I agree that people should not make jokes about bombs, guns, or terrorizim when at the airport or getting on a plane. Those are some of the very few exceptions of the First Amendment.
But THIS is going way to fucking far.
This dope was just walking past the crew when he said that. There was no reason to empty out that plane.
Since when are pussies allowed to fly planes? Lighten up.
I’m not saying this guy wasn’t being a dick, I’m just saying they really over reacted!
What if he would have asked the pilot how he was feeling? ("no chest pains or anything, Captain?) Oh, I know. Let’s not talk to those flying us at all. Lord knows we don’t want to make them cry!
He hee!
The guy was a dick for saying that.
The pilots were being pussies (i.e. wimps) for getting their undies in a bunch over it.
While I think he was being a knob, I do believe one has the right to ask a pilot if they’ve been drinking, but apparently, according to some related stories, you don’t.
Since when are pilots such a protected class that they are above srutiny?
It sounds like, in the asking (however jokingly), he was somehow implying that there was a doubt as to the crew’s sobriety, either then or in the past. Hence, the tests.
Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to be a joker in this bureaucratic, paranoid world.
Pilots did not have their panties in a bunch. They have to follow the rules.
Remember a couple of pilots lost their jobs when they were accused of drinking and it turned out they had been?
The people on the back of the flight had no way of knowing it seems to me , if the passenger had a smile or not. They heard a loud question.
IMO, the pilots are getting the short end of the stick, in that ANYBODY who says anything causes them to have to go for a medical check regardless of the innocence of the comment. How would you like it if the pilots joked that you looked high and you had to miss your flight because the rules say that you have to have a medical check no matter if the pilots was smiling or not?
IMO the passenger does not need jail time for this but to scoff at the problem?
Right before takeoff I see something, anything that IMO is a REAL threat to the safety of the flight and I holler about it. I full hope that I am not just told to be quiet, that I must be joking.
Gotta agree with you, pkbites. Giving the guy grief at the airport, even the fine, seems okay to me. He was being a schmuck. But for the feds to threaten this guy with twenty years over a stupid joke is just ourtageous. If the FBI thinks it can make up for its inattention before 9/11 by persecuting some poor joker in 2002 it still has its head up its collective ass. This guys joke was stupid and sophomoric, but the FBI reaction, if it goes beyond a threat for the purpose of teaching the guy a lesson, is shameful. Just my opinion.
That is THE most asinine thing I have ever heard. The world has now officially gone mad. Those guys are so far beyong pussies, they would need 10 months of testosterone shots just to make it to pussy.
IMO, you all are missing the point.
a) It is the FAA rules, the pilots have to do what they did.
b) If they blew it off and an FAA guy was sitting in the plane ( they do ride and check stuff all the time unknown to the pilots) they would be in big trouble.
c) if anyone reported it , they would be in big trouble, IT IS AGAINST THE RULES FOR THEM TO CONTINUE.
d) Talk to your congress critters and the FAA, not the pilots or airlines.
If the FAA has rules, the FAA has rules. The pilots must follow them. I can understand them, as assinine as those rules may be.
But I would disagree with fining him and if I were him I’d dispute those charges being levied against me. He did not cause a disruption. He did not empty out the plane. The FAA’s rules did. Those are what’s to blame here.
But Your Honor, I didn’t kill that man, the Laws of Physics did. I didn’t know that the bullet would be propelled by the explosion of the powder in the cartridge, and eventually transfer its kinetic energy into his body, with tragic results. Now that I know more about the Laws of Physics, I won’t do that again. I’ll just say Merry Christmas instead.
OK so you are not allowed to ask a pilot if he has been drinking?, Strange question I know but Maybe every passenger should have the right to ask the pilot questions relating to their own safty.
I remember this. We had similar policies back in high school, when we were all minors and had no rights.
If I were to call Richmond airport and let them know that one of their pilots (whom I know) had had a drink before flying (which he had, a few years ago, here), would I be in violation of the law, and would they have to stop all their flights for sobriety tests?
Well it’s a bullshit regulation that I sure as hell didn’t get a chance to vote on. The pilots are fuckheads, The feds are fuckheads, and the FAA can suck my ass.
Safety regulations aren’t typically put up for vote to the public.
Personally, I sort of like the idea that if I pass the cockpit while boarding a plane, if I smell a strong odor of alcohol eminating from within, I can voice a concern and get meaningful results.
