, I never heard about front flaps on a 737, nor about 5 degrees... Yet he is a professional, and who am I? So I sit down and worringly await our takeoff.
There is a queue for takeoff, plus the same runway is used for landing, so we spend another 30 minutes waiting on a taxiway.
"After one more landing, we will be taking off", announces the Captain.
Finally, it's our turn for takeoff. The plane is about to enter the runway... and the flaps extend! Probably the captain wanted to avoid icing, delaying it to the last moment.
A relief... Still, I later tell the attendant that the flaps were only extended immediately before takeoff, so he was not right. "Might be. Anyways, the guys know what they're doing", he says.
End of story. Not wanting to blame anyone - just for discussion.