(Siddharth Patankar is Editor - Auto, NDTV Group and Head of Automobile Programming NDTV Limited)
I am not a nervous flier. For me, boarding a flight is routine. But yes, given everything that has happened in aviation over the past year or so, there's that little niggling doubt that has started to creep in. This has been exacerbated by the Germanwings crash last week. As if bad weather, terrorism, aircraft malfunction and pilot error were not bad enough, now we have to worry about mentally disturbed pilots too?
I boarded a Lufthansa plane (LH 761) for Frankfurt from New Delhi on Monday this week, and just before take-off, realised the passenger next to me was reading an article in Der Spiegel about the Germanwings crash. I struck up a conversation and he said that given how pragmatic Germans are, the debate in his country has quickly shifted from shock and grief to how such events can be avoided in the future. The article was in German, so he translated some bits and told me there is now talk about looking at technologies that include pilot-less planes (after all, most aircraft spend a large part of any flight on auto-pilot), and some form of override by authorities on the ground.
The larger point for me though was just how passengers seemed to be reacting to it all. Once I landed in Frankfurt, I spoke with some passengers of Indian-origin based in Germany, who I met in the airport lounge. They seemed completely indifferent to the crash, and what it represented to passengers - which was reassuring. Some locals joined that conversation too as they overheard us - and again most passengers seemed to have a "let's just get on with it" attitude, which I was quite happy to see.
Yet, when I boarded another Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to JFK, New York, I was surprised by the plane's captain. We were flying in one of Lufthansa's 13 wide-body A380-800 aircrafts - aptly named New York! (Lufthansa names its planes after cities and provinces in Germany - and the A380 fleet is named after the cities that serve as hubs to the Star Alliance network) As usual, after we boarded, the pilot of the plane came on for the customary greeting - first, in German.
As I waited with limited interest for him to get done so I could check out the movie listings, I realised the customary announcement was running much longer than usual. I heard a few words like sicherheit (German for safety) a few too many times, and now I was interested in what he was saying. By the time he was done, and ready for the English translation, I observed that most other passengers in what was a seemingly packed cabin had stopped what they were doing and were listening intently. The iPod headphones were off, the conversations were on hold, and the newspapers/books/magazines were resting on laps and tray tables.
The commander of our A380 basically had this to say - "We have had to deal with some terrible news last week due to some unfortunate occurrences. I want to assure you this aircraft and its crew are fit and ready for a safe and event-free flight. Please be assured of your safety on board this Airbus 380 aircraft from Lufthansa. And that all of us on the crew are only thinking in the interest of your safety." Read that as a courtesy from the pilot to acknowledge the Germanwings crash, an official diktat from the company, or simply a caring individual who wanted to allay fears.
What I found particularly interesting was his stress on the caliber of the flight crew. He wanted us to know they were "fit", implying that they were so mentally too. For me, the intention seemed noble enough and I appreciated his comments. It created a murmur of conversations all around - and the ones I could understand bits of were varied - with one French lady telling her partner, "Great, now all I am thinking of is the Germanwings crash." So was the pilot's talk necessary? Many would argue it wasn't. But as a passenger first, and as a reporter, second - I thought it was the right thing to do.
The Germanwings crash has brought a whole new problem to the fore - crazy pilots who could crash a plane deliberately. And sure, people have short memories, and soon such announcements will not be needed. But to have thought of it - either as at a company level by Lufthansa - or by our individual pilot - was indeed reassuring to me. As a passenger who flies frequently - I do want to know that the plane I am in is in good shape - and yes, now I want to be reassured that those in command of it are also well-rested, alert and mentally stable. Needless to say, we flew without incident (barring some rough turbulence over Greenland), and landed safe and sound at JFK!
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