"You're the FO"

derg

derg

Apparently a "terse" writer
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Hypothetically, of course.

Taxiing toward the gate, the rampers aren't quite ready yet so you're holding on the taxiway.

In the distance, the CFR (Crash Fire Rescue) are doing a drill at the aircraft mockup in the far distance. Lots of fire, smoke, etc in the distance. Viewable from the cockpit but indiscernible, most likely from the cabin.

The captain says "Ooh! People may worry. Get on the PA and say that the fire that they see is just the fire department practicing".

Do you or do you not comply with the captain's request?
 
If it were me, why not? You're probably going to be making a PA advising the pax that the gate isn't open yet, please stay seated, yada yada yada...throw it in there just in case someone looks out there and freaks out "OMGZ, there's a plane on fire!!!111!one"
 
I would call the tail gunners and see if people look anxious or nervous before I made a pa. There is no reason to make people lose focus or create histeria because you never know when you might be the next training video. :)
 
It would be far more entertaining if someone with a cellphone were to take a video and post it to youtube, and/or a 24 hour news cycle machine, thus creating a huge buzz about an airplane accident that was never reported.

Let the nut jobs go crazy on it, much like that plane headed to HI that everyone thought was a missile launch.
 
I seem to remember, back in the murky depths of new hire training, during "How to make a PA" class, that we were supposed to inform the paxs if CFR was having fun day.
 
I'm of the school of thought that once you say something about a "fire" you're going to potentially have an uncommanded evacuation.

"Blah blah blah aircraft blah blah blah fire", people are going to hear "Fire?" "there's a fire?" "get off!"
 
This reminds me of a story a guy I flew with many times in the last few years had from when they were across the alley and a few gates down from a Delta 757 in ATL. It was the one where they evacuated right there on the ramp, sometime in the last year or two.

They were sitting there waiting to get to their gate and this 757 had quite a bit of smoke start coming out of one engine. I believe it turned out to be a hung start or hot start. Anyway, totally taken care of by the cockpit crew and the engine start was aborted. My friend, watching from his cockpit a few planes away, said the 757 just called ramp tower and said they'd just shut an engine back down and they'd probably have to head back into their gate. Ramp tower acknowledged and then a moment later told the 757 crew that they had escape slides popping out in the back and people sliding down. Apparently this happened as the crew, in the middle of finishing some aborted engine start procedure or talking to the tug driver about going back in, also started to notice door indications showing open one after another and on frequency initially replied with nothing but "ahhhwwwww $#@& ." Some passenger at an emergency exit had seen a flame shoot out of the engine during the huge smoke cloud, and took it upon himself to get the evacuation going.

* * *​

I'd be inclined to tell the captain, "do you mind making that PA? I'm not sure how to word it without unintended consequences..."
 
I'd make it a point of interest:

"Hey pax, if you look out the right side as we turn in to the gate, you'll see a pretty cool sight: the airport fire department practicing to fight an aircraft fire. These are the guys who make sure we're safe if something goes wrong...let's give those guys a hand for what they do to keep us safe...."
 
Just don't use the word "fire," and you should be OK.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, those of you on the right side of the aircraft are in for a treat today. If you look out your window you will see the airport rescue team practicing their response to a simulated incident. Those of us who fly airplanes for a living are glad to have these dedicated professionals on standby should anything on our flights not go as anticipated. How about a round of applause for these men and women who keep us safe everyday?!! Thank you, we'll be at the gate soon."

See? Now they're heroes, none of the dreaded "fire/emergency/rescue/crash" words were said, and the pax know what is going on as per the Captain's wishes...


Kevin
 
Hacker15e said:
I'd make it a point of interest:

"Hey pax, if you look out the right side as we turn in to the gate, you'll see a pretty cool sight: the airport fire department practicing to fight an aircraft fire. These are the guys who make sure we're safe if something goes wrong...let's give those guys a hand for what they do to keep us safe...."
Click to expand...

staplegun said:
Just don't use the word "fire," and you should be OK.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, those of you on the right side of the aircraft are in for a treat today. If you look out your window you will see the airport rescue team practicing their response to a simulated incident. Those of us who fly airplanes for a living are glad to have these dedicated professionals on standby should anything on our flights not go as anticipated. How about a round of applause for these men and women who keep us safe everyday?!! Thank you, we'll be at the gate soon."

See? Now they're heroes, none of the dreaded "fire/emergency/rescue/crash" words were said, and the pax know what is going on as per the Captain's wishes...


Kevin
Click to expand...

These two responses are going in the "anal retention vault" for use at a later date...nicely worded.
 
Doug Taylor said:
Hypothetically, of course.

Taxiing toward the gate, the rampers aren't quite ready yet so you're holding on the taxiway.

In the distance, the CFR (Crash Fire Rescue) are doing a drill at the aircraft mockup in the far distance. Lots of fire, smoke, etc in the distance. Viewable from the cockpit but indiscernible, most likely from the cabin.

The captain says "Ooh! People may worry. Get on the PA and say that the fire that they see is just the fire department practicing".

Do you or do you not comply with the captain's request?
Click to expand...

Assuming the parking brake is set, "Ladies and Gentleman we are just just short of the gate waiting on the ramp crew. Seatbelts need to remain fastened till we are parked. Off to the right side of the aircraft you will notice _____ Airport Rescue Practicing. They are some of the best in the business. Thanks for flying ________"

Makes him happy and you tell people to keep the ffing seatbelts on.
 
Doug Taylor said:
I'm of the school of thought that once you say something about a "fire" you're going to potentially have an uncommanded evacuation.

"Blah blah blah aircraft blah blah blah fire", people are going to hear "Fire?" "there's a fire?" "get off!"
Click to expand...

It still amazes me that people are that stupid. It's like the average person loses 20 IQ points upon entering the terminal, and 20 more stepping onto the jet bridge.
 
I've made that PA before, holding short of 1 at DCA. ARFF has a burn pit down that way and they were going at it. As several people have said, I was pretty careful not to use the words "fire" or "crash" in the PA, but the last thing you want people doing is worrying about burning up right before we take off (and make an early, sharp turn to the left to avoid P56).
 
That's the nice thing about flying who we fly. PA: "Hey guys, so someone's blowing something up off the left side. Pretty cool, right?" :)
 
Doug Taylor said:
Hypothetically, of course.

Taxiing toward the gate, the rampers aren't quite ready yet so you're holding on the taxiway.

In the distance, the CFR (Crash Fire Rescue) are doing a drill at the aircraft mockup in the far distance. Lots of fire, smoke, etc in the distance. Viewable from the cockpit but indiscernible, most likely from the cabin.

The captain says "Ooh! People may worry. Get on the PA and say that the fire that they see is just the fire department practicing".

Do you or do you not comply with the captain's request?
Click to expand...


"....Ladies and Gentleman, if you look to the left you'll see what happens when you don't turn off your electronic devices prior to takeoff"
 
Roger said:
It still amazes me that people are that stupid. It's like the average person loses 20 IQ points upon entering the terminal, and 20 more stepping onto the jet bridge.
Click to expand...

My ramp instructor always told me people check their brains at the airport entrance. I want to create a show and call it " Passengers Say" and style it in the form of "Kids Say the Darndest Things" with all the stupid stuff I've heard.
 
Doug Taylor said:
In the distance, the CFR (Crash Fire Rescue) are doing a drill at the aircraft mockup in the far distance. Lots of fire, smoke, etc in the distance. Viewable from the cockpit but indiscernible, most likely from the cabin.
Click to expand...

I'm the same old-school......grew up being called CFR, for Crash Fire Rescue.

In the past number of years, you've seen "Crash-Fire-Rescue" disappear off the sides of the crash trucks at civil airports, replaced by ARFF, or Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting, or just plain Fire Department. Reason was that it was thought that seeing the word "crash" would cause unnecessary anxiety amongst some aircraft pax. Some airports even went so far as to keep said-marked trucks off the flightline unless there was an actual emergency.

Ugggh.
 
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