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Who protects the passengers?

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momof3	Who protects the passengers?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 3 (09/03/08 06:01:08) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None Ok, last question.... I have read everything that Capt. Bob has written on this site and I want to know who is looking out for my safety. If the FAA is just a political nightmare, if the CEO's and head honchos are just penny pinchers, if the maintenance is outsourced, who is making triple sure there are no cracks in the fuselage, no fautly wires that will fray and cause a fire? We fly out tomorrow and money is a little tight but I plan on working this course into my budget really soon!
OneAnt		#1	[-]
Posts: 672 (09/03/08 07:12:07) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The pilot is the final line of defense. He/she is the captain of the ship. Before each flight, a pre-flight inspection is done and the flight crew sign off on it. Even outsourced maintenance crews are highly-trained and capable. Capt Tom (note, not Bob) makes it clear that certain airlines outsource while others do not. Even those outsourced airlines are unimaginably safer than you'll be getting in a car and driving to the airport. Yet you do that every day. Who's protecting you there? You don't have the FAA, a CEO, a highly-trained crew, a highly-trained maintenance crew. All you have are you, and the other crazies out there with half a brain between them, which, incidentally, is all it takes to get a drivers license these days.
Capn Steve	Who protects you?	#2	[-]
Posts: 513 (09/08/08 18:58:37) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hi Mom -- Ultimately, it is your flight crew who protects you. Your Captain is the person legally responsible for the safety of your flight. (Dispatch has some legal responsibility, too, and plays a very important part, but the Dispatcher is sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen. Most Dispatchers are very conscientious and do their job correctly. The Captain is sitting in the same airplane that you are.) Of course, the First Officer (second-in-command), while not being totally responsible, can still -- and should -- make recommendations regarding the way the flight should be conducted. I agree with OneAnt. Seems that all that is required these days to get a driver's license is to get it out of a cereal box. (I'm not wanting to denigrate those who have recently done a very good job on a driver's license road test. Far from it. I congratulate them. (But it seems that too many drivers today are content to do a very poor job of driving. Speeding, tailgating, turning into a road without considering other traffic, making left turns right in front of oncoming traffic. NO concept of the fundamentals of Newtonian Physics. (To say nothing of yakking on cell phones, during critical phases of driving. (Now -- I would not expect most people to be able to recite from memory the Newtonian equations of Masses in Motion. Indeed, I would have to look some of them up myself. But -- I WOULD expect that drivers would consider, that, intuitively, when the road gets icy, stopping distances get longer. (And that -- it's necessary to slow down on curves. And that -- following the preceding car too closely is asking for a rear-end collision. (And that -- really, the danger from speeding is exactly the same as the danger from drunk driving. In both cases, the driver does not have sufficient capability to stop in response to an emergency ahead. In the case of drunk driving, the driver has slowed reflexes and impaired judgement. In the case of speeding, the driver has excessively increased his stopping distance to the point where he can NOT stop in a safe distance. Both are equally bad, in my opinion. Ah, well. Cheers. Steve
edhellinde		#3	[-]
Posts: 10 (09/19/08 00:54:23) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I've frequently wondered about this issue. Would a mechanic get fired if there is a problem during the flight and the problem is determined to be due to something that should have been noticed and fixed by the mechanic, but wasn't?

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Note from Capt. Tom

I know everyone worries about weather, but pilots really do not worry about it. We simply - instead of worrying about it - completely prepare for it. Before going to the plane, we review the weather at the destination. If it is not 100% sure to be within legal limits when we arrive at the destination, we must specify an alternate airport in our planning documents, and load on plenty of fuel for going to the destination airport, and then if need be, diverting to the alternate airport.

The legal limits are conservative. Even when weather is slightly outside the legal limits, any airline pilot could still land safely. You can rely on the captain never to land when the weather is not legal, and legality limits are reached prior to safety limits.

If you are still anxious, call me and we can talk it over. I'm at 877 332-7359 from 10 AM until 7 PM Eastern time.

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Using Weather Information

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Turbulence, though it may cause anxiety, does not mean anything is wrong. Turbulence does not mean danger. The plane can handle far more turbulence than Mother Nature can dish out.

Though flying in turbulence is safe, it doesn't feel safe. And here is where the SOAR programs come in. We can help you feel as safe when you fly as you actually are.

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