American Eagle pilot tries to amuse his passengers and fails

[Speedbird744]

Passengers on American Eagle flight 4891 from New York's La Guardia airport en route to Cleveland were already running 2 hours late when the pilot asked the flight attendant to advise the passengers that the aircraft would be diverted to Toledo. The reason given was "an emergency has shutdown Cleveland Hopkins Airport".

Once the plane landed, passengers whipped out their mobile phones, expecting the need to make plans to get to their final destination, only to discover that the pilot had played a prank on them. There was no "emergency" and the plane has actually landed exactly where it was supposed to be.

Needless to say that some of the passengers didn't share his sense of humor. American Eagle has confirmed the incident, and claims the matter is now "a personnel issue". Fingers crossed for the pilot that someone at HQ understands the need for a joke every now and then.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you laugh it off, or immediately write a letter demanding one million miles?

[Pinkman]

If it were genuinely funny, I suppose I could manage a wry smile, as long as I was told before I made alternative arrangements. But its just an irritation. I know we always say this side of the pond that Americans are humourless (not true actually) but I've lived there (DFW) and I don't think even Americans would find that funny....

[bubblesqueaker]

That's a bit mean. I think I would be pleased if it happened and would see the funny side. However, I can see why other people would be P'd off. Good sense of humour - although is it verging on unprofessionalism?

[ankh]

Great way to provoke many passengers worried about the family in the airport waiting to meet them to pull out cell phones in flight and try to reach them to make sure they're OK.

At least for those unable to look out the window and recognize where they are.

Call it a test --- whether sudden multiple simultaneous passenger cell phone use while the aircraft is on final approach can cause any risk to navigation.

[vapilot2004]

I think the joke would have been much more effective had the flight been scheduled to land in IBZ and the fake diversion was HEL - in mid-winter. :}

[patrickal]

I fly almost every week, and have for a long time. (SLF). Making a quick comment or a pun may be one thing, but leading your passengers into thinking they are going to be seriously inconvenienced is another. With all of the frustrations in flying now days, you just don't need this added into your day. I doubt AA will find it very funny.

[ChrisVJ]

And next time we get diverted how will we know whether we really have been diverted or the pilot is just having some more fun?

[Ancient Mariner]

My kind of humour, my kind of Captain. Well done, fingers crossed.
Per

[PassengerDan]

As a passenger, I would have to say the guy's an imbecile. I would say something else actually but won't.

[Admiral346]

Not my kind of humour, not my kind of Captain.
Terrible job, totally unprofessional behaviour. Still fingers crossed - I hope they go easy on the guy.
Nic

[two green one prayer]

Someone from pretending to be from American Eagle operations should call him and tell him he has an extra duty on his day off. When he arrives for work everyone could have a good laugh at the time he wasted. Undoubtedly he would see the funny side of this childlike prank

[TheWestCoast]

:=Not cool at all. Flying around CONUS in the back of an airliner can be enough of an ordeal :* without this kind of unnecessary thing going on. Not even remotely funny. With that being said I hope they don't throw the book at the guy and a lesson is learned here, nothing more.

You want "funny" - try the US FA who, upon the usual carrier-style landing at SNA a year or two ago, announced "that wasn't the pilot's fault, that was asphalt". Boom boom.:hmm::bored:

[ChrisLKKB]

Not overly funny but i'd get over it.

[20milesout]

Perhaps it´s me but I don´t see what is funny with this...:=
After 2 hours of waiting I´d rather expect the driver to give me a good laugh :D

No need to call my lawyer though

[lomapaseo]

The world hates a flat joke.

I just read an article about how we perceive humor. If it's not funny we hold strong feelings against the author.

So the passengers walked off somewhat pizzed, it's what they do afterwards that counts. If no harm was done let it go, I'm sure it won't happen again.

There is no sense in making an example by disciplining the pilot and throwing away a perfectly good and now even more experienced pilot.

[Airbubba]

The article in the CLE paper indicated that at least one of the pax was not amused:

...The flight's first officer told the attendant to announce that an emergency had closed Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, the flight's destination.

"I hear 'emergency at the airport' and the first thing I'm thinking is bomb," said passenger Stephen Hazan Arnoff.

Once on the ground, passengers fired up cell phones to call family members or arrange for rental cars. Then they discovered they were in Cleveland.

The first officer had played a "joke" on them, the frustrated flight attendant said, and was still laughing about it in the cockpit. Such a "joke" by a passenger would no doubt result in arrest at the gate.

Some didn't find it funny.

"It's like yelling fire in a crowded theater," said Hazan Arnoff, executive director of the 14th Street Y, a Jewish community center in Manhattan. He was visiting family and attending meetings in Cleveland.

Andrea Huguely, a spokeswoman for American Eagle, confirmed the incident, and it's now a "personnel issue."

Said Hazan Arnoff: "Those pilots should be fired."



Pilot's joke gets no laughs from passengers - Tipoff by Michael K. McIntyre - Cleveland.com (http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1219480249114810.xml&coll=2)

[the_hawk]

fire him and - maybe - three days later tell him it's only a joke, should suffice IMHO

[bzh]

Stupid kid.... but that's what most AA connector captains are... thank to the very low wages system they have....:ugh:

[20milesout]

the_hawk wrote:
fire him and - maybe - three days later tell him it's only a joke, should suffice IMHO

I´d second that :ok:

[Chronistin]

50% of a joke is how it is delivered, so there is chance that it was 50% funny at the time. :rolleyes: However, even if something was 100% funny, I'd be hesitant to use it even in my (non airline, non-security-related) line of work. Sense of humor seems on a decline, generally speaking.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Once the plane landed, passengers whipped out their mobile phones


Call it a test --- whether sudden multiple simultaneous passenger cell phone use while the aircraft is on final approach can cause any risk to navigation.

Which was it ?

Bad taste anyway, what was the point ?

[llondel]

I don't think I'd find it funny, but then I wouldn't share the joke with my lawyer either. Perhaps assign the pilot to guard the CRJs against TSA intrusion for a couple of nights as penance.

[mercurydancer]

Jokes are jokes. If cabin crew say that smoking is permitted outside of the aircraft during flight then its obviously a joke and I can understand and appreiciate that. To fool paying passengers into beleiving something that isnt true is unprofessional and of such an extent he doesnt deserve to be in charge of an aircraft with passengers on it ever again.

I would go further than that. If I say to airport staff or cabin crew that I have a bomb or was hijacking the aircraft even if I told them that I was joking I would expect to be locked up and criminal charges made. There are notices up in airports that say that any comment will be taken seriously even if made in jest. Dismissal is a light alternative to a criminal charge.

[Avman]

I think I have a pretty good sense of humour (I need it at work), but I wouldn't have been amused by this. Immature kindergarden humour. What are 5 year olds doing flying AA Eagle aeroplanes anyway?!

[Avitor]

In answer to the OP, I would be a little miffed. However, I would not wish to take the matter further and put it down to a bit of devilment.

[Feux Verts]

What are 5 year olds doing flying AA Eagle aeroplanes anyway?!

... because all the 6 year olds got jobs with <INSERT APPROPRIATE BUDGET AIRLINE HERE> :O

On a similar theme - friend of mine on oil rigs on North Sea tells of a Helo flight from Aberdeen where the 20 burly and brave oilmen board the aircraft and take their seats. 10 minutes later one of the number starts complaining "Where's the ****ing pilot? Can't be that hard to fly this thing". He gets up into RH seat and starts the thing up and goes into the hover. 19 "tough" oilmen now sh**ing themselves until the guy strips off his survival suit to reveal his 4 stripes. He got the sack.....

[wileydog3]

"It's like yelling fire in a crowded theater," said Hazan Arnoff, executive director of the 14th Street Y, a Jewish community center in Manhattan. He was visiting family and attending meetings in Cleveland.

Never let it be said the wussification of many Americans is losing strength.. or the increased use of silly hyperbole. :{

You can die in a fire.. being the butt of a bad joke is not a calamity.. for many.

[ExSp33db1rd]

..........He gets up into RH seat and starts the thing up...........


Happened a million years ago with a Scottish Airways ( name ? ) Rapide, (single pilot ) too. Deerstalker hat wearing pax. reading The Times, getting irritated at the delay, storms up to the front and starts up. He later became a BEA Captain when his airline was absorbed, and he was a sort of legend around the "Highlands and Islands" ( Many years ago, memory slightly hazy )

[vapilot2004]

In answer to the OP, I would be a little miffed. However, I would not wish to take the matter further and put it down to a bit of devilment.
:ok::ok:

The joke itself was not that bad. Trouble is, any humor would have drained out of it after about 10 seconds. After that, many passengers would have been feeling worry, apprehension and for some, even dread.

Hopefully this FO can stick to his day job and from now on leave the comedy bits to the cabin crew.

[Rush2112]

"It's like yelling fire in a crowded theater," said Hazan Arnoff, executive director of the 14th Street Y, a Jewish community center in Manhattan. He was visiting family and attending meetings in Cleveland.

No, it isn't, you clown. That would likely cause a stampede and injure a bunch of people. This just pi$$ed people off.

I can see what the pilot was trying to do, inject a little levity into the situation, but fell flat on his face.

[L-38]

Simply an ill conceived good intention gone bad.

[buzz&sntch]

Not all FOs would do this, but some will. The individual with the most bars should have laid a bad joke to bed quick. My guess is that it was the FO playin' with the FA. Probably had 'em putting out toilet fires the previous flight, and something dumber yet on the one before that. Getting the pax involved was inconsiderate to say the least and proved to the crew who the dumbest really was...THE CAPTAIN (if they were aware); sometimes ya gotta use a little authority! Trying to break up a day of never ending delays with humor is a potentially good thing, but these "pranks" can be taken way too far as in this case.

[sengasengana]

by VApilot2004:

"I think the joke would have been much more effective had the flight been scheduled to land in IBZ and the fake diversion was HEL - in mid-winter. "

Would take HEL in midwinter over IBZ anytime... reasons...? go and take a gander at both places...

BTT, humour as mentioned is an art of itself, except SLF expects to get the service they paid for WITHOUT any grief and worry. Attitude is the keyword in our business, it doesn't include giggly CCs in a galley nor incompehensible pranks (ie. a straight LIE) to PAX... This all adds to a secure feeling to our customers, who finance our mortgages.

Tea and biscuits with the Chief Pilot are in order and next time stay in what you know...

S

[Midland 331]

Having handled diverts as a callow youth, 70-odd stressed businesspersons bearing down on one solitary ground agent, barely out of uni., I can assure you that they are not something to joke about.

Teesside, Leeds and Newcastle had their own unique microclimates.

Short flying times between them all meant very little warning of diversions.

One autumn night at Teesside, we had five "drop in" within the space of ten minutes, all at the end of a shift...

[groundhand]

"Tea and biscuits with the Chief Pilot are in order and next time stay in what you know..."

Sorry, but no.
Not to correct this before the doors were opened was unforgivable and any line manager should take formal action against this pi**ock.
This guy needs to understand his basic responsibilities and only a formal process would deliver this. I don't advocate sacking but he should have no doubt about his stupidity.

I wonder how many flight crew on this forum would defend a SLF or security operative who thought they would have a bit of fun with an operating crew and did not correct it before the target person/people were affected? No, thought so.

GH

[merlinxx]

The blokes a prat, but then again how many of us have pulled a wheez like this in our careers ? A bollocking most certainly, but fire the bloke, NO.

Bet the punters who pulled their cell phones out won't admit it at the golf/tennis/gym etc to their chums! Being a prat is one thing, being taken in by one, and showing yourself to be one is a different matter perhaps!

[PaperTiger]

My guess is that it was the FO playin' with the FA.That was my initial take (see post #1) on it. Whether he expected her to realise it was a joke and NOT DO IT we don't know, but I'm sure he's embarrassed enough about it now.

No way he's ever getting into those panties :ok:

[wclark1238]

I had a similar but more well managed situation on April 1st this year on an EZY flight from East Midlands to Schipol. Upon landing we were greeted with the usual 'welcome to ......... blah, blah, blah' speech from the cockpit but this time it was a little different when the captain or FO explained that due to fog at Schipol we'd diverted to Rotterdam. Cue lots of concerned looks on the faces of fellow passengers but before anyone had really had much chance to think of the consequences the PA crackled back into life with a merry 'and for those who had previously not noticed today's date is April 1st, welcome to Schipol.' :)

[mdt001]

This dude should be flying freight.

[John R]

It is a funny joke, but it does undermine his professionalism and looks bad.

I'm all for the wry, bitter sense of humour (my easyJet captain was talking about "doing battle with ATC" last week), but this is a step too far.