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Southwest Pilot Apologizes For Rant Heard Worldwide
June 28, 2011 To All Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants and all Employees: Because of the impact of my comments, I wanted to communicate with you directly. Please accept my most sincere apology for the inappropriate and disrespectful remarks I made in March with an open microphone. I deeply regret the derogatory remarks I made and the hurt I have caused—I take full responsibility for those comments. It was truly insensitive of me and I would like all of you to know that from now on, I will… (www.click2houston.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
I couldn't agree more with Paul. Well said. Boredom has been described as "hostility without enthusiasm". It is also apathy, which has NO place in an aircraft travelling at 500 mph with 100+ passengers on board. One must be on his/her toes to do what Sully did. Complacency will test you when you least expect it. I hope on my next airline flight, I don't have bored drivers looking at the sky. Call them if you must. They should always be ready for what could happen. CAT, bird strike from one sucked up and then dropped, etc. I fly to GET un-bored. That's the difference. When it bores me, I will hang up my headphones for good.
Boring as used in preceding posts as presumably justification for the now world famous broadcast of a personal dysfunctional inter-relationship psychosis by a SWA pilot is a term synonymous with complacency in aviation, that ever present potential for pilot error when surprised by the unexpected. Such was likely the cause of the Air France 447 crash (Airbus 330)in the Atlantic a year ago. Electric airplanes have in my opinion unfortunately increased that potential by turning pilots into more of a systems monitor than a hands on operator, especially up and away in cruise. Sullenberger's "Miracle on the Hudson" is a good example of not being complacent/bored with another seemingly routine takeoff from "La Garbage."
Fate will almost always surprise you with the unexpected when its least expected even to the extent of both pilots falling asleep and overflying their destination by a 100 miles after repeated wake up calls from ATC and other pilots. While it's been said that aviation is hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror, that's only true if the pilot allows it to be so.
What has all this got to do with the aforementioned SWA pilot? Everything! He, like the vast majority in the commercial aviation business who routinely do so, needs to stay focused on operating the machine safely and efficiently and less on himself for the sake of all those strangers seated behind him who have placed their lives in his hands.
Fate will almost always surprise you with the unexpected when its least expected even to the extent of both pilots falling asleep and overflying their destination by a 100 miles after repeated wake up calls from ATC and other pilots. While it's been said that aviation is hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of stark terror, that's only true if the pilot allows it to be so.
What has all this got to do with the aforementioned SWA pilot? Everything! He, like the vast majority in the commercial aviation business who routinely do so, needs to stay focused on operating the machine safely and efficiently and less on himself for the sake of all those strangers seated behind him who have placed their lives in his hands.
Good for you, Steve, seriously, if you are not bored looking at sky for hours at cruise altitude. I know of alot of commercial pilots that get bored up there in the flight deck. No disrespect to the profession. They need to be called every hour (in my opinion) to see if they need to stretch their legs, have some coffee, or would like a conversation with an F/A. It breaks the time up, especially if the Captain and the FO are not having the best conversation together for several hours. Happy 4th.
I know one does not notice the speed, but I don't see how it can be boring. Maybe if I did it as a Part 121 pilot, it would get that way, but I am the sole driver when I fly. It is never boring, and I love it. I knew if I did it in the airlines, I would grow to not like it, so I didn't. Like Wiener, this guy's teenager patterns will bite him at some point. It has no business in the air or in SWA, on of the best ones out there.
Flight deck IS boring during cruise, Steve, hate to break it to you. The 500+mph you describe isn't noticeable unless you pass a cloud or opposite-direction traffic.
It was a Weiner moment and like the former NY congressman, this fella is only sorry because he was caught. And like Weiner, he will have to live with it for the rest of his life. He will never be able to escape it. Everywhere he goes it will be there and he will have to face it if only in winks, nods and whispers, and that alone will exact a punishment.
They are letting CONTROLLERS read, not pilots.You got that wrong. Flight deck boring? I don't think so. At 500 mph, it cannot be boring. Please! Things happen very fast at that speed. I've flown at 220, and that's fast enough.Trust me. If it's boring, go do some real work.