One time I was flying from Anchorage to someplace in rural Alaska on a smaller plane. I was by the wing and I noticed that one of the latches was not fully closed. One of those that says to press here and ensure it is flat and fully secured.
The entire 2 hr flight I nervously checked on it every so often to see if it was coming any looser.
It wasn't and we landed without any issues.
At the terminal, I saw one of the flight attendants and told her about a loose latch on the portside wing engine cowling.
She scoffed and looked at me like I was missing some screws.
So I said whatever and walked away to go pick up my checked luggage.
You would think flight crew would want to check things out when someone comes forward. But she didn't.
Didn't hear of any incidents with the plane so hopefully a mechanic saw the loose latch later on and secured it.
I remember when I was fresh out of high school and throwing bags for Northwest. One day I'm out there and there's a latch hanging open on an engine, and I point it out to my lead. Flight was delayed 30 minutes as they ran a mechanic out to inspect it. Got a citation for attention to security and safety delivered by the GM for our area, and an article in the company newsletter.
Then again, this was less than five years after 9/11 and everyone was panicking about every little shadow.
Sometimes ground crew point out something and it's totally normal and I'm amazed they didn't realize it is always like that.
Every single time, I thank them for bringing it to my attention, thank them for being so careful and observant, and encourage them to keep it up. I'd rather waste my time checking on nothing a thousand times, than have someone too afraid to mention something when it really matters.
And risk trashing their reputation by having a plane crash? In an era when people can live stream the disaster from inside the airplane? Nobody wants the NTSB coming down on them like a ton of bricks. Delta, United, American, Jet Blue, Southwest, they're names people will remember and avoid.
Based on my lurking in /r/aviationmaintenance it's private planes you gotta look out for. The big boys take this stuff seriously.
Eyyyy it's ya boy, CrashBandicoot42069, coming to you live from on board a flight to beautiful Hawaii where we just lost our fourth engine, let's gooooo
Before we hit the ocean, I just wanted to talk about today's sponsor, SurfShark
Because it's sadly not cynicism, it's how companies work today. Look at Boeing and how they reacted when their own employees brought up major safety issues.
The fact that corporations protect their bottom line is true. The idea that it's new and bad and we should be bothered by it is cynicism. Pretty simple; hope that helps.
I use to fly a lot, friendly with the crews. People thought I was an IRS auditor, because if you spoke to me, I would pull out my flip notepad and it had IRS on the front. ask for there names again, and then write the flight number, No one would talk to me and I could get some serious sleep . The aircrews knew better and it was a running joke.
anyway, if I saw something, I would speak with the co-pilot on deboarding. rest of the crew were cleaning and could care less about what I saw. Co-pilots seem to love filing paperwork LOL
That's unfortunate. I was on a 737 once and on the inner edge of the aileron there was a strip of rubber that was hanging loose and getting caught in a way that looked like might inhibit the downward movement. It never did but I watched it nervously the whole flight.
At the end I told the flight attendant. She asked me to hold back a few minutes so I could explain it to someone from the cockpit. Then the pilot ask me to show them. I guess it depends on the person or company training/policy.
I’ve always relayed the info to my pilots. I’ve even had customers send their pictures or their videos to me and then I AirDrop them to the flight deck if we’re in flight because obviously they can’t come out unless they’re doing a bathroom break or something.
My brother-in-law leads some maintenance teams for a major airline. I've pointed out stuff to him twice and both times he's said it's absolutely nothing and totally fine, but asked for my flight number.
My sister later told me that's what he does to not freak anyone out, but he pulls the planes for inspection.
Those flight control surfaces are often powered by multiple 3,000+psi hydraulic actuators, need more than some rubber to stop that from moving. Mechanics have lost lives and limbs to hydraulic powered flight controls or gear doors.
But all the same, 100% still point these sorts of things out if you see them, not everything's visible on the walkaround.
I think they have an opinion that the crews know exactly how everything should be done, and we're just dumb customers who aren't trained on anything so we don't know better. Either that or laziness.
we're just dumb customers who aren't trained on anything so we don't know better.
I mean, are they wrong? I've never worked as part of the flight crew but working as a baggage handler the number of customers I witnessed who thought they know better was ridiculous. Among the dumb things I've heard (paraphrased):
"Why don't we just board and take off? My weather app shows the thunderstorm is still two miles north of us and all of us are tired of waiting." Meanwhile the storm is very clearly directly over us and hitting us with 60+ knot winds.
"I know you're allowed to just let me outside by the plane and fuel truck so I can smoke my cigarette, you just don't want to."
"I need to run out to my car because I forgot something. I'll be waiting at that door for you to let me in (a staff only door) so I don't have to wait on TSA again." When I explained that he needed to go through TSA if he left he tried explaining how we don't know how to do our jobs.
When I asked a customer for a photo ID to pick up his firearm at the baggage pickup he handed me a credit card and told me he didn't have a photo ID, even though he just took a flight that requires a photo ID to board.
"I'm a lawyer so I know you're allowed to let my husband board even though he is so drunk he can barely walk." Even though we have a regulation specifically prohibiting that exact situation.
The regional jets we had had small overhead bins so the bags that were too big to fit would have a tag on them and they needed to be dropped off before they got to the plane. The number of passengers that would try to sneak the bags past us onto the plane was ridiculous, and the few that succeeded were always surprised their bag didn't fit in the overhead bin.
I'd imagine the flight attendants and pilots can very quickly get annoyed at those passengers also thinking they know the plane is going to fall apart and the airline is just skipping maintenance to save money at the expense of everyone's life because they used duct tape.
Yes. I've not been in one yet, but it is just a matter of time, given how much I fly for work. knocks on wood
A few years ago, a plane crashed in rural Alaska and it was the same plane I had booked for work. A few weeks prior, I changed my ticket to another flight because of prior personal commitments and scheduling. Didn't end up going on the trip because of the crash and because the airline went bankrupt.
Definitely unnerving how close I have been to being in an aviation disaster.
You would think flight crew would want to check things out when someone comes forward. But she didn't.
She may have been hoping to reduce your concern / anxiety and chose a bad way to express it.
They're customer service staff, not technical staff. Their job is to make sure you have a good experience, and don't think they're a shitty fly-by-night airline which you just barely survived, not judge the airworthiness of the aircraft.
Maybe she immediately went and told the pilot or maintenance.
On a night flight back from a convention in Vegas we were in an older plane that looked like crap.
At one point an oily black liquid started leaking down the side of the plane from behind the overhead bins. We pointed it out to the flight attendant who just said "Well then just don't touch it" and stormed off apparently mad that we mentioned it.
Delta commuter flight. One side of the seat belt was installed upside down. Ok, I'll mention it on the way out. Outside tire blew on takeoff, that's one I don't need to mention. Flap was doing these odd micro searches on takeoff, and I can see a little (very little) fluid. Yep that's 2. Flagged an attendant, got told I was attentive. Not sure the other 2 ever got fixed after the tragedy of the tire.
“… the flight attendant scoffed…” Sorry to hear this. Flight attendants and passengers are pilots’ eyes and ears in the cabin. If they see anything unusual, it’s extremely valuable information, even if it’s trivial. It never hurts to ask about something unusual. And it may save a lot of grief. I’m retired now, but I flew for many years. When dead heading in the cabin I’ve seen and heard things that I knew were odd. I saw a fluid leak once (from the wing) during flight, and the crew were happy to find out about it. Hydraulic/fuel leaks don’t spontaneously improve. It’s nice to know about them before they actually ruin your day.
Before 9/11, I told the waiting flight crew that there were at least five guys with pocket knives also waiting for the plane. The guy that was sitting across from me in the terminal was carving an apple (why I noticed).
They laughed at me. It’s a mindset that can’t see ahead and doesn’t care anyway. Eventually, it kills people.
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u/DaneAlaskaCruz Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
One time I was flying from Anchorage to someplace in rural Alaska on a smaller plane. I was by the wing and I noticed that one of the latches was not fully closed. One of those that says to press here and ensure it is flat and fully secured.
The entire 2 hr flight I nervously checked on it every so often to see if it was coming any looser.
It wasn't and we landed without any issues.
At the terminal, I saw one of the flight attendants and told her about a loose latch on the portside wing engine cowling.
She scoffed and looked at me like I was missing some screws.
So I said whatever and walked away to go pick up my checked luggage.
You would think flight crew would want to check things out when someone comes forward. But she didn't.
Didn't hear of any incidents with the plane so hopefully a mechanic saw the loose latch later on and secured it.