Never a truer word said - well done!

I was flying out of USA one night, on board an airline that my daughter used to work for (as "staff" PAX) and noticed ice creeping across the wing as we taxied out. I alerted a Steward to this and one of the Flight Crew came to take a look, with the result that we taxied back for a repeat of the de-ice.

I've since wondered if the crew wee grateful to me for being observant, or if it was a case of "darn - now procedures say we have to go back to get rid of it even though it would have burned off with the friction of the take-off roll".

I recall a number of years ago a Blanic glider fatality caused by a spanner jammed in the control rods that was thought to have been there since the glider was manufactured. Note the Blanic is a highly aerobatic glider.

That would have been in 1982 at Brize Norton during a display LET 13 Blanik Pilot Andy Gough

As the doctor was asked to provide the service would it not also be his right to present a bill which could of course include all travel costs and after hours rates for the treatment requested by the airline.

Sounds like a Mike Ashley owned company!

My brother who is a physician has helped a lot of time, but never get anything in return. Only once did he get a thank you letter. Notice that he can be held liable if anything happened to the passenger ! He knows better now: ask the Captain for immunity prior to getting involved.

Don't believe Capt has that type of authority.

In a previous company we had a certificate/letter that could be handed to a doctor answering a PA or assistance. It basically said that any qualified physician helping at the request of the crew was covered by the companies indemnity insurance and would not be held liable.

Very good spot by the passenger involved, more than deserves his free trip.

The letter I regret is worthless. The airline cannot protect you from litigation and in the case of treating a US citizen you could have a decade of dozens of court appearances and even the threat of being kept in the US

However most of us don't expect immunity and we carry our own professional indemnity.

Over 30 years I lose count of how often I have paid for a seat only to spend hours sitting on the floor looking after some passenger, missing food and films, sometimes to be required to accompany the patient to the hospital. It was normal practice to receive a letter from the airline offering a refund of my ruined flight or a couple of free business class seats in compensation

Slowly slowly airlines realised they didn't have to and now the norm is not even a thank you. Many doctors nowadays refuse to volunteer and it is hard to blame them. That is how much airlines care about their passengers. True, a number have contracts with telemetry medical services and some are very good, but they will play safe and I muse over how much the resultant diversions and returns cost compared with a free ticket in the old days

I once pointed out fuel leaking out of the wing of a Delta MD-80 while in cruise, flight attendant consulted with flight deck and came back with the reply of it being normal, "probably just overfilled."