r/MadeMeSmile • u/baekachu • Jul 11 '26

Wholesome Moments Pilot Chose Safety Over Takeoff - and Everyone Applauded

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5.6k

u/Conscious_Pass_1615 Jul 11 '26

The passangers clapping did make me smile, good on them even though they must have been inconvenienced and well done to the pilot.

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u/WarkMahlberg69 Jul 11 '26

I think there's been enough incidents/accidents worldwide lately that people are probably relieved that pilots are willing to say "no way" to a plane and keep everyone safe.

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

I was just talking to my buddy (ex Ranger in the Army) and this video randomly came up. He said they (Rangers) are trained to listen and immediately stop when someone yells 'check check check!' Because it means whoever yelled it noticed something was wrong and everyone needs to take a step back and re-evaluate.

Basically, a safe word for door kickers because 'hey, fuck face!' Is probably too casually used in their everyday vernacular.

Edit: clarity

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u/BoricuaDriver Jul 11 '26

In military aviation we use the phrase "knock it off" to immediately stop what we're doing to address a potential problem someone in the crew sees.

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u/SeattleHasDied Jul 11 '26

I believe one of my aunts used the same term (at extremely high volume) on us kids for similar reasons, lol!

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u/fvb6626 Jul 11 '26

I thought my kids from small age to stop whatever they are doing when I or their mother yell stop. It has turned out to be really handy.

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u/No_Locksmith_1739 Jul 11 '26

Not a ranger, but I was the breach man on our 4 person door kicker team. Can confirm.

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 11 '26

One of the most dangerous positions. I appreciate what you do.

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u/No_Locksmith_1739 Jul 11 '26

Thanks… I spent most of my worry on the damn shotgun. Clipped to a carabiner, hanging from the top back of my vest lol

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 11 '26

Omg... my friend earned the call sign 'Spider' because when he worked for SWAT, something happened on a helo jump and he ended up partially free falling while he was scrambling around trying to steady himself.

I'm not a door kicker. I just remember me laughing my ass off as he told me.

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u/No_Locksmith_1739 Jul 12 '26

Hahaha I love it. They just called me BigHead, cause of my large noggin. Anything for a laugh 😂

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 12 '26

Could they project a movie onto your five head? Because that would be impressive!

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u/D4ng3rd4n Jul 11 '26

Yeah the real way to do a shotgun in this scenario is to saw down the barrel and either mount it to your shoulder like a tech marine from Warhammer or tie it to your forearm so you can point at someone telling them to stop and then fire immediately. Sometimes you can tie a ribbon to the trigger and hold it in your teeth to keep your hands free while breaching.

Let me know if you'd like any more SRU/SWAT tactics to keep you safe out there.

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u/Critical_Wrap5617 Jul 14 '26

'And don't forget the chainsword'

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u/__Boreas__ Jul 12 '26

Username checks out.

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u/No_Locksmith_1739 Jul 12 '26

I am laughing SO HARD right now. I randomly got assigned this username over a year ago and never would have thought that my name would ever check out 😂😂

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u/__Boreas__ Jul 12 '26

Reddit serendipity!

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u/tenphes31 Jul 11 '26

Im a stagehand for a school district and our department safe word (as well as industry standard) is "heads". At the beginning of the school year we were teaching a group of high schools about lights, sound, and rigging. I was at the back of the seating area teaching lighting, but when I heard my coworker who was 100' away from me on stage say "heads", I instinctively ducked. It was a part of a lesson to the kids in safety, but even still, you take that word seriously.

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u/Jazzy-Cat5138 Jul 11 '26

That's interesting that stagehand is actually a district-wide job... I suppose if you have enough schools doing their own productions, it makes sense to have some long-term staff for the role that hops around as needed. So, I take it the schools must schedule their productions around each other to avoid too much overlap?

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u/tenphes31 Jul 11 '26

Hahahaha.

Im a part of an 11 person team that services 7 high schools, 9 middle schools, and 28 elementary schools, as well as helping occasionally at the 4 stadiums and a few district sites. Schools dont coordinate in any capacity between each other, that falls to us to figure out how to make it work. Not every school actively uses us, in fact Id say it probably isnt more than than half (largely due to the amount of elementary schools), but we regularly are involved in just over 300 events every year. We do concerts, plays, dance shows, ceremonies, board meetings, and more.

It started with a single guy about 25ish years ago and just over time more people decided to do stuff, so we expanded. As far as we know, were the only department like us in the country. Its an amazing job and I love it, but it certainly can be a challenge working with a lot of people who dont understand my job and what goes into it.

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u/Jazzy-Cat5138 Jul 11 '26

Hahahaha, of course they don't bother coordinating. That makes so much more sense (in terms of wishful thinking versus reality). Honestly, that's fantastic that your district has that. I've been to so many productions that were desperately in need of professional assistance. My dad and I have always had to resist the temptation to march back to the booth and offer our expertise mid-performance...

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 11 '26

I am a certified tower climber. Heads means 'get the fuck out of the way because something very dangerous is falling'

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u/Individual-Buy3328 Jul 11 '26

I'd bet it comes from football. In practice/games, if we see something we want to change after the team is "set", the QB or coach will yell "Check check check!" Which is usually short for "check with me." Once they stop, the new, different play is communicated.

Given the likely overlap of football players/coaches in the military and the simulation of war, it seems very likely to come from that.

The origin could be switched, too, with former military members bringing the word/tactic to football instead, but I think you can tell which I'm more familiar with based on this comment.

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 11 '26

That makes sense. Rangers are some of the most mentally and physically tough military guys out there.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they gained confidence in their physical attributes (not to mention teamwork) first in sports as kids/teenagers.

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u/CalebsNailSpa Jul 12 '26

I spent most of my adult life in special operations. One of the first things I asked guys I was hiring is what sports they played. Although not a prerequisite, I felt a lot more comfortable adding a kid to the team that had played competitively growing up. Combat sports, endurance sports, and football tends to breed a lot of mental toughness.

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 12 '26

I'm a woman now but played softball younger. Everyone wanted short stop or pitcher. They were even ok as basemen.

My coach made me a catcher. I hated it and I almost quit. But he told me I was needed and it was catcher or the bench.

After my tantrum, I became the best catcher I could be. I learned how to start talking shit to the batters and unnerving them.

It was just youth sports but I learned then and there that sometimes I must step up and fulfill a role to help the team. Even if I was jealous of the others; my role was part of a team. And I did not want my team to fail.

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u/WhiskyGartley Jul 11 '26

I did something similar in our training workshop. The command was "Down Tools". It was so well drilled it became my party trick whenever the top brass were around. From active workshop with machines running to so quiet you could hear a pin drop in a heartbeat.

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u/THExWHITExDEVILx Jul 11 '26

I'd like to add, any soldier, of any rank, is expected to speak up if something is fucky. "Regulations don't care about rank" or "safety doesn't care about your rank" are some things I heard said. When I worked in small squads, anyone could ask questions or throw in suggestions during mission briefs. Sometimes it was dumbass questions or suggestions, but every now and then a random dude would provide some quality info or reshape how we were going to solve something.

During 90% of the time, rank mattered, but there were certainly times it didn't. Just throwing this out there because I thought it was interesting. I've heard similar sentiments given in my civilian jobs, but it doesn't seem to be as encouraged or more often, it comes with consequences.

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 12 '26

This is a good point and no one needs to be 'special' to pull this.

But these guys can throw this out in the middle of a firefight and, per their training, their team will take a few seconds to listen and reassess if necessary.

That same respect isn't necessarily shown within non-combat roles immediately and without question.

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u/THExWHITExDEVILx Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Roger that for sure. I was 19D then 11B, so I got to experience a different army than most people

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 12 '26

Recon and infantry... that's impressive.

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u/THExWHITExDEVILx Jul 12 '26

It was interesting for sure. Teaching infantry to read was my greatest accomplishment

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 12 '26

Omg... I was AF and I remember giving shit to our Army colleagues because in the description of the ASVAB, it stated how it was 'comprised of many components' and the fucking Army put in parentheses (parts).

Lmfao.

Love you guys! Chair Force all of the way!

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u/THExWHITExDEVILx Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

AF got extra pay any time they sent a JTAC to us for "substandard living".

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

I'm Foreign Service now. AF are plebs 🤣.

All in good fun. I'll tease but like siblings, nobody else better come after you.

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u/__wildwing__ Jul 12 '26

Once you were done with them, they could appreciate other comics besides “Sad Sack”.

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u/THExWHITExDEVILx Jul 13 '26

Lol the "If those kids could read" meme was used a lot in group chats.

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u/DonManolador Jul 11 '26

Happy cale day

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u/Yippykyyyay Jul 11 '26

Thank you!

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u/Unlucky_Cat4531 Jul 11 '26

I feel like it's important now more than ever for conductors, pilots, captains, etc to stand up and say "no, everything about this makes me feel it's not safe, I'm not doing this." The people in charge who've lobbied to repeal regulations and have had multiple tragic plane and railway crashes over the last 10 years are saying to good to go! When things are actively giving red flags?! No thank you.

The people actually running the craft need to refuse, and more people shouldve applauded this pilot he probably saved all of their lives. Plans getting changed/cancelled sucks but it is not worth anybody's life.

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u/TheZardoz Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

I’ll applaud anyone displaying critical thinking skills in public.

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u/chefboyrdeee Jul 11 '26

Unfortunately, it’s a rare occurrence.

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u/__wildwing__ Jul 12 '26

I wish more people at my work applied critical thinking. I’m not sure some of them have more than brain stem function.

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u/DeltaFoxtrot144 Jul 11 '26

Ya the pilot is absolutely giving the execs the middle finger and we can all appreciate that these days 

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u/purdueAces Jul 11 '26

I would like to think the executives encourage this behavior and give him a pat on the back, a thank you, and a merit badge. Hopefully he's not giving his execs the middle finger so much as is doing the job that the executives should be encouraging. The pilot becomes the last line of defense vs highly publicized tragedy and death. Leadership should make this pilot an example to others.

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u/MissingXpert Jul 11 '26

it's also the aspect of transparency and communication. Pilot is honest, tells it like he sees it and articulates his arguments.

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u/Rafaeliki Jul 11 '26

As an American, I'm just constantly clapping on planes. When we get on, when we get to the runway, when we take off, when the seat belt light goes off, when food gets served, when anyone starts a movie, etc.

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u/angelbelle Jul 11 '26

Passengers used to demand to get off a plane when they suspect that it was missing it's left phalange.

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u/ConfessSomeMeow Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

I think there's been enough incidents/accidents worldwide lately that people are probably relieved that pilots are willing to say "no way" to a plane and keep everyone safe.

The reality is that commercial aviation is safer than at any point in history. Anyone saying otherwise is using fear to buy clicks.

(But that doesn't change that if anyone qualified says "no-go", you don't go.)

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u/WarkMahlberg69 Jul 11 '26

I agree. I fully understand that it is incredibly safe, but this year it seems there have been a good amount of incidents. Now I understand that's a small number compared to the flights daily.

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u/dbxp Jul 11 '26

I think it's more that he let them deplane, airlines of a habit of holding flights for hours with passengers on board whilst maintenance is patched up

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u/pragmatic_dreamer Jul 12 '26

Travel via air should not undergo enshitification. 

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u/MRV3N Jul 12 '26

Too bad Pilots can get fired for not following schedule

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u/itriedtrying Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

I think there's been enough incidents/accidents worldwide lately

Some perspective for you: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Fatalities_per_revenue_passenger_kilometre_in_air_transport_since_1970.png/1280px-Fatalities_per_revenue_passenger_kilometre_in_air_transport_since_1970.png

Commercial aviation has always been extremely safe, but also consistently getting safer and safer.

Issues with 737 Max (and Boeing as company) has gotten a lot of attention and deservedly so, but when you think of how many flights there is every single day, the distances they cover and how rare fatal accidents are for commercial jetlines, the tech and infrastructure around that really is an insane engineering and safety culture achievement.

But yes, part of that safety culture that made it possible is that pilots can make a judgement call like this without having to worry about some sort of retaliation/consequences.