Have a flight attendant friend? Have they told you a story about an emergency the passangers were unaware of?

Question

Have a flight attendant friend? Have they told you a story about an emergency the passangers were unaware of?

Answer 1

Quicksilver has it pretty much dead on.

You have to distinguish between the terms "emergency" and "irregularity". We have many irregularities that can be easilly controlled or corrected with systems management. No sense telling the passengers about every little item we encounter...as long as it doesn't require any action on their part. Modern airliners have redundency built into critical systems.

An emergency, on the other hand, is a situation that requires the passengers to be alert to some possibilities that might result in injury or worse. A gear up landing, fire, or some other failure that could result in a damaged aircraft are examples.

In my own experience, I can only recall one time that I did not immediately inform the passengers of a critical problem. We had shut down one engine on a 4 engine jet while still 5 hours over the ocean from land. The aircraft flies just fine on the other 3 engines, so I did not tell the passengers until we were about 3 minutes from landing that they might see some emergency equipment along the runway when we land. I couldn't see them worrying for 5 hours about something over which they had no control.

Answer 2

I was a flight attendant for 20 years.  I can honestly say that anytime the pilots knew for sure there was an emergency - and told the cabin crew about it - the passengers were also informed.  Of course, the pilots want to establish first that there is indeed a serious problem before making any announcements, so they may try some troubleshooting before telling passengers.

I can only think of one time when the pilots 'lied' to the passengers. It was extremely stormy and we were very close to landing when suddenly they gunned the engines and pulled up fast and furiously.  I knew in my heart they had a wind shear - but the pilot chose to say that there was a maintence truck stalled on the runway (yeah, sure).  After everyone was off the plane, he finally told us cabin crew the truth.   Other than that - any little secrets the pilots may have known, they kept to themselves.

But really, this small lie was the most sensible thing to do.  He had to announce some 'reason' for the missed approach,

and since we were going to circle around and land at the same airport, with roughly the same type of weather conditions, why terrify the passengers--- they would have probably thought that we were sure to encounter another shear on the next approach, even though it would have been exceedingly unlikely.

Answer 3

ya: low fuel light came on, engine 1 was 10% underpowered for an unknow reason, flaps got stuck, ice formation on the engine intake, the inhaling of a bird, hydralic faliure. all these on seperate trips. the ice and hydralic faliure were announced. the rest were only known by crew. there isnt any need to create fear in the cabin when it is a managable problem.

Answer 4

Yes.. an old college roommate of mine worked for a major US airlines.. She can tell you amazing stories...

all to landing on flat tires, to near misses over shooting the runway, to skimming cars underneath, to equipment failure, engine shutdowns.. loads of things.. they all have to smile and grin and bear it for us passengers...