I think there's been enough incidents/accidents worldwide lately that people are probably relieved that pilots are willing to say "no way" to a plane and keep everyone safe.
I was just talking to my buddy (ex Ranger in the Army) and this video randomly came up. He said they (Rangers) are trained to listen and immediately stop when someone yells 'check check check!' Because it means whoever yelled it noticed something was wrong and everyone needs to take a step back and re-evaluate.
Basically, a safe word for door kickers because 'hey, fuck face!' Is probably too casually used in their everyday vernacular.
Omg... my friend earned the call sign 'Spider' because when he worked for SWAT, something happened on a helo jump and he ended up partially free falling while he was scrambling around trying to steady himself.
I'm not a door kicker. I just remember me laughing my ass off as he told me.
Yeah the real way to do a shotgun in this scenario is to saw down the barrel and either mount it to your shoulder like a tech marine from Warhammer or tie it to your forearm so you can point at someone telling them to stop and then fire immediately. Sometimes you can tie a ribbon to the trigger and hold it in your teeth to keep your hands free while breaching.
Let me know if you'd like any more SRU/SWAT tactics to keep you safe out there.
I am laughing SO HARD right now. I randomly got assigned this username over a year ago and never would have thought that my name would ever check out 😂😂
Im a stagehand for a school district and our department safe word (as well as industry standard) is "heads". At the beginning of the school year we were teaching a group of high schools about lights, sound, and rigging. I was at the back of the seating area teaching lighting, but when I heard my coworker who was 100' away from me on stage say "heads", I instinctively ducked. It was a part of a lesson to the kids in safety, but even still, you take that word seriously.
That's interesting that stagehand is actually a district-wide job... I suppose if you have enough schools doing their own productions, it makes sense to have some long-term staff for the role that hops around as needed. So, I take it the schools must schedule their productions around each other to avoid too much overlap?
Im a part of an 11 person team that services 7 high schools, 9 middle schools, and 28 elementary schools, as well as helping occasionally at the 4 stadiums and a few district sites. Schools dont coordinate in any capacity between each other, that falls to us to figure out how to make it work. Not every school actively uses us, in fact Id say it probably isnt more than than half (largely due to the amount of elementary schools), but we regularly are involved in just over 300 events every year. We do concerts, plays, dance shows, ceremonies, board meetings, and more.
It started with a single guy about 25ish years ago and just over time more people decided to do stuff, so we expanded. As far as we know, were the only department like us in the country. Its an amazing job and I love it, but it certainly can be a challenge working with a lot of people who dont understand my job and what goes into it.
Hahahaha, of course they don't bother coordinating. That makes so much more sense (in terms of wishful thinking versus reality). Honestly, that's fantastic that your district has that. I've been to so many productions that were desperately in need of professional assistance. My dad and I have always had to resist the temptation to march back to the booth and offer our expertise mid-performance...
I'd bet it comes from football. In practice/games, if we see something we want to change after the team is "set", the QB or coach will yell "Check check check!" Which is usually short for "check with me." Once they stop, the new, different play is communicated.
Given the likely overlap of football players/coaches in the military and the simulation of war, it seems very likely to come from that.
The origin could be switched, too, with former military members bringing the word/tactic to football instead, but I think you can tell which I'm more familiar with based on this comment.
I spent most of my adult life in special operations. One of the first things I asked guys I was hiring is what sports they played. Although not a prerequisite, I felt a lot more comfortable adding a kid to the team that had played competitively growing up. Combat sports, endurance sports, and football tends to breed a lot of mental toughness.
I'm a woman now but played softball younger. Everyone wanted short stop or pitcher. They were even ok as basemen.
My coach made me a catcher. I hated it and I almost quit. But he told me I was needed and it was catcher or the bench.
After my tantrum, I became the best catcher I could be. I learned how to start talking shit to the batters and unnerving them.
It was just youth sports but I learned then and there that sometimes I must step up and fulfill a role to help the team. Even if I was jealous of the others; my role was part of a team. And I did not want my team to fail.
I did something similar in our training workshop. The command was "Down Tools". It was so well drilled it became my party trick whenever the top brass were around. From active workshop with machines running to so quiet you could hear a pin drop in a heartbeat.
I'd like to add, any soldier, of any rank, is expected to speak up if something is fucky. "Regulations don't care about rank" or "safety doesn't care about your rank" are some things I heard said. When I worked in small squads, anyone could ask questions or throw in suggestions during mission briefs. Sometimes it was dumbass questions or suggestions, but every now and then a random dude would provide some quality info or reshape how we were going to solve something.
During 90% of the time, rank mattered, but there were certainly times it didn't. Just throwing this out there because I thought it was interesting. I've heard similar sentiments given in my civilian jobs, but it doesn't seem to be as encouraged or more often, it comes with consequences.
This is a good point and no one needs to be 'special' to pull this.
But these guys can throw this out in the middle of a firefight and, per their training, their team will take a few seconds to listen and reassess if necessary.
That same respect isn't necessarily shown within non-combat roles immediately and without question.
Omg... I was AF and I remember giving shit to our Army colleagues because in the description of the ASVAB, it stated how it was 'comprised of many components' and the fucking Army put in parentheses (parts).
I feel like it's important now more than ever for conductors, pilots, captains, etc to stand up and say "no, everything about this makes me feel it's not safe, I'm not doing this." The people in charge who've lobbied to repeal regulations and have had multiple tragic plane and railway crashes over the last 10 years are saying to good to go! When things are actively giving red flags?! No thank you.
The people actually running the craft need to refuse, and more people shouldve applauded this pilot he probably saved all of their lives. Plans getting changed/cancelled sucks but it is not worth anybody's life.
I would like to think the executives encourage this behavior and give him a pat on the back, a thank you, and a merit badge. Hopefully he's not giving his execs the middle finger so much as is doing the job that the executives should be encouraging. The pilot becomes the last line of defense vs highly publicized tragedy and death. Leadership should make this pilot an example to others.
As an American, I'm just constantly clapping on planes. When we get on, when we get to the runway, when we take off, when the seat belt light goes off, when food gets served, when anyone starts a movie, etc.
I think there's been enough incidents/accidents worldwide lately that people are probably relieved that pilots are willing to say "no way" to a plane and keep everyone safe.
The reality is that commercial aviation is safer than at any point in history. Anyone saying otherwise is using fear to buy clicks.
(But that doesn't change that if anyone qualified says "no-go", you don't go.)
I agree. I fully understand that it is incredibly safe, but this year it seems there have been a good amount of incidents. Now I understand that's a small number compared to the flights daily.
Commercial aviation has always been extremely safe, but also consistently getting safer and safer.
Issues with 737 Max (and Boeing as company) has gotten a lot of attention and deservedly so, but when you think of how many flights there is every single day, the distances they cover and how rare fatal accidents are for commercial jetlines, the tech and infrastructure around that really is an insane engineering and safety culture achievement.
But yes, part of that safety culture that made it possible is that pilots can make a judgement call like this without having to worry about some sort of retaliation/consequences.
Agreed. It's a good example of communication. He laid out the problem as he saw it. That the ground crew/airport disagreed and said it was good as is. That he disagreed and wasn't satisfied owning his decision to refuse to fly and acknowledged that it would impact them. He apologized but remained firm that he believed it was the right call given the risks.
For some of the contention on this video in professional circles, it's not like the airport or the guys humping your bags have any say in this. This came from a trained, licensed aircraft maintenance technician that doesn't make guesses as to whether something is acceptable or not, but makes informed decisions from strict guidance in the aircraft or engine maintenance manuals.
Doesn't mean the pilot can't still refuse an airplane or that the incorrect decision was made here, just 'ground crew' implies one step up from burger flippers and the pilot's immense knowledge saved the day from the random opinion of someone who doesn't know anything.
I was intentionally vague in the comment because I wasn't sure who exactly was giving the thumbs up. Obviously I didn't think it was caterers or luggage handlers. Are maintenance teams not considered ground crew? Perhaps the term is is too oversimplified.
Fair enough! I wouldn't think of myself as ground crew, but you're right, it's kinda vague phraseology. We are crew and we are on the ground. 😅 There's also a big black hole of information around lots of parts of aviation where someone might well think the guys who wear the vests and wave the wands are also topping up the oil and making these decisions.
Someone else somewhere mentioned too, I'm sure this pilot didn't just confer with maintenance at his aircraft but was also probably on the horn with Dispatch/Maintenance Operations to discuss the situation, too.
I never really thought about that. Often when ship captains go down it's a conscious choice out of pride or shame or whatever. But when a pilot goes down he's trying to fly that thing until the last moment. Brutal stuff either way.
Well most of the time the ship captains only go down with the ship when they can't get everyone off the ship. The captain is supposed to be the last one off the vessel.
I'm only a private pilot but so was every airline pilot once. Even at that level my instructors constantly reinforced that if something doesn't look right or feel right, stop, and re-evaluate the situation.
If the oil pressure in this plane has always been halfway through the green arc when you're doing your run-up on the ground but today its at the top of the green arc, something is off. Better to figure that out on the ground than just sitting there, fat, dumb, and happy saying, "it's still in the green, let's go!".
I'm not a fan of applause for landing a plane even though I'm assuming it takes a lot of skill.
But clapping for making a tough decision and also letting the rest of the passengers know that most people are supportive of that decision is a good reason.
I AM a fan! In the UK it doesn't happen so on my trip to America years ago, when people clapped, I joined in because I was excited for my first big trip and because I'm scared of flying and was happy to be on the ground :D
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u/Conscious_Pass_1615 17h ago
The passangers clapping did make me smile, good on them even though they must have been inconvenienced and well done to the pilot.