Smoking on the flight deck
 

Can always remember a few years ago pulling up alongside a Peach Air L1011 at LGW on the flight deck the cockpit was so full of bright blue smoke as the skipper was puffing away on a huge crooked pipe with this cloud of smoke billowing about I often have a chuckle when I think about it when having a senior moment often wonder who it was.

Perhaps the best bet is to just grin and bear it. Directing the air outlets towards your face helps a bit.


Back when that L1011 was new they still came with ashtrays on the fight deck. :p

Its easy tell them they can smoke as much as they like so long as they have the dv window open!. In all seriousness do you think the passengers cant smell smoke from the flightdeck?, but you tell them that they cannot!.

There are so many reasons not to smoke in aircraft full stop apart from being a fire risk and second hand smoke, the aircraft really stinks forever the smell never goes away. Smoking bans in the workplace are becoming more and more common anyway so soon it will be law if it is not already.

This 'old chestnut' raises its head every couple of months on PPrune and I am amazed how apologists for smoking on the flight-deck emerge. Indeed, in this day and age I am even more astounded that it even goes on, especially in the US of A where I would have thought a lawsuit would be filed against the offender at the first sight of a cigarette packet. If it is against company regulations then that is that. Point it out to the addict and if the selfish so-and-so continues report the matter. If your company will not support you then I would suggest finding another employer. You have every right to enjoy a clean and healthy working environment. The final contingency - don your oxygen mask and smoke goggles and file an ASR for smoke on the flighdeck.

Phileas Fogg said "One needs to accept that nicotine is an addictive drug, a legal one, thus try telling a cocaine user, an addicted user, that he can't have his intake, upon what he is so dependant, for a number of hours.

Whilst smoking is banned in many public and work places there remains a facility, for the majority, to step outside into the fresh air for their cigarette. A pilot, or indeed any crew member, is denied such a facility thus it should be understood that they are addicted to this drug and a compromise should be found.

P.S. I am not a pilot nor a crew member but I am a smoker."

Sorry but I totally disagree. Lets try the argument the other way around shall we? As a non smoker, if I go to a public bar where people are allowed to smoke and I dont like it I can leave. If someone lights up on the flight deck I have no option other than to breathe in the carcinogenic exhalations of my inconsiderate crew member.

The bottom line is that the Authority (CAA, FAA etc) will either allow or not allow smoking on the aeroplane. Obey the law. Its as simple as that. I would not work for an airline that has approval from the Authority to smoke and I have no qualms in reminding anyone (senior or junior to me) that I find cigarette smoke offensive, that it is contrary to (in our case) the mandatory conditions in the CofA to smoke anywhere on the aeroplane and that if they do not extinguish immediately I will report them to as high an authority as is necessary to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Rant over!:ok:

I flew a corporate jet years ago where a previous captain chain smoked in the aircraft. Aside from scaring away passengers when he refused to stop smoking for their comfort (I do not even mention the crew here!) he caused countless problems with the avionics years later after he was terminated. Tar deposits nearly always led to mechanical problems with the instruments and switches.

It is a costly problem mechanically, personally and medically. Enough of one to make it clearly out of place on the flight deck.