Ask Captain Lim ~ All about Aviation

Hi Captain Lim,

Thanks!! You make me really feel comfortable with taking a flight in January. And I seriously appreciate your answers.

I just have one other issue, which would like to discuss. The question I have is with pilots* responsibility to decide to fly or not to fly. His or her decision or authority is final. And that*s obviously the way it should be: if the pilot is not comfortable with maintenance logs, weather conditions, or anything, then the flight should be redirected to another airport or even cancelled prior to departure.

However, is this ever really done? I mean in the "real world" of flight, beyond the regulations and laws, where it says they can do this?do pilots exercise that power?

There are many more car crashes (in number and in rate), some of which are caused by poor maintenance or equipment (brake failures, poor tire pressure). Technically, the driver of a car is responsible for the car, passengers, and others, in much the same way as a pilot. Unfortunately, "road warriors" seem to skirt the responsibility, at times, to protect themselves, passengers, and other motorists and may drive anything, even if it barely runs.

On the other hand, I realize a pilot is a professional and takes the job seriously; I'm just wondering if they (or even you, but you don't have to mention it, if you don't want to) actually say: "I won't be flying this plane, get me another, please."

Besides that, truthfully, I am torn. I love the idea of planes, the technology, like GPS, and it does get me really excited, in a good way. I like reading about new jets. The 717 and 787 seem really, nice. Maybe if I win the lottery I*ll buy one and you can fly me around! I am going to have to visit your home page much more!

Have a great weekend!

Arman

Hi Arman,

The captain is the overall commander of the flight. Therefore, he is also responsible for its safety. He is paid to make decisions just like a CEO of a corporation. For example, if he thinks the parking slot is too tight, he should ask for a tow truck to maneuver the plane into the parking bay safely. If he decides to take the risk despite his uncomfortable judgment, he cannot blame the marshaller (who tries his best) on the ground if the wings of his plane smashed into another one!

Similarly, if the captain thinks it is unsafe to fly a plane, he has the right to refuse it. But, he has to make sure that he has a better reason to do so because all planes are certified by the company*s maintenance engineer to be fully "flyable" when it is released for service. In the real world, it has happened in many airlines.

Have I cancelled a flight based on safety reasons? If you have followed one of my previous article, I just did that and postponed a flight for 24 hours (yes, it was costly!) during an impending typhoon (hurricane) when the ground traffic persuaded me to leave. His argument - why another similar plane that was parked beside us could take off whereas I could not? I told him it was my responsibility that I do not put the plane into danger as the crosswind had exceeded the limitation. Further, the air traffic controller did advice planes against taking off. (Note: Unless the airfield was officially closed, the captain could elect to take off at his discretion). Yes, I did not take the risk! Sure enough, as I was explaining my refusal to proceed, two other planes - a United Airlines Boeing 747-400 and a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 meekly aborted their departures and requested to return to the terminal.

What was interesting was a comment related to me. One passenger in my flight praised the other Boeing 777 captain for being such a capable and skillful pilot to have taken off in such a condition and I wasn*t so (a chicken?). I had a good laugh (quietly) because it was not a question of skill but rather one of safety.

So, as you can see, it is the captain who makes the ultimate decision to go or not to go!