Mutiny on the Ethiopian
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 5
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From: zimbabwe
Mutiny on the Ethiopian
Had a rather uncomfortable experience out of Dxb last night. I was heading home on ET out of Dxb and on the push back the APU failed, the crew tried to re-start it and it bombed out again. By this time the West African contingent on the aircraft started to get a bit vocal. Within about ten minutes it had developed in to a full blown mutiny with rabble rousers demanding that they be allowed off the aircraft and trying to get others to join them.If anyone has experienced someone (or a group of them) from a well known West African country get into a lively discussion with a pinch of ego thrown in will understand that temperatures would have been starting to rise..(given the fact that the outside temp was around 35 degrees and with no APU it starts to get somewhat stuffy). I felt extremely sorry for the cabin crew through all of this as they took the full brunt of this. ( Huge 250lb males threatening slight 90lb Ethiopian cabin staff..how brave! Wow you guys really impressed me...bloody prats!) The poor cabin crew had absolutely no support. Through all this we never caught sight of the flight crew. Finally after a passenger had the sense of mind to call the police an officer from the uniformed branch of UAE Airport security came aboard and made a feeble attempt to restore order. The point I'm trying to make here is these pax who were determined to upset the flight and get off were not allowed off in the beginning,and the poor cabin crew had to try and hold them back with absolutely zero support from flight crew, company representatives or airport security. It was disgusting!
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 309
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From: Johannesburg
Flight crew should NEVER EVER get directly involved with passengers...
If the aircraft is still on the ground, open the doors and let the ground agents handle the situation.
If already on the move, the cockpit door should be locked and remain as such for security issues.
however a polite PA announcement from the cockpit is always welcomed by the passengers, to try to explain the situation, if the situation gets out of hand, then its an aviation security threat issue....and then the ground services must deal with it.
If the aircraft is still on the ground, open the doors and let the ground agents handle the situation.
If already on the move, the cockpit door should be locked and remain as such for security issues.
however a polite PA announcement from the cockpit is always welcomed by the passengers, to try to explain the situation, if the situation gets out of hand, then its an aviation security threat issue....and then the ground services must deal with it.
