What would you do?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2003
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From: Southampton
What would you do?
Just to keep Justa happy.
If anyone saw something that didn't look right when boarding or sat on an aircraft, would you report it?
Would you link that, it's okay, the air / ground would pick it up?
If the cabin crew dismissed it, would you ask to see the pilots (you might have to insist)?
Would you feel embarrassed if it was nothing?
What would you do?
Or what have you done?
If anyone saw something that didn't look right when boarding or sat on an aircraft, would you report it?
Would you link that, it's okay, the air / ground would pick it up?
If the cabin crew dismissed it, would you ask to see the pilots (you might have to insist)?
Would you feel embarrassed if it was nothing?
What would you do?
Or what have you done?
Joined: May 2024
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From: Near SOU
I think the best case of exactly what you are speaking of is Aloha flight 243 back in 1988. Several pax thought that the skin of the aircraft around the door looked strange but said nothing cos they thought they would be seen as over reacting or something. As it turned out those same pax who became survivors of the flight regretted not speaking out cos, as we all know, the skin came away from the aircraft in flight.
Personally, if I boarded a flight and something caught my eye or felt wrong, I would speak up and tell someone cos you can never be too sure....even if it came to nothing and what you had seen or heard was not indicative of a potential problem, it is always better to speak up rather than keep it to yourself and have a nagging doubt.
You should never feel embarrassed or afraid to speak up if you see, hear or simply feel that something is not right. There are no trivialities where aircraft are concerned....or crew for that matter, as cases of a problem such as incapacitation due to drink or drugs can and does happen on occasions. Never take it for granted that someone else will have said something so you don't have to.....the more people speak up about something when boarding or during the flight, then it can be dealt with quicker.
Personally, if I boarded a flight and something caught my eye or felt wrong, I would speak up and tell someone cos you can never be too sure....even if it came to nothing and what you had seen or heard was not indicative of a potential problem, it is always better to speak up rather than keep it to yourself and have a nagging doubt.
You should never feel embarrassed or afraid to speak up if you see, hear or simply feel that something is not right. There are no trivialities where aircraft are concerned....or crew for that matter, as cases of a problem such as incapacitation due to drink or drugs can and does happen on occasions. Never take it for granted that someone else will have said something so you don't have to.....the more people speak up about something when boarding or during the flight, then it can be dealt with quicker.
Son of Slot
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From: London
Good question Saintsman I don't know what I would do and will have to think about it. Whilst we know more than many pax - the last thing to say to CC is that we know more than most pax!
Joined: Jun 2007
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From: Beyond the Blue Horizon
When 6 flying in a DC6 a hose dropped out of the bottom of an inner engine with associated liquid leaking. I mentioned it to my Mum who mentioned to CC who obviously informed FD. Subsequently FE arrived looked out the window at hose and said oh that’s the problem or word to that effect engine feathered the engine but that was not that unusual in the early 60,s as I remember it happening on a few occasions especially on DC types.
Cheers
Mr Mac
Cheers
Mr Mac
Joined: Jan 2000
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From: UK and Italy
Marginally relevant, but on a 737-200 I was, as usual, put in the exit row - I don't know why this is usual as I'm not particularly tall. I picked up the safety leaflet to fan myself with and noticed it wasn't for this aircraft. I mentioned it to CC, result plane delayed as the safety leaflets were switched out. The plane left 20 minutes late. I was Not Popular.
Joined: Dec 2005
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From: Wellington,NZ
Depends on the passengers expertise. I'm a ppl and work in aviation. (ATC) If I spotted something that looked not right, I'd definitely mention it, and in mentioning it, say why.
I've never seen anything mention-worthy on any airliner I've been in. Seen a few "minors" on light aircraft flown, though. It's pretty rare that a significant defect will make it past most engineering or pilot preflight checks.
I've never seen anything mention-worthy on any airliner I've been in. Seen a few "minors" on light aircraft flown, though. It's pretty rare that a significant defect will make it past most engineering or pilot preflight checks.
Paxing All Over The World
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 10,842
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From: Hertfordshire, UK.
About 16 years ago, I was returning from Gothenburg to STN on FR. During the standard briefing, I checked under my seat for the life jacket as I always do. Nothing there.
Call Bell: Advised CC of missing jacket. She said that she would bring a spare. As we departed over water, you can imagine that I was not in the least bit surprised that I never received a spare jacket. This the kind of reason they put them in the O2 cabinet.
I only travelled with them once more when I had no choice as friends needed to use them to keep cost low with a family of four. I know they are a safe carrier.
Call Bell: Advised CC of missing jacket. She said that she would bring a spare. As we departed over water, you can imagine that I was not in the least bit surprised that I never received a spare jacket. This the kind of reason they put them in the O2 cabinet.
I only travelled with them once more when I had no choice as friends needed to use them to keep cost low with a family of four. I know they are a safe carrier.
PPRuNe Handmaiden
Joined: Feb 1997
Posts: 4,910
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From: Duit On Mon Dei
Yep, made a nuisance of myself a few times on board.
1. Missing life jacket. Fortunately there was an empty seat next to me so I "moved" to that seat for take off as we were taking off over water.
2. Unusual sound coming from a window. Cabin crew reported it to the Flight Deck, it was presssurising normally and the sound eased off.
3. Ice on the wings. Transaero B737, just before Xmas many years ago. I reported it to the cabin crew. The flight deck "ignored" it. Obviously no crash as I am here to tell the tale. Pax around me were wondering why I was getting a bit upset. This was just after Aeroflot took off with wings covered in snow. All other western airlines were being de-iced on stand. As we taxied off, I thought, ok, remote de-ice. Nope. We departed! I was genuinely concerned.
The crew report was pretty scathing but what really pissed me off was our company's response! I can't say anymore but I did get stuck into the director of safety a few years later about that response. I refused Russian based airlines after that.
One of the responses was "well, you should have just got off". Riiiiiiiiight. A western female demanding to get off whilst taxiing. I'd still be in gaol....
4. A pax was showing signs off aural distress (baro trauma) at the Top of Descent. He and his wife didn't want to cause a fuss. I said that it won't get better, it will get much much worse. Pressed the callbell, explained the situation and resolved very quickly without further issue.
1. Missing life jacket. Fortunately there was an empty seat next to me so I "moved" to that seat for take off as we were taking off over water.
2. Unusual sound coming from a window. Cabin crew reported it to the Flight Deck, it was presssurising normally and the sound eased off.
3. Ice on the wings. Transaero B737, just before Xmas many years ago. I reported it to the cabin crew. The flight deck "ignored" it. Obviously no crash as I am here to tell the tale. Pax around me were wondering why I was getting a bit upset. This was just after Aeroflot took off with wings covered in snow. All other western airlines were being de-iced on stand. As we taxied off, I thought, ok, remote de-ice. Nope. We departed! I was genuinely concerned.
The crew report was pretty scathing but what really pissed me off was our company's response! I can't say anymore but I did get stuck into the director of safety a few years later about that response. I refused Russian based airlines after that.
One of the responses was "well, you should have just got off". Riiiiiiiiight. A western female demanding to get off whilst taxiing. I'd still be in gaol....
4. A pax was showing signs off aural distress (baro trauma) at the Top of Descent. He and his wife didn't want to cause a fuss. I said that it won't get better, it will get much much worse. Pressed the callbell, explained the situation and resolved very quickly without further issue.
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,198
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From: France
I spotted that the metal plate engraved with the registration, fixed to the upper entry-door surround did not agree with the registration painted on the aircraft. Different country! CC informed the captain. There may have been another, correctly-engraved plate elsewhere…?
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 906
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From: Southampton
Many years ago, I was sat in an office by our flight line, when one of our Sea Kings taxied by. I caught a very quick glimpse of it as it passed (a blink of an eye really) and I thought that I saw the front door wasn't closed properly. It was so quick that I wasn't really sure what I saw, so let it go on its way.
I was on the receiving crew when it returned and sure enough the door wasn't latched properly. I had this realisation that if someone had leant on that door, although unlikely, it could have opened and a crew member fall out.
From that moment, if I saw anything I wasn't happy with, I reported it, no matter how silly I could have looked.
Particularly with unfamiliar aircraft, I've seen lots of things that I wasn't sure about and 99.9% of the time it's been nothing. Being made to look silly, trumps an accident or incident any day and you never know, it might just be the 0.1%'s turn.
I was on the receiving crew when it returned and sure enough the door wasn't latched properly. I had this realisation that if someone had leant on that door, although unlikely, it could have opened and a crew member fall out.
From that moment, if I saw anything I wasn't happy with, I reported it, no matter how silly I could have looked.
Particularly with unfamiliar aircraft, I've seen lots of things that I wasn't sure about and 99.9% of the time it's been nothing. Being made to look silly, trumps an accident or incident any day and you never know, it might just be the 0.1%'s turn.
Avoid imitations
Joined: Nov 2000
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From: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
I’ve reported aircraft related issues to cabin staff twice over the years, both on B737, but different times and different airlines.
One was in Hawaii, just before engine start on a windy day. A large sheet of plastic wrapping blew off a nearby pallet and lay on the ground just in front of the starboard engine intake. The possibility of it being ingested was obvious. I advised a cabin attendant who never even looked out and just casually advised me “Oh I’m sure it will be ok if it’s just plastic”. Brain dead ignorance. Thankfully it blew away again just as that engine was being cranked over.
The second time was again an engine issue, as we reached the cruise over the North Sea, inbound to U.K. I noticed that a large quantity of fresh oil was trailing back from the inboard side of the engine cover. I pointed this out to cabin crew who gave a cursory glance out of the window and tried to resolve a possible engine failure by telling me that “Oh, they all do that, Sir!” My answer was that the Jet engines on my aircraft never did!
One was in Hawaii, just before engine start on a windy day. A large sheet of plastic wrapping blew off a nearby pallet and lay on the ground just in front of the starboard engine intake. The possibility of it being ingested was obvious. I advised a cabin attendant who never even looked out and just casually advised me “Oh I’m sure it will be ok if it’s just plastic”. Brain dead ignorance. Thankfully it blew away again just as that engine was being cranked over.
The second time was again an engine issue, as we reached the cruise over the North Sea, inbound to U.K. I noticed that a large quantity of fresh oil was trailing back from the inboard side of the engine cover. I pointed this out to cabin crew who gave a cursory glance out of the window and tried to resolve a possible engine failure by telling me that “Oh, they all do that, Sir!” My answer was that the Jet engines on my aircraft never did!
Joined: Apr 2008
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From: troposphere
I was at a gate once looking out at a 737 with liquid rapidly flooding out from underneath it. No ground crew nearby.
I turned around and caught the attention of a flight deck crew who happened to be walking past and pointed it out.
One of them made a call. I assume it was fuel leaking out
I turned around and caught the attention of a flight deck crew who happened to be walking past and pointed it out.
One of them made a call. I assume it was fuel leaking out
Joined: Oct 2007
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
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From: Wherever I go, there I am
I've had several instances where a passenger asked me if something was wrong either directly or indirectly through the FAs. In short, speak up!
If it's nothing, no big deal. If you haven't realized it yet, most pilots love talking about airplanes, especially if we get into the nitty gritty of something.We're kind of geeks and nerds like that. Sure, you'll come across a few pilots who will give you the look, or will tell you to stay in your lane, or complain as they delay the flight. But then, it might be something we missed, or didn't see because it's not a normal part of the walkaround, or even the lighting was poor when we did the walkaround an hour ago. I'm of the opinion that I'd rather stay alive and appear incompetent than remove all doubt as you push me into the oven, so if I can fix something you caught, cool! If it's a non-event, I get to talk to you about the airplane, which is also cool! I won't say that I've never been annoyed, but I believe it comes with the territory of operating in a customer service environment
Oh, an no, I do not believe the customer is always right. I worked in retail for long enough when time building for my CPL to know that most times the customer is very, very wrong. I digress, here are a few times that come to mind from the past 25 years:
A few times on different turboprops being told of tape hanging off the prop. It's a protective tape which peels off after time. No big deal, and in my experience maintenance normally tells you to peel it off if it's really bad and they'll fix it next time you're near the shop. If you don't pull it off you can sometimes hear a buzzing sound if you're seated near the prop, and I've had a few passengers tell me about that sound too.
On the 1900D a passenger said he thought he had seen a bird go into the engine. We hadn't seen anything go past the window nor had we seen anything untoward on the instruments. I thanked him and discovered the remains of what was a bird on the walkaround and again on the wing. It's something we would have caught anyways as it was very apparent looking into the inlet and the wing, but it was nice to know ahead of time.
I was brought out of the flight deck and told that there were "holes" in the skin. After talking it through with the passenger, they meant the protective shield in the plane of the Q400 propeller that protects the fuselage from ice coming off the prop in flight. All was well after the explanation. More often though people would ask what the damage was rather than come out and say there were holes.
Also on the Q400 but taxiing out, a passenger called the FA in a panic that one of the tires looked flat. I asked my FO who had done the walkaround, and he remembers checking the tires and that they looked OK. I know that unless the tire is blown, that a flattening tire may just look slightly bowed at the bottom if you've not seen a flat tire before and this being one of his line indoctrination flights, I elected to go back to the gate. Maintenance was there waiting, a quick tire pressure check to confirm all was OK, and we were off maybe 30 minutes later. In my PA I thanked the passenger and said that even though it was nothing today, we'd rather make sure the airplane is 100% ready to go than to take a chance. Was I annoyed? Yep. But I'd rather be annoyed than have egg on my face if the tire were flat and it decided to shred itself on takeoff and do damage. This was also shortly after another Q400 had a tire explode on them and the damage caused the gear to collapse after landing, so we were all a little on edge.
Incidentally, I had someone last year tell me while they were seated in the middle seat over the wing that they could see the tire was flat on a 737. I asked if they saw it as they came on board, which you might be able to see from the gate just before you get on if you knew exactly what to look for. Nope, they could see it and feel it from their seat. Having just done the walk around myself, I'll admit I let my skepticism get the better of me and told them that no, I had just come back from checking the plane out, and the tires were fine. I honestly thought I was getting pranked because the response was "oh, ok."
Twice on the 737 where someone said the back of the wing was missing. They meant the back of the flap fairing.
And finally, just last week I came out of the flight deck to use the lav. I waited in the forward galley for tor the current occupant to come out, and when he did he closed the door, looked me in the eyes and said "the sink water's cold, I can't warm it up" and proceeded to walk back to his seat without another word. It was a strange enough encounter than when I went in, I opened the panel where the water heater is and, sure enough, the water heater was turned off. A quick flick of the switch and we were back in the 21st century.
If it's nothing, no big deal. If you haven't realized it yet, most pilots love talking about airplanes, especially if we get into the nitty gritty of something.We're kind of geeks and nerds like that. Sure, you'll come across a few pilots who will give you the look, or will tell you to stay in your lane, or complain as they delay the flight. But then, it might be something we missed, or didn't see because it's not a normal part of the walkaround, or even the lighting was poor when we did the walkaround an hour ago. I'm of the opinion that I'd rather stay alive and appear incompetent than remove all doubt as you push me into the oven, so if I can fix something you caught, cool! If it's a non-event, I get to talk to you about the airplane, which is also cool! I won't say that I've never been annoyed, but I believe it comes with the territory of operating in a customer service environment
Oh, an no, I do not believe the customer is always right. I worked in retail for long enough when time building for my CPL to know that most times the customer is very, very wrong. I digress, here are a few times that come to mind from the past 25 years:
A few times on different turboprops being told of tape hanging off the prop. It's a protective tape which peels off after time. No big deal, and in my experience maintenance normally tells you to peel it off if it's really bad and they'll fix it next time you're near the shop. If you don't pull it off you can sometimes hear a buzzing sound if you're seated near the prop, and I've had a few passengers tell me about that sound too.
On the 1900D a passenger said he thought he had seen a bird go into the engine. We hadn't seen anything go past the window nor had we seen anything untoward on the instruments. I thanked him and discovered the remains of what was a bird on the walkaround and again on the wing. It's something we would have caught anyways as it was very apparent looking into the inlet and the wing, but it was nice to know ahead of time.
I was brought out of the flight deck and told that there were "holes" in the skin. After talking it through with the passenger, they meant the protective shield in the plane of the Q400 propeller that protects the fuselage from ice coming off the prop in flight. All was well after the explanation. More often though people would ask what the damage was rather than come out and say there were holes.
Also on the Q400 but taxiing out, a passenger called the FA in a panic that one of the tires looked flat. I asked my FO who had done the walkaround, and he remembers checking the tires and that they looked OK. I know that unless the tire is blown, that a flattening tire may just look slightly bowed at the bottom if you've not seen a flat tire before and this being one of his line indoctrination flights, I elected to go back to the gate. Maintenance was there waiting, a quick tire pressure check to confirm all was OK, and we were off maybe 30 minutes later. In my PA I thanked the passenger and said that even though it was nothing today, we'd rather make sure the airplane is 100% ready to go than to take a chance. Was I annoyed? Yep. But I'd rather be annoyed than have egg on my face if the tire were flat and it decided to shred itself on takeoff and do damage. This was also shortly after another Q400 had a tire explode on them and the damage caused the gear to collapse after landing, so we were all a little on edge.
Incidentally, I had someone last year tell me while they were seated in the middle seat over the wing that they could see the tire was flat on a 737. I asked if they saw it as they came on board, which you might be able to see from the gate just before you get on if you knew exactly what to look for. Nope, they could see it and feel it from their seat. Having just done the walk around myself, I'll admit I let my skepticism get the better of me and told them that no, I had just come back from checking the plane out, and the tires were fine. I honestly thought I was getting pranked because the response was "oh, ok."
Twice on the 737 where someone said the back of the wing was missing. They meant the back of the flap fairing.
And finally, just last week I came out of the flight deck to use the lav. I waited in the forward galley for tor the current occupant to come out, and when he did he closed the door, looked me in the eyes and said "the sink water's cold, I can't warm it up" and proceeded to walk back to his seat without another word. It was a strange enough encounter than when I went in, I opened the panel where the water heater is and, sure enough, the water heater was turned off. A quick flick of the switch and we were back in the 21st century.
Last edited by +TSRA; 29th May 2026 at 19:21.
Joined: Feb 2015
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 1,760
Likes: 358
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
I think that when one's life as well as the lives of hundreds of others hangs in the balance, reporting any discrepancy, no matter how seemingly minor, is always the proper course of action. As a pilot, when a passenger, I am a "backseat driver." The expression better safe than sorry springs to mind!
- Ed
- Ed
Joined: Sep 2000
Aviation Qualifications: Non-Aircrew
Posts: 575
Likes: 178
From: Northampton, England
Jet 2 A321 Brum to Fuerteventura last year.
Both departing BHX and on final to destination there was visible vapour streaming from alongside the engine nacelle.
Not an aviation professional but been around aircraft long enough to have seen plenty of landings with condensation or rainwater trailing to be reasonably sure it was normal but mentioned it to CC who said something to the effect of they all do it.
Asked question here about it and confirmed it's a vortex effect around a vortex generator on the nacelle associated with high humidity.
Both departing BHX and on final to destination there was visible vapour streaming from alongside the engine nacelle.
Not an aviation professional but been around aircraft long enough to have seen plenty of landings with condensation or rainwater trailing to be reasonably sure it was normal but mentioned it to CC who said something to the effect of they all do it.
Asked question here about it and confirmed it's a vortex effect around a vortex generator on the nacelle associated with high humidity.
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 563
Likes: 57
From: La Rochelle.
I was sat in my then TB9 many moons ago coming into land at Earls Colne. On very short final, I noticed a C152 happily taxiing from the Hold for 24, to depart behind me, towing the tail tie-down...with the concrete anchor block attached. I did say something