Smoking in the flight deck
 

Our airline Operations Flight Manual prohibits smoking in the cockpit and in any other part of the cabin.

Yet as is the case in few airlines, you are bound to fly with someone who smokes.

What do you do if you fly with a captain that smokes ? some are kind enough to ask to light a cig up, but let us get real, if you do refuse, it woulld only make things worse. Afterall, not getting one's nicotine fix could constitute a threat to safety.

Good and realistic imputs would be appreciated.:{

NB: is there an international legislation protecting pilots from second hand smoking ?

Did you try offering the offenders some nicotine chewing gum?

Why would a non smoker carry nicotine chewing gum!

Offering a Nicorette or nicotine chewing gum would likely not be well received.

Afterall the second hand smoking i am talking about is from cigarettes, cigars and the good Ol' pipe.

you know there are times when visibility insided the flightdeck is lower that of outside !! :yuk:

When I was young, I kissed my first woman, and smoked my first cigarette on the same day. Believe me, never since have I wasted any more time on tobacco.
- Arturo Toscanini, (1867-1957)

Pilots are supposed to be fairly mature adults and therefore this shouldn't really present much of a problem.

If the ops manual prohibits smoking in the flight deck, then anybody (Captain or not) is on very thin ice if they choose to ignore this stipulation.

The fact that somebody smokes, does not mean that they have either the right or necessarily the inclination to smoke in places where they are prohibited from doing so. If you find somebody in violation of this ruling then assuming you could not sensibly resolve the matter, refuse to accept this crewing pairing on the grounds that it would be in violation of your companys rules.

If you are concerned that this would have a negative impact on your career or interpersonal relationship with an individual then you need to consider two things. Firstly what other violations of regulations would you be equally supine about ? Secondly why raise the issue if you are not individually prepared to address it ?

The Captain is an adult, you are an adult, deal with it. If you are too timid or concerned then either put up with it or move on. Sorry but although it might be an uncomfortable issue to confront, if you intend having your own command you will have to deal with thornier issues than this one.

Bealzebub,

I think you need to be more relaxed in your answer as anyone who reads your reply can sense the tension :cool:

Posting on this forum is my own way in preparing to address this issue. It is not easy to tackle this problem when over 40 percent of the pilot workforce are classified as smokers.

Concerns about negative impacts on my career ? well i leave that to you to answer. Think about the health issues involved alone...

One last thing, please don't overexpand by adding more dimensions to the subject such as command issues...:=

Regardless of whether your intentions are good or bad, i think you failed to provide any sensible solution.

I am surprised you can sense the tension in the answer because there isn't any. You asked the question. If you don't like the answer then fine. Why not give a list of answers you do want ?

I have re-read my answer and can think of no way to contract or expand it to provide anything other than an honest opinion. You are an adult so deal with the issue as one. What else do you suggest ? It is no good hand wringing or agonising over something that might or might not happen. The contention that 40% of your Captains smoke does not correlate to the fact that they are permitted to do so in the flight deck by your own admission. It may well be that 40% of them drink alcohol as well but they are not permitted to do so in the flight deck.

No body is arguing the health issues as it is a bit of a moot point if there already exists a prohibition on smoking in the flight deck.

If the suggestion that you deal with the matter on a one to one adult basis is "a failure to provide a sensible solution", then I don't really know what to suggest, however it does perhaps suggest a clearer insight into why so many of your colleagues smoke. :hmm:

This seems to be turning into a bit of a two posters thread so I thought I'd add my 2 pennies. I seem to completely agree with Bealzebub:eek:

If smoking is not allowed, its not allowed. Dont do it or you can expect someone to complain. If you dont like someone smoking near you (and I certainly don't) - then complain! :ugh: Obviously in the first instance to the person concerned but otherwise wherever you need to.

To paraphrase Bealzebubs first post. He shouldnt be smoking, end of story, its against the rules and will harm you and your working environment so strap on a pair and tell him.:E

mmmmmmm. Thats better. Frictions on - calm!:ok:

We were always taught the following regarding smoking on the flight deck:

1.It's not good for the gyros and other instruments
2.Bad for the night vision
3.Can make one more susceptable to hypoxia
4.Big no no when the O2 is on

With a grand total of maybe 2 gyros in current cockpits, perhaps #1 would not be your best argument. :}

How about waiting for the next time an engineer has to make a visit to the cockpit, one could privately mention to our butt-puffing hero that the engineer noticed the distinctive odour of tobacco smoke. :E

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.

Smoking IN the flight deck is a very serious problem and should normally be followed by an emergency landing. :(

Smoking ON the flight deck, if prohibited, is prohibited for very good reasons and should not be tolerated. :=

smoke in the cockpit
 

in normal circumstances if you had it you would land ASAP..

your problem is what to do while not offending the culprit...difficult one...

well theres no contest really.its against the rules...you should not be penalised for reporting it, but if your identity is going to be made known to the captain maybe you should come clean and tell him it bothers you but you are more concerned ( as you should be ) from a safety point of view...

and then again..you could have a passenger (friend) make a written complaint about a smell of smoking ( when passangers have to do without ) from the pointed end...

OR you could set off the alarm while using the toilet ( just immediately after the captain has smoked ) and say it was smoke from the flight deck that had followed you ( since people know you are not a smoker... it could'nt have been you ) into the head and...bobs your uncle...:D

there is devious for you..

i am not now a smoker but i am a pilot....and more importent i am a passenger from time to time and i think the practice is unsafe in the extreme...:=


good luck...:ok:

Hi,
It´s always the Non-smokers who make a big issue out of it.Why not just use "CRM" and smoke a cigarette when the F/O,Cpt or whatever is using the facilities?
That´s the way we practice it in our company.

Emergency landing if a pilot smokes a cigarette ..... really?

Delay and inconvenience perhaps 200 passengers, 200 passengers that ultimately pay your wages, increase fuel, navigation and landing charges that could ultimately put an airline out of business and put yourself out of a job, and having emergency landed, perhaps in the middle of nowhere, hotac and feed perhaps 200 passengers whilst a replacement pilot is transported in to take crew rest before operating, yes really?

P.S. Would the referred to emergency landing be a Pan or a Mayday?

What do you do if you fly with a captain that smokes ? some are kind enough to ask to light a cig up, but let us get real, if you do refuse, it woulld only make things worse. Afterall, not getting one's nicotine fix could constitute a threat to safety.

Concordino,
be assured that there are many first officers that are in your same position. I am a first officer myself and initially I used to let captains smoke as I was still a beginner and not sure how common this problem was on my airline.

However there came a time when I could not accept this anymore. What I did was simple. When a captain asked me if he could light up a cig I started telling them that I would only "allow" one cig an hour in my presence. They used to react strangely at first, almost incredulous, but when they really tought about it they found out it was a fair system. Slowly, the captains got used to me and today they make sure to indicate to me the time when they light up the cig.

Like this, I do not get continuous smoke for the duration of the flight and the captain gets his nicotine every hour. A nice balance i say.

I dont know which airline you work with but my airline is quite small (15 a/c) so it was easier for the captains to get used to me. In a larger airline this would be much harder.

I'm a nicotine addict, but I easily get what I need in the form of my daily intace of nicotine. Not in the form of cancer sticks but what us scandis call "Snus". Shreded tobaco, either packed in a little teabag or in the loose form. Comes in different varieties and tastes. Excellent stuff but is however banned in most countries (which I guess makes it just as illegal as any other narcotic) except for in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (thanks for that EU).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus

Having a can of these in the crew bag usually alleviates any tension in the cockpit coming from not being able to go for a ciggy. It's a real icebreaker for those stressful days. The debate on weather it's healthy or not I'll leave aside as the answer is obvious.

Regards/ LnS

bobdbuilder,

Thank's for your feedback. Where i work is a small company. it is like an aeroclub.. people know each others by first names... the gossip circle is very wide if not unlimited.

I do know based on my non smoking colleagues experience that making such request won't be effective as we do have some very heavy smokers...and some crew members who will definitely get the request in the wrong way.

what makes things worse is that we often have flight attendants run up for a smoke break.

The solution i have found although temporary, is to actualy leave the cockpit whenever someone starts smoking.. but then again this is an unsafe practice and is not a long term solution.

This is why i posted this question to see how each one of you deals with the problem.

Thanks again for all your imputs.

an easier option
 

just continue to make some violent fake coughs.
your colleague will hopefully get the hint without any repercussions !

Walking out of the flight deck is not a solution- you could create an incident or cause something to happen because the other guy will be puffing away and relaxing and probably not concentrating. I have handled this in the past by politely requesting it not happen. By saying the distress so much smoke will cause you is more than the pleasure it will give them, so would they mind awfully not doing it? You do not want your flight deck being stunk out, so be assertive and stop it!