Passengers Endangered By Selfish Smoker.....

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-44868730
The passengers must have been terrified at the time. Yet another example of the hidden costs of smoking.

[andy-hughes]

I would fire the pilot for breaking the rules regarding smoking on an aircraft.

If he is too stupid selfish and arrogant not to be able to obey aviation legislation, he is not fit to be a pilot.

[Mamyalynne]

Fired he was.

[ToraToraTora]

Pixie: "I don't do either, ttt. I just don't understand your logic that it causes people to press the wrong buttons. " - oh dear, why are you being deliberately obtuse? who said anything of the sort? vaping did not cause him to press the wrong buttons, it caused him to need to press a button, as it turns out he pressed the wrong one but the need arose due to smoking, if he wasn't smoking he would not have needed to press anything and the error would not have occurred, geddit?

[Prudie]

yeah I get it but but - have you any idea how many buttons pilots probably have to press during flights?

[Baldric]

Andy, OP Link Headline
/// Air China vaping: Pilots fired over e-cigarette emergency ///

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - // yeah I get it but but - have you any idea how many buttons pilots probably have to press during flights? //

A lot, which is why they train for years, and get paid eight-figure salaries to make sure they know what to press and when.

To try and defend this idiot because there are 'a lot of buttons to press' is farcical.

[pixie374]

Yes- he might have done if he was eating too and hadn't wanted the smell to be blown into the cabin. It isn't there for the purpose of vaping. He should be able to multitask no matter what.

[andy-hughes]

Baldric - // Andy, OP Link Headline
/// Air China vaping: Pilots fired over e-cigarette emergency ///

I understand he has been fired - I was making the point that had I been in charge, I would fire him for vaping in the cockpit alone.

[Mamyalynne]

Unaware that anyone is defending him , glad he's gone - get one who knows what they're doing.

[237SJ]

He shouldn't have been messing about with the buttons anyway. Probably turned off an air conditioning pack instead of the flow rate. Air China would probably have sacked him for vaping in the flight deck even if he hadn't caused a decompression because he would have been breaking all the rules by doing that. Not following operational procedures is a big no no these days.

[Prudie]

Why do you have to be so utterly dismissive using words like farcical? As I said, in this case, thank God he was vaping so there is a reason to blame him - however any pilot could make a similar error on a button press and have no good reason - except for lack of concentration. The vaping put him in that situation but as mentioned so could eating a tuna sandwich.

[ToraToraTora]

prudie: "yeah I get it but but - have you any idea how many buttons pilots probably have to press during flights? " - yes and I expect them to not coe it up!

[ToraToraTora]

AH, BA, I too am amazed at those above defending him. But I know smokers will go to the ends of the earth to defend their habit.

[pixie374]

Nobody is defending him. He should have been sacked for vaping as it isn't allowed plus again for turning off air con instead of a fan. Two separate reasons to be sacked.

[Prudie]

Agree nobody is defending him one iota, me included - it's just a very weak example for you to use in your constant anti-smoking tirades.

[sanmac]

Apart from the vaping and the wrong control, how on earth (Thank God the plane didn't reach it.) did the plane drop 21,000' before the situation was brought under control?...21,000"!

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - // Why do you have to be so utterly dismissive using words like farcical? //

Because the notion that a pilot can be excused from an aircraft-endangering action because 'there are a lot of buttons to press' is farcical, there is no other word for it.

I did wonder if you were being humorous, it seems not, so it appears that your post offers some defence, and in my view there is none, and the idea that it's because of a lot of buttons is less than none.

// As I said, in this case, thank God he was vaping so there is a reason to blame him - however any pilot could make a similar error on a button press and have no good reason - except for lack of concentration. The vaping put him in that situation but as mentioned so could eating a tuna sandwich. //

If he had simply pressed a wrong button, he would probably have been suspended and made to retrain before flying again.

If you imagine that he would have been let off because there were so many buttons, and all he did was press the wrong one, then it suggests you don't realise how seriously airlines take passenger safety, and the standards they expect from their pilots.

[ToraToraTora]

prudie: "Agree nobody is defending him one iota, me included - it's just a very weak example for you to use in your constant anti-smoking tirades. " - so endangering a plane to get a fix is a weak example? Right oh!

[pixie374]

Ttt, he had no need to "endanger" it. He should be able to do two things at once in any event. He made two separate errors. I understand (I'm sure) exactly what prudie means. It's not defending anything- it's your irrational crowbar-style "logic"...

[Bazile]

I'm on the side of- if your'e a pilot in charge of hundreds of lives cruising at 500+ mph @ 30k plus feet , then i'd like you to adhere to any safety rules in place .

It's not like you can pull over to the side of the road and put on your hazard lights , to let the passengers bail out