As Capt, would you make this PA?

Cherokee_Cruiser

Cherokee_Cruiser

Bronteroc
Here’s a slightly quiet sub thread, so why not?



By now everyone knows a PSA CR7 went down. And I think most recognize that the PSA was never told about the heli traffic, had no idea they were there, was in a left bank towards the runway, in a slight nose up position. All of these make it certainly seem the PSA crew had no chance, and never even saw it coming. Eg, not their fault.




Would you make this PA? I’m in the boat - no. I would have kept it simple and say we will take you safely to Miami, flight time is blah blah.

It somehow insinuates, to me at least, that this crew is taking a certain pledge (by implication) that the PSA crew either somehow forgot or didn’t take serious on their end.





Yea? Nay? What say you?





View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-81d3DGV450
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Here’s a slightly quiet sub thread, so why not?



By now everyone knows a PSA CR7 went down. And I think most recognize that the PSA was never told about the heli traffic, had no idea they were there, was in a left bank towards the runway, in a slight nose up position. All of these make it certainly seem the PSA crew had no chance, and never even saw it coming. Eg, not their fault.




Would you make this PA? I’m in the boat - no. I would have kept it simple and say we will take you safely to Miami, flight time is blah blah.

It somehow insinuates, to me at least, that this crew is taking a certain pledge (by implication) that the PSA crew either somehow forgot or didn’t take serious on their end.





Yea? Nay? What say you?





View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-81d3DGV450
Click to expand...

Meh, I never been big on long announcements, especially anything out of the script but it seems like he’s trying to convey empathy. We’re all going through something and if a few extra words can help someone make it through a part of their day I’m okay with it.

Sorry if there were any typos, I might’ve had a few too many ciders 🫠. Definitely needed after this week.
 
I watched my captain make almost that same announcement flying out of LEX a day after 5191, and I made a relatively similar announcement flying PHL to BUF two days after 3407.

As much as we like to think of our passengers as self loading cargo and a problem for the FAs to deal with, part of passenger airline flying is being a presence for them. One of the strangest things about flying the 330 for me is the total disconnect from the passenger, except the first row or so of business class on the left side that I can make eye contact with if I'm in the galley. Those rare times that we use the L1 door (instead of the normal L2 door) for boarding or deplaning, and everybody troops by the cockpit door, serve as a good reminder that there are 278 people back there relying on us to get them where they are going, and a little bit of verbal reassurance goes a long way when the outside world isn't cooperating.

That said, we have several captains over here (as do other airlines I'm sure) that are not allowed to make pax PAs outside the FOM required ones, because of the stupid things they manage to say.
 
Passengers are anxious about flying right now. You can see it on their faces and hear it in the questions they are asking. I don’t find any harm in taking a few seconds to address it in the welcome aboard PA. Especially given it’s an AA flight.

I think if anything, pax are hoping to hear something like this rather than some captain’s amateur comedy routine.
 
I agree a generic “get you safely to you destination” would suffice. There doesn’t need to be an amateur accident investigation rehash of the event over the PA. If anything, that would be less reassuring to nervous pax. What he said on the PA, these pax heard as “there are things out of our controls that are out there looking to kill us”

Was 9/11 addressed in PAs when flying resumed after 9/11? If so, to what end?
 
I’ll make PAs when there is a mechanical issue from the galley. It’s a bit intimidating when 170+ people are looking right at you. Usually this is prompted by FAs asking me to make a PA because they are being bombarded by questions from the PAX and the FAs can’t answer the questions from increasingly annoyed and anxious PAX. I mention in my PA: The issue in a very general way to not scare anyone. The time I will take in a very general sense to put people at ease. I ask them for their patience and make a deal. I’ll do everything I can to solve this and all I ask is please be nice to the FAs.

I’ve occasionally had a nervous flyer that wanted to speak with me. I actually learned when I flew private jets how to handle this well. I was flying Mark Walberg and he was super nervous since he was flying to one location and his family another. He asked me “is this plane safe to fly?” I could tell he was genuinely nervous. I responded by saying the aircraft was safe and I wouldn’t fly an unsafe aircraft. Since I wanted to return to my loved ones. I included some details about the people I care about. That seemed to work well so I still do this.

The last passenger that wanted to speak with me is a TSA employee at SEA and I saw her when walking past a checkpoint. She gave me a big hug and some really positive feedback about how I handled the mechanical issue, tail swap and addressing her and other passengers. That was very nice.

Recently I have had some very positive feedback from several passengers who were on my last trip that canceled in CLE and we all wound up on the same DH to PIT. Many of them were still grateful and nice to me after getting stuck in CLE for a long time. Overall a good sign I think.

No offense but ya’ll (most of JC) don’t seem like the most empathetic group as a whole. Sadly that is exactly what passengers are looking for. Empathy and reassurance. Remember that your FO is a resource. If they seem like they are good at talking with people and they get along well with the FAs. You describe yourself as an introvert and you’re clearly terrible with people and always wonder why XYZ social interaction went so poorly? Maybe ask them nicely if they can help you and have them address some passenger concerns.
 
If an accident is pertinent to your airline or the system you fly in, sure.

If not, nah.
 
phill1174 said:
Meh, I never been big on long announcements, especially anything out of the script but it seems like he’s trying to convey empathy. We’re all going through something and if a few extra words can help someone make it through a part of their day I’m okay with it.

Sorry if there were any typos, I might’ve had a few too many ciders 🫠. Definitely needed after this week.
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I appreciate when it goes both ways too. The day after was a weird day to be at work, definitely a little somber and with a lot of emotions on the back burner. One person getting off said “god bless you pilots” to us during deplaning. I’m not religious, and I don’t even know if they were saying it because of the events of the night before or if it’s just something they say every flight they take, but hearing their heart felt appreciation was something I needed to hear that day.
 
JordanD said:
I appreciate when it goes both ways too. The day after was a weird day to be at work, definitely a little somber and with a lot of emotions on the back burner.
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You've pushed that aircraft back and threw bags in the bin long ago, right?

We (pilots) tend not to think of all the other interactions an aircraft might have beyond the flying part.

Edit: What has gotten me the most so far was seeing some investigator carrying an inside window frame panel and I thought about how many times I had deadheaded on that specific plane, and probably (unless it had been replaced at some point) rested my head on that exact panel.
 
BobDDuck said:
You've pushed that aircraft back and threw bags in the bin long ago, right?

We (pilots) tend not to think of all the other interactions an aircraft might have beyond the flying part.

Edit: What has gotten me the most so far was seeing some investigator carrying an inside window frame panel and I thought about how many times I had deadheaded on that specific plane, and probably (unless it had been replaced at some point) rested my head on that exact panel.
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I think at the time PSA's -700 fleet wasn't massive, I would imagine I'd have to have worked that plane at least a few times over my time on the ramp, if not having nonrevved on it a few times.
 
JordanD said:
I think at the time PSA's -700 fleet wasn't massive, I would imagine I'd have to have worked that plane at least a few times over my time on the ramp, if not having nonrevved on it a few times.
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We only had 14 back then, and we flew them pretty regularly to SDF, so I'm sure you probably did.
 
I loaded bags for 5 years, and am now in my 2nd 121 command. My shop loves their NPS, and to that end wants us engaging with the folks. Cool, we can do that, when we’re all briefed up, MX is taken care of/etc. If I’m making a non standard PA (ie crazy delay or MX, I try and just stick to the truth. People just want to be included and not feel like they’re held hostage. In all instances, less is more, and if able, I try and make myself available to folks one of one if the opportunity allows.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
Here’s a slightly quiet sub thread, so why not?



By now everyone knows a PSA CR7 went down. And I think most recognize that the PSA was never told about the heli traffic, had no idea they were there, was in a left bank towards the runway, in a slight nose up position. All of these make it certainly seem the PSA crew had no chance, and never even saw it coming. Eg, not their fault.




Would you make this PA? I’m in the boat - no. I would have kept it simple and say we will take you safely to Miami, flight time is blah blah.

It somehow insinuates, to me at least, that this crew is taking a certain pledge (by implication) that the PSA crew either somehow forgot or didn’t take serious on their end.





Yea? Nay? What say you?





View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-81d3DGV450
Click to expand...

Yeah, I’m with you, I wouldn’t make that PA in this situation. Keeping it simple and professional is the way to go. Saying something like “We’re committed to getting you safely to Miami” could unintentionally imply that the PSA crew wasn’t, which isn’t fair given the circumstances.

Passengers already feel uneasy when they hear about crashes, so the best approach is to stick to the usual PA, flight time, weather, and smooth operations. No need to over-explain or subtly editorialize.

So yeah, I’d just keep it standard and let safety speak for itself. ✈️
 
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