TG992 From New Zealand, joined Jan 2001, 2910 posts, RR: 11 Posted (5 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 hours ago) and read 1039 times:
Inspired by TWFirst's recent thread on his Mesaba travails, I thought I'd throw this question out to the pilots out there.
As aircraft commander, let's say you have a particular fear of, let's say, electronic interference from cellphones during cruise. Or the cockpit being rushed 1 hour before descent. Or in fact, anything.
According to the established norms, the Commander has ultimate authority over the flight. So you decide to make a PA (or instruct FA1 to make a PA) saying ALL cellphones must be COMPLETELY OFF during the flight, including those with flight mode, and everyone must be seated for the last 30 minutes of the flight before descent. You do this for every flight you command.
Let's now say that after three months or so this becomes known to your company through passenger or crew feedback, or any other means.
Do you think they would support you, given you have a specific concern about loopholes or unsolved electronic interference?
Could they ban you from doing this?
This is a genuine question I'm interested in finding out your feelings on.
FlyMIA From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 6294 posts, RR: 6 Reply 1, posted (5 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 995 times:
well atleast in the US with the FAA all cell phones must be turned off the whole flight even with flight mode that is the norm on all flights. For the rushing the cockpit again atleast in the US FAA, all airliners have the bullet proff steel doors, so no one is getting into the cockpit. But I think it would be wierd and no airline would want any of there pilots not following Standard Operating Procedures of that airline.
"It was just four of us on the flight deck, trying to do our job" (Captain Al Haynes)
OPNLguy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (5 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 979 times:
Quoting TG992 (Thread starter): Do you think they would support you, given you have a specific concern about loopholes or unsolved electronic interference?
Could they ban you from doing this?
The company also has Customer service considerations to keep in mind, and crews having their own rulesets can run contrary to that, especially where consistency is involved. The company's comments to the pilot(s) here would probably be something on the order of "We've developed a company policy on ____________ and absent some legitimate safety concern, we expect crews to follow it." If a crew were making an approach to 700 RVR minimums and wanted everything off for some reason (that he'd have to report to the company) that's one thing, but if the crew was doing that on every flight, that's something else.
APFPilot1985 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (5 years 8 months 3 weeks 4 hours ago) and read 973 times:
Quoting FlyMIA (Reply 1): well atleast in the US with the FAA all cell phones must be turned off the whole flight even with flight mode that is the norm on all flights.
Where did you get that stat? The faa essentially leaves it up to the airline to make the determination.
SSTsomeday From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 1276 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (5 years 8 months 3 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 955 times:
I would suggest that the pilot is the commander of his ship, but that his judgements should reflect the operational manual of the airline, except for extreme circumstances.
I would not support a pilot who enforces the whims his own protocol as a matter of course.
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