Comair flight 5637, irate pax, watch the video

[HarryParatestes]

I would field dress that guy and have my F/O film it. Then send him to the taxidermist and have him stuffed and hang him in my basement.

It puts the lotion in the basket.

 

[dickburns]

I would have dropped that guy so fast then called security saying he tried to storm the flight deck. But what do I know, I fly freight and never have to deal with that bs. People complain so bad when you guys get a ground delay because of storms and aren't flying, then they complain and whine because you aren't safe enough, they just want to complain for the sake of complaining. If they need to get there that bad then why don't they go charter a plane, theyll take them right through the storms, then you'll see how much whining the passengers do next time there is a ground delay.

 

[PA44Jockey]

That guys was owns a business that sells that camera and is also a journalist. Even more reason to field dress him. It's sad, but the flight crew and that journalist are both correct. People sitting on airplanes w/o an APU in the middle of summertime is rediculous. However, congress, airline management and the FAA choose to do nothing about it. The long sits for departure times are just getting larger by the day. Someone is going to have to croak on an aircraft in extreme heat before anything is done about it. I myself would have made the decision that passengers wouldn't be sitting on my airplane in conditions like that. Yes it's JFK, but if a company can't find equipment that works then that flight shouldn't be operating.

 

[172driver]

Am I the only one who thinks the passenger had a valid argument? Sitting in a CRJ with a broken apu on a hot and humid night for more than 30 minutes or so is unacceptable. Dispatching said airplane and accepting said airplane by the crew in those conditions is also unacceptable. The delay may have been longer than expected but it could not have been unexpected -- it was JFK in the evening.

Granted, the guy was an idiot and handled it inappropriately, but I probably would have popped the door and walked right off. Arrest me if you must, but I'm not sitting in a 100+ degree airplane with 53 other people for 4 hours, period. The airlines and their crews need to change these practices before people decide to just stay home.

 

[skyslug]

The passenger is the owner of a company that makes small video recording devices. His ONLY reason for coming to the flight deck was to get his story on the news thus giving his company publicity (did you notice his company name everywhere on the news???? yep, it was there!!!). I will stand by this statement; how else did it make it to the news?!

The passengers were informed many times about the inop APU and at JFK one can be told they will push any moment now and then 20 minutes later be told the same thing and on and one (JFK is one frustratingly annoying place when bad weather arrives). Couple that with bad weather and the ramp closing (perhaps multiple times, I don't know) then what do you really tell the passengers???? I am positive the crew told the passengers what they were being told!

That being said, I have no idea what the temp was or if it was night or day (night by the looks of the video). It's better to run the flight with an inop APU in most cases then to cancel the flight an inconvenience and rebook many many passengers.

Don't crucify the crew until you know what really happened but you can certainly learn from it and formulate what you would do if that situation were to ever arrive on your flight deck!

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Seems to me the passenger was playing to the camera. He intentionally tried to rile up the flight crew so that he could document it on his crappy little product.

It does appear the captain is a little docile but he handled it okay. He never got angry or berated the passenger, which ultimately is how you need to represent your company. The guy wanted him to say something he could run to the news with.

Just a cheap thrill this moron got from making the captain look defensive.

 

[captainv]

Just imagine the press this would've gotten if the captain told the passenger to go @$#* himself.

By the way, the crew did have external a/c when boarding. At some point, the rampers disconnected it and took it away.

 

[CherryBomb]

Too bad the guy with the camera didnt walk into a pointy static wick at eye level... It would be a waste of a good static wick...

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

How many bets on that CA ends up with a carpet dance? We can't speak on camera....

 

[DX Rick]

How long have we all been doing this? Haven't we learned yet, that the passengers and media know everything there to know and more about commercial aviation?
How many of them still tell you, that electronic devices and cell phones don't even interfere with our avionics?

The Captain should have distracted this clown, while the FO stuck the crash axe in his chest. Seriously. Why was a passenger trying to gain access to the cockpit with what looked like a miniature gun?

In the end, this camera guy will look like a hero, thanks to out media. And PCL_128 will always be a GIA graduate.