May 09, 2004
California Trip Part II: An Airline Ethics Question
I arrived this morning at the Orange County Airport (aka John Wayne Airport aka Santa Ana Airport aka I hate the abbreviation aka, okay?). Walking in the doors went well, but it went downhill from there.
When we took off from Orange County, we did an odd thing. As we got over the ocean to turn, we were headed straight out to sea. Then we turned right (toward Seattle), then left, then again to the right. As we made the third in this bizarre series of turns, you could feel the pilot take manual control of the jet. We banked to the right quickly and a little rough. We were now back on course, headed up the coast toward Seattle, but it felt like something was wrong. This feeling was confirmed as we started climbing to about 18,000 feet and then dropped to about 15,000 feet.
Then the pilot came on the PA and made the most unnerving statement I've ever heard. "Hello folks, this is your captain. The plane is completely flyable."
What?? Who would have even questioned it wasn't flyable?!
He continued: "There is absolutely nothing wrong with the plane that I cannot control." Okay, still a little bit of a weirdly frightening statement. I, of course, knew everything was probably just fine. But he sounded so darn defensive it was pretty surprising.
The pilot then explained that the plane's autopilot turning controller was malfunctioning and that he had requested permission to fly the plane manually to Seattle, but that we would probably make an "emergency landing" at LAX.
We did land at LAX a few minutes later.
I have no doubt there was nothing seriously wrong with the plane. I imagine the pilot was nothing but 100% truthful with us. But it got me thinking. What if there was something wrong? Say we had a good chance of needing to make an incredibly dangerous emergency landing? Would it be better to tell the passengers everything was safe even if it wasn't? Perhaps just so they didn't panic and increase the chance of failure?
Or what if the pilot was certain that we would not survive whatever condition the plane found itself in? What would he say to the passengers? Would it be better to tell the truth and allow people to know their fate despite the fear or would it be better to allow them to die peaceful and ignorant?
I wonder if airline pilots philosophize... or if they workshop airline ethics?
