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.

[Prudie]

I cannot be ar$ed to ask where I said pressing lots of buttons excuses him, suffice to say I know I didn't.
It came about because TTT implied that this was the only button he would have had to press and only had to do it because he was vaping. I'll leave you to think I'm farcical (despite the fact that you have completely misunderstood my points) at least you got a BA out of it.

[pixie374]

I get ya, prudie:-)

[Mamyalynne]

You didn't excuse the pilot Prudie - I understood you.

Course he should have been fired , he ignores rules and doesn't know how to operate the controls.

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - // I cannot be ar$ed to ask where I said pressing lots of buttons excuses him, suffice to say I know I didn't. //

Allow me to assist - you said this -

// … have you any idea how many buttons pilots probably have to press during flights? //

Why would you make that statement, unless to infer that it offers some sort of mitigation for pressing the wrong button?

If someone queries a post of mine - as they have done on this thread - I am happy to clarify it, if you prefer not to, no problem.

As for me 'getting a best answer' - that's not a reward for challenging your post. If you post something that is considered inaccurate, or wrong for any reason, you get challeneged. I do, you do, everyone does - it's how this section operates.

Happy to leave it there if you are.

[Mamyalynne]

Prudie's reply was a response to the points made by TTT directly above it - to read it in isolation makes no sense Andy.

[Prudie]

"have you any idea how many buttons pilots probably have to press during flights? //

Why would you make that statement, unless to infer that it offers some sort of mitigation for pressing the wrong button?"

It's no mitigation whatsoever and I never said it was - it was to counteract the argument that I understood from TTT that were he not vaping he would never have had to press any button at all throughout the flight.
He was certainly 100% at fault, he got his just desserts however this whole debacle is NOT anywhere near a good enough example to moan about smoking - it's almost irrelevant to that argument.
Eg pilot presses wrong button after eating peanuts, yet another example of the hidden dangers of peanuts.

[ToraToraTora]

you don't get it do you? he would not be trying to find a button to push if he was just eating peanuts would he?

[Prudie]

You don't get it either. Are you saying if he didn't vape or eat peanuts he wouldn't push any buttons? Yes this one very serious demeanour caused him to touch a button but there will many occasions while flying a plane that some human error can occur. They don't just sit there all the time doing nothing. It's using it as anti-smoking rant that has irked me.

[Mamyalynne]

Any port in a storm.

[hereIam]

Not very often I agree with you a_h, but by heck, I do this time !

[ToraToraTora]

prudie: "It's using it as anti-smoking rant that has irked me. " - a plane load of people almost died because this idiot was distracted by needing a fix, he took a smoking device onto a plane and as a direct result of using it nearly caused a disaster, that's what is irking me. If they'd crashed would you be walking around the mourners saying, "well they press a lot of buttons, bound to get one wrong now and then eh!"? Addicts should not be flying planes.

[cassa333]

And then there’s this twonk who had a screaming match with cabin crew because he promised his granddaughter a bacon roll.

Let’s hope she was on court to see that loutish behaviour is not rewarded.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-44874908

[EDDIE51]

The airline specifically bans smoking including vaping for all flight staff.
Another report said the same pilot had already had a final warning for a previous smoking offence. Now he has been fired and lost his licence , so he will never pilot a plane again. All over not being able to control his nicotine addiction. ( has he heard of Snuff? , there was an AB question about it a day or two ago. Snuff became popular because coal miners were banned from taking lighters or matches underground. It could be the answer for a nicotine addicted pilot as it was for miners )

[andy-hughes]

Prudie - // He was certainly 100% at fault, he got his just desserts however this whole debacle is NOT anywhere near a good enough example to moan about smoking - it's almost irrelevant to that argument. //

Actually, far from being almost irrelevant to that argument - it is the entire argument.

The fact is, the pilot pressed the wrong button because he was vaping.

It's reasonable to assume that he panicked, worrying about the odour getting into the passenger cabin, and that is why he pressed the wrong button.

Calm in control normally behaving pilots don't usually press wrong buttons - agitated illegally-behaving pilots looking to save their careers usually do.

Of course the nicotine addiction is the core of the argument - if he wasn't a nicotine addict he would not have been vaping in the cockpit - against all regulations.

[Gromit]

Late to this, but I spotted this error.
// I would fire the pilot for breaking the rules regarding smoking on an aircraft. //

He was not smoking, he was vaping. And it is illegal for passengers to vape, but not aircrew. Perhaps it should be, but he should not be sacked for breaking a rule that does not exist.

[Minkyme]

Smoking in the cockpit, drunk pilots. Pilots sleeping and there’s no doubt that drugs and Sex or orgies have also taken place in the cockpit. It sounds like a scene from the comedy movie Airplane sometimes.

[Minkyme]

// ( has he heard of Snuff? //

I’d be very scared if during the flight when the cockpit opened to see the pilot snorting a substance tbh.

[naomi24]

From Prudie, //this whole debacle is NOT anywhere near a good enough example to moan about smoking - it's almost irrelevant to that argument.

I agree. The hidden costs of smoking TTT? Good try .... but must try harder.

[237SJ]

To be specific, the passengers weren't "endangered", the pilot didn't nearly bring down an aicraft etc. He could have been eating a tuna sandwich (as mentioned) or a curry or the most pungent piece of garlic bread in the flight deck and that would have been fine. He chose to vape which was against company rules (same for crew as passengers) and decided to tamper with the airflow to try to cover the smell. He decided to press a button that wouldn't ordinarily be pressed, pressed the wrong one (which also wouldn't ordinarily be pressed) which raised the cabin altitude and triggered a decompression response in the cabin. The aircraft didn't plunge by itself - a rapid descent was made by the pilots to a lower altitute where oxy is not required. Then presumably, they realised that finger trouble had caused the problem, the switch was reset and they were able to ascend up to their previous height. If he hadn't pressed the wrong button, I doubt anyone would have known anything about the vaping as the captain obviously was quite happy to allow vaping in the cockpit which is why he would have been sacked as well.

[ToraToraTora]

prudie: was this him: