More smoking on airplane

[HotDog]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A Delta flight carrying 156 passengers had to return to Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport on Saturday after a passenger became unruly, an airline spokeswoman said.

Dee Baker Amos told CNN that about an hour after Delta Flight 308 departed Atlanta for New York's LaGuardia Airport at 3:30 p.m. EST, a male passenger began smoking.

"Of course the flight attendants asked him not to smoke, and when he refused, the passengers and flight attendants restrained him," she said.

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was alerted and monitored the situation by radio, a spokesman said.

"We had aircraft already in the air and began to posture those aircraft to head toward the region if necessary, but the situation was under control before our aircraft arrived, and there was no need to do anything," said Maj. Barry Venable, a NORAD spokesman.

The man was detained by authorities at the airport and will be charged with interfering with a flight crew, a law enforcement source said.

The other passengers were put on another flight to LaGuardia.

"Everyone communicated well, and everything worked as it is supposed to," Amos said.

[Few Cloudy]

What a good idea - to "posture" aircraft towards the airliner. That would scare off the smoker of course. Do they put the cost on the cigarette tax?

[Avman]

Well it stands to reason that a suicidal terrorist will smoke a "last" cigarette before blowing himself and the rest of the plane up. :rolleyes:

Sugar, I was being cynical but thinking about it..............:eek: I must be getting as paranoid as the yanks ;) .

[RatherBeFlying]

After DB Cooper, 727s were modified so that the rear airstairs could not be opened in flight.

Maybe we should get back that capability and just chuck out the miscreants with a parachute, and raft if over water.

That would keep down the diversion costs:D

[411A]

...never mind the silk and the raft...chuck 'em out, period:)

[Earthmover]

Had this recently. Male passenger smoking in toilet just before approach. No passenger witnesses, but we could smell it on the flight deck. The gentleman (a european businessman) was met and advised that he would never again travel with us - including his return flight, which meant that he would have to travel a long way to another airport to find a way home.

Can't believe that he couldn't have waited another 15 minutes - the smoking members of my crew did, after all.

Anyone else notice how unpleasant and arrogant some of the business community is becoming?

[PaperTiger]

And you didn't declare a Mayday or scramble fighters, Earthmover ? Good heavens man, get with the program ! :rolleyes:

[white knuckles]

Despite some of the comments in a previous (?) deleted thread (Virgin Cabin Crew smoking in the John), the desirability of banning smoking in aircraft seems obvious.

However, nicotine withdrawal symptoms, which include anxiety, irritability, poor judgement, anger etc. may themselves be a safety risk for passengers and crew alike.

Isn't it time for nicotine gum/patches/spray to be added to the refreshment cart?

[wasdale]

White knuckles


Would it not be easier and cheaper to provide a few ashtrays? A lot safer,too.

[BenThere]

The time might come when some airlines might wish to capture some revenue from the 25 or so percent of us who are smokers, who travel by other means because they can't smoke on airplanes, have nowhere to smoke when they land and make their connection, and are everywhere treated like pariahs by the airline industry.

[Lord Lucan]

Ben There you say about smokers that they are:

everywhere treated like pariahs by the airline industry

... in fact not very different from the way that they treat all their pax!:rolleyes:

[innuendo]

It is not necessarily the airlines that prevent you from smoking.

Smoking on all Canadian commercial flights, domestic or international, regardless of flying time, is prohibited by federal law.
Further, if a passenger refuses to refrain from smoking after being informed of the non-smoking regulation, the passenger MUST be disembarked at the next point of landing with the assistance of the local authority.
Not much discretion when it is worded like that.

[Celloistic]

Just to add another element to this thread...

Historically, the huge buy-in by operators to ban smoking was not because of safety - after all, some of the most fire-retardant materials are used in the a/c cabins - it was primarily because of costs.

Air-conditioning systems on-board required to change the cabin air very quickly to recycle the smoke. This had to be powered and filtered.

I'm told that operators saved a surprising amount of fuel costs simply by reducing the number of times the air was recycled per minute - obviously, even greater savings on the longer flights.

This then reduced maintenance costs as filters did not need to be replaced so quickly and the air-con rate reduced to less demanding cycles, extending the life of the associated systems.

[TightSlot]

I understand why aircraft are no smoking (I really do) - what I find more difficult is why so many airports make life difficult. Maybe I'm missing something, but is it really too much to ask that airports think about setting aside (and walling off if necessary) a smallish room where we can indulge our revolting habit?

To the US for example, the 10 hour flight, followed by the 2 hour immig wait and customs: It seesm to me that the refusal to accomodate smokers on the ground is verging on the sadistic. If the US really feels so strongly against smokers, might it not wish to reconsider its' own involvement in the manufacture of that product (I'm just using the US as an obvious example, some other countries and airfields are just as intolerant)

[innuendo]

A small example of what smoking does to aircraft used to be evident on some of the older DC-9s. There was a brown stain on the fuselage immediately aft of the outflow valve. The result of cigarette smoke exhausting overboard.

Another illustration was a bit more personal. We used to carry cattle and pigs (the pigs stank by the way) on our DC-8 freighters many years ago. One of the byproducts of this was a large amount moisture from their breath, condensing on the interior of the aircraft. (To the point that the smoke dectector would be full of moisture). On descent, for some reason, you would get a shower of this stuff in the flight deck. Among other things it left brown stains on your manuals and paperwork. It turned out that this was from the accumulated tars etc. from years of smoking. Sort of an indicator of the amount of grunge accumulated in the airframe. High flow conditioning and equpiment cooling systems most probably are affected to a greater extent.

Incidentaly, after the first experience of this I used to buy a throw away plastic raincoat for the descent. It actually looked a bit bizarre with the hood on but it was better than the brown shower on your clothes not to mention the barnyard smell.