Originally Posted by
SASless
HC......the fellow has offered no criticism of the pilots at all.
No need to be a Horse's Patoot!
He has politely described what happened and asked about it.
That this is not the best venue for getting an answer doesn't warrant you being rude and obnoxious about it.
Give the guy a break.....perhaps call one of your chums who is still in the loop and find out for him.
Well first of all, as has been said, this forum is not really the right place to ask such a question - it should have been done at the time, on disembarkation. Probably only the specific crew involved will know the answer and there is a poor chance that they would post it on here. The likely outcome is more hysteria from ill-informed observers which is not constructive.
Secondly, we operate in Class D and Class G airspace which is shared by numerous users. Approaching Aberdeen is Class D, that means no ATC separation from VFR on VFR or VFR on IFR traffic. It is up to the pilots to see and avoid each other. Sometimes a light aircraft can get closer than we would like as they are surprisingly difficult to see. At that point, avoiding action is taken and, as you know, the priority is to avoid the other traffic regardless of any momentary passenger discomfort.
This is just the way it is in Aberdeen, the UK and just about anywhere else in the world when flying in Class D. It is not like flying from a 100% IFR environment like Heathrow, and nor should it be. For the OP to expect never to encounter an avoidance manoeuvre (though to be fair, he doesn't explicitly state that) would be like having an expectation that when travelling on a bus, all other road users must be barred from using the road whilst he is in transit. A nice idea, but totally unrealistic.
Yes I know I am grumpy, but really I do get fed up with passengers making such a fuss every time there is the slightest bump, hiccup, or (in this case) unexpected change of direction.
The operators have systems in place for dealing with queries from passengers (much more than would ever be entertained by the likes of British Airways) so they should be used, rather than resorting to yet another trial by social media.