Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers

BrianNC · April 7th, 2007, 14:22

• Passengers confront pilot who's "swearing up a storm" before takeoff
• Pilot became "obscene" and began cursing at passengers, witness says
• Airport officials, FAA consult with Northwest Airlines, which cancels flight
• 180 passengers on board Easter-weekend flight from Las Vegas to Detroit

(CNN) -- Northwest Airlines canceled a flight with 180 passengers aboard after the pilot began cursing at passengers while the plane was being prepared for takeoff in Las Vegas on Friday, airline officials and witnesses said.

The cancellation disrupted Easter travel plans for many of the passengers.

From the moment the captain stepped aboard Flight 1190 to Detroit, first-class passengers reported hearing him use "animated" language while talking on his cell phone, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor told CNN.

"He was having a fit, swearing up a storm," a passenger on the flight said. "He was saying 'F this' and 'F that.'"
When confronted about it by passengers, the pilot became "obscene" and began cursing at the customers, she said. "He made a big disturbance."

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and the local FAA flight standards office were notified, Gregor said. Police arrived on the scene, pulled the pilot aside and interviewed him.
He was not administered a field sobriety test. Gregor said he did not know the reasons behind that decision and CNN was unable to immediately contact the police officers involved.

The FAA officials called Northwest Airlines headquarters and were instructed by the chief pilot for the company to remove the pilot from the aircraft. The chief pilot also requested that the pilot be flown to Detroit for further questioning, Gregor said.

Northwest Airlines then canceled the flight, apologized for the delay and offered hotel accommodations and penalty-free re-booking on the next available flight out of Las Vegas, a spokesman for the airline said.

The airline said "a review of the matter" was being conducted and the decision to cancel the flight was made "due to reports of inappropriate language by a crew member."

Mike Fergus, an FAA spokesman, said the FAA's flight standards investigation unit was looking into the incident. According to Fergus, the FAA has the authority to send a "letter of admonition" to the pilot or, in the most extreme cases, revoke a pilot's FAA certificate, which would ground the pilot.

"I had to call and cancel two family dinners and we're stuck here an extra night," a passenger said. "We've been at the airport for six hours waiting -- it's chaos. It's Easter weekend...we want to be home."

H46Bubba · April 7th, 2007, 14:45

Must of had the last straw from crew sched!

SeanD · April 7th, 2007, 15:49

This was on the local news here in LAS yesterday. Is this something really necessary to cancel an entire flight? You would think the CA could have gotten on the PA and offered an apology to the pax then went on their way to DTW.

JEP · April 7th, 2007, 15:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanD

This was on the local news here in LAS yesterday. Is this something really necessary to cancel an entire flight? You would think the CA could have gotten on the PA and offered an apology to the pax then went on their way to DTW.

Bump that...There appears to be something wrong with the CA for whatever reason. I doubt I'd feel comfortable with the guy especially after the obvious problems he was having....

SeanD · April 7th, 2007, 15:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by JEP

Bump that...There appears to be something wrong with the CA for whatever reason. I doubt I'd feel comfortable with the guy especially after the obvious problems he was having....

Do you think it was the FOs call on this one to pull the flight all together?

Maximillian_Jenius · April 7th, 2007, 15:59

Sounds like NWA will be looking for a new pilot! Lol, but probably not, what with there extreme shortage!

H46Bubba · April 7th, 2007, 16:00

Only ops at NWA HQ can canx a flt. They didn't have another CA to take the flight and it would have taken to long to get another one out to LAS to take the flight to DTW.

JEP · April 7th, 2007, 16:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanD

Do you think it was the FOs call on this one to pull the flight all together?

Hmmmm? Interesting question. I would be worried about flying with someone like that in the cockpit. I wonder what his thoughts were?

Sprint100 · April 7th, 2007, 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by JEP

Bump that...There appears to be something wrong with the CA for whatever reason. I doubt I'd feel comfortable with the guy especially after the obvious problems he was having....

Maybe he banked with BofA and he found $200 dissappeared from his account while checking his balance

H46Bubba · April 7th, 2007, 16:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sprint100

Maybe he banked with BofA and he found $200 dissappeared from his account while checking his balance

Sounds like BofA!

SeanD · April 7th, 2007, 16:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sprint100

Maybe he banked with BofA and he found $200 dissappeared from his account while checking his balance

You know what I have gotten super irate with BofA and cursed at em and yelled. Its making me angry now thinking about them

ComplexHiAv8r · April 7th, 2007, 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeanD

You know what I have gotten super irate with BofA and cursed at em and yelled. Its making me angry now thinking about them

BoA is bad news! Company just pulled the aircraft loan from them for some BS related to it. Even in the payoff they lost the payment (wasnt wired, they wanted a check). Even with a signature, they said they didnt get it.

KLB · April 7th, 2007, 18:51

If you think that guy was cursing, you'd hate to have flown on JayAre's bird yesterday!

Reason #101 to fly freight.
Boxes don't get offended when you're mad and cursing up a storm.

jtrain609 · April 7th, 2007, 18:56

WTF happened to him this time?

And 101 is a reason to NOT fly freight

BrianNC · April 7th, 2007, 18:57

I just don't understand this. Unless a guy is just totally void of judgment, why would he be dropping F bombs in front of passengers and not caring at all? He has to be aware of what he is doing. Why wouldn't he give it a second thought?

Of course, they did not administer a sobriety test, so that may have something to do with it.

jtrain609 · April 7th, 2007, 19:05

After all the crap the NWA pilot group has been through, I think simply being employed would be a good enough reason to drop some F bombs.

And if you're a green tail guy it's even worse.

kellwolf · April 7th, 2007, 19:14

Coulda been scheduling, coulda been dispatch, coulda been the guy's wife calling to say she was leaving him for someone that's home every night (and makes more $$$). Who knows. Does the guy deserve to be fired? Probably not. Does the guy need to get some help, yep. Probably the type of medical help that's gonna cost him his job since it'll void his medical, though.

As for the FO making the call, I doubt it. More than likely they didn't have another CA to replace him since it was in LAS, and they just cancelled the flight. NWA has been cancelling flights due to lack of crews in HUBS (and I'm talking mainline here, PCL is a whole different animal). I doubt they'd think twice about nixing a flight away from a hub. Probably just DH'ed the FO and FAs home later that day or night and re-assigned them.

KLB · April 7th, 2007, 19:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtrain609

WTF happened to him this time?

And 101 is a reason to NOT fly freight

First he broke his plane. Then he borrowed and broke my plane and I flew back on a 99.

101 is not bad on Fridays. As a matter a fact, it gets back before 102 and 104.

kellwolf · April 7th, 2007, 19:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by KLB

First he broke his plane. Then he borrowed and broke my plane and I flew back on a 99.

101 is not bad on Fridays. As a matter a fact, it gets back before 102 and 104.

I find it humorous that "101" is the code for "the ride is broken" at Disney.

I_Money · April 7th, 2007, 19:34

If I flew for NWA - I would probably swear a lot too

kellwolf · April 7th, 2007, 20:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by I_Money

If I flew for NWA - I would probably swear a lot too

If you flew for anything with an NWA logo on it, that would be true.

Kristie · April 7th, 2007, 21:01

whatcha wanna bet it had something to do with crew scheduling....maybe not enough layover time, rerouted or who knows what.

kellwolf · April 7th, 2007, 22:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kristie

whatcha wanna bet it had something to do with crew scheduling....maybe not enough layover time, rerouted or who knows what.

I'm betting he was on the phone with SOMEONE from the company.

"Crew scheduling....can you hold please."
"No...I can't ho.... Dammit."
"Scheduling, this is Bob."
"Hey, this is Captain Miller on...."
"Employee number."
"What? Oh...Uh, N4617. Anyways..."
"Oh, we've got some notifications for you. You're extended tomorrow."
"Extended? WTF? I'm calling because I'm not even going to get enough rest TONIGHT!"
"I show you as getting 8 hours. You flew 6 and a half today, so it's reducable to 8."
"Actually, with the re-routes, ATC delays and storms we flew over 8 1/2, not counting this LAS-DTW I'm about to do."
"Well, you were SCHEDULED 6 1/2, so you're legal."
"I'm gonna call in fatigued tomorrow."
"OOOOH. Well, we'll have to give you a missed trip for that."
"WTH? Who the $&^@ do you think you are. Why don't YOU get up here and fly this (#@&# plane for 8 or 10 $*&^@ hours with a bunch of @#*&s that don't care if you've got 200 hours or 5000 as long as they get to $@^@ Detroit for less than a hundred #*^# dollars!"
"Sir, it's not necessary to...."
"You're (#&$#& right it's not necessary, but I'm $*&# gonna do it!"
FA: "Uh, Captain, you're scaring the passengers."
"Let THEM talk to scheduling. I QUIT!"

Cruise · April 8th, 2007, 00:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by kellwolf

I'm betting he was on the phone with SOMEONE from the company.

"Crew scheduling....can you hold please."
"No...I can't ho.... Dammit."
"Scheduling, this is Bob."
"Hey, this is Captain Miller on...."
"Employee number."
"What? Oh...Uh, N4617. Anyways..."
"Oh, we've got some notifications for you. You're extended tomorrow."
"Extended? WTF? I'm calling because I'm not even going to get enough rest TONIGHT!"
"I show you as getting 8 hours. You flew 6 and a half today, so it's reducable to 8."
"Actually, with the re-routes, ATC delays and storms we flew over 8 1/2, not counting this LAS-DTW I'm about to do."
"Well, you were SCHEDULED 6 1/2, so you're legal."
"I'm gonna call in fatigued tomorrow."
"OOOOH. Well, we'll have to give you a missed trip for that."
"WTH? Who the $&^@ do you think you are. Why don't YOU get up here and fly this (#@&# plane for 8 or 10 $*&^@ hours with a bunch of @#*&s that don't care if you've got 200 hours or 5000 as long as they get to $@^@ Detroit for less than a hundred #*^# dollars!"
"Sir, it's not necessary to...."
"You're (#&$#& right it's not necessary, but I'm $*&# gonna do it!"
FA: "Uh, Captain, you're scaring the passengers."
"Let THEM talk to scheduling. I QUIT!"

Funny stuff.....unfortunately, it's probably ALL TOO CLOSE to the way things really work over there. It's a sad state of affairs, indeed!

JayAre · April 8th, 2007, 00:59

Hey hold on was I really that pissed yesterday! I hate 6480Loser. Twice in one week.

KLB I just about got stuck in Hawthorne in your plane it also seems the left starter doesn't like me also.

WAIT I think I was taking BofA work its karma I tell you its karma. BofA screws you and in turn BofA gets screwed with me.

Is 101 the worst in the company

AMF is just preparing me for the SLC base runs by doing 101

April 7th, 2007, 14:45	#2
H46Bubba Old Skool Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: CVG Posts: 4,465	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers Must of had the last straw from crew sched!

April 7th, 2007, 15:49	#3
SeanD Old Skool Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: KLAS Posts: 3,759	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers This was on the local news here in LAS yesterday. Is this something really necessary to cancel an entire flight? You would think the CA could have gotten on the PA and offered an apology to the pax then went on their way to DTW. __________________

April 7th, 2007, 15:59	#6
Maximillian_Jenius Old Skool Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: KPHX, KFFZ, KIWA Posts: 19,231	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers Sounds like NWA will be looking for a new pilot! Lol, but probably not, what with there extreme shortage! __________________ Rear Admiral www.gayviator.com Maximillian Pegasus

April 7th, 2007, 16:00	#7
H46Bubba Old Skool Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: CVG Posts: 4,465	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers Only ops at NWA HQ can canx a flt. They didn't have another CA to take the flight and it would have taken to long to get another one out to LAS to take the flight to DTW.

April 7th, 2007, 18:51	#13
KLB Old Skool Join Date: May 2005 Location: DFW Posts: 3,005	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers If you think that guy was cursing, you'd hate to have flown on JayAre's bird yesterday! Reason #101 to fly freight. Boxes don't get offended when you're mad and cursing up a storm.

April 7th, 2007, 14:22	#1
BrianNC Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 817	Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers • Passengers confront pilot who's "swearing up a storm" before takeoff • Pilot became "obscene" and began cursing at passengers, witness says • Airport officials, FAA consult with Northwest Airlines, which cancels flight • 180 passengers on board Easter-weekend flight from Las Vegas to Detroit (CNN) -- Northwest Airlines canceled a flight with 180 passengers aboard after the pilot began cursing at passengers while the plane was being prepared for takeoff in Las Vegas on Friday, airline officials and witnesses said. The cancellation disrupted Easter travel plans for many of the passengers. From the moment the captain stepped aboard Flight 1190 to Detroit, first-class passengers reported hearing him use "animated" language while talking on his cell phone, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor told CNN. "He was having a fit, swearing up a storm," a passenger on the flight said. "He was saying 'F this' and 'F that.'" When confronted about it by passengers, the pilot became "obscene" and began cursing at the customers, she said. "He made a big disturbance." The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and the local FAA flight standards office were notified, Gregor said. Police arrived on the scene, pulled the pilot aside and interviewed him. He was not administered a field sobriety test. Gregor said he did not know the reasons behind that decision and CNN was unable to immediately contact the police officers involved. The FAA officials called Northwest Airlines headquarters and were instructed by the chief pilot for the company to remove the pilot from the aircraft. The chief pilot also requested that the pilot be flown to Detroit for further questioning, Gregor said. Northwest Airlines then canceled the flight, apologized for the delay and offered hotel accommodations and penalty-free re-booking on the next available flight out of Las Vegas, a spokesman for the airline said. The airline said "a review of the matter" was being conducted and the decision to cancel the flight was made "due to reports of inappropriate language by a crew member." Mike Fergus, an FAA spokesman, said the FAA's flight standards investigation unit was looking into the incident. According to Fergus, the FAA has the authority to send a "letter of admonition" to the pilot or, in the most extreme cases, revoke a pilot's FAA certificate, which would ground the pilot. "I had to call and cancel two family dinners and we're stuck here an extra night," a passenger said. "We've been at the airport for six hours waiting -- it's chaos. It's Easter weekend...we want to be home." __________________ BrianNC

April 7th, 2007, 18:56	#14
jtrain609 Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Park City, UT Posts: 12,869	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers WTF happened to him this time? And 101 is a reason to NOT fly freight __________________ "Jetlink 2940, on another radio, contact clearance for new airways..."

April 7th, 2007, 18:57	#15
BrianNC Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 817	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers I just don't understand this. Unless a guy is just totally void of judgment, why would he be dropping F bombs in front of passengers and not caring at all? He has to be aware of what he is doing. Why wouldn't he give it a second thought? Of course, they did not administer a sobriety test, so that may have something to do with it. __________________ BrianNC

April 7th, 2007, 19:05	#16
jtrain609 Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Park City, UT Posts: 12,869	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers After all the crap the NWA pilot group has been through, I think simply being employed would be a good enough reason to drop some F bombs. And if you're a green tail guy it's even worse. __________________ "Jetlink 2940, on another radio, contact clearance for new airways..."

April 7th, 2007, 19:14	#17
kellwolf Old Skool Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Memphis, TN Posts: 14,230	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers Coulda been scheduling, coulda been dispatch, coulda been the guy's wife calling to say she was leaving him for someone that's home every night (and makes more $$$). Who knows. Does the guy deserve to be fired? Probably not. Does the guy need to get some help, yep. Probably the type of medical help that's gonna cost him his job since it'll void his medical, though. As for the FO making the call, I doubt it. More than likely they didn't have another CA to replace him since it was in LAS, and they just cancelled the flight. NWA has been cancelling flights due to lack of crews in HUBS (and I'm talking mainline here, PCL is a whole different animal). I doubt they'd think twice about nixing a flight away from a hub. Probably just DH'ed the FO and FAs home later that day or night and re-assigned them. __________________ "I'm The Doctor, by the way. Run for your life!"

April 7th, 2007, 19:34	#20
I_Money Moderator Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Socal Posts: 5,691	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers If I flew for NWA - I would probably swear a lot too

April 7th, 2007, 21:01	#22
Kristie Big Chief's Woman Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Scottsdale, Arizona Posts: 19,291 Blog Entries: 3	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers whatcha wanna bet it had something to do with crew scheduling....maybe not enough layover time, rerouted or who knows what. __________________ Wife of a Delta B767 ER F/O jetgirls.net

April 8th, 2007, 00:59	#25
JayAre Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Multiple Posts: 1,043	Re: Flight canceled after pilot curses at passengers Hey hold on was I really that pissed yesterday! I hate 6480Loser. Twice in one week. KLB I just about got stuck in Hawthorne in your plane it also seems the left starter doesn't like me also. WAIT I think I was taking BofA work its karma I tell you its karma. BofA screws you and in turn BofA gets screwed with me. Is 101 the worst in the company AMF is just preparing me for the SLC base runs by doing 101 __________________ Im voting for "That one"

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode