Face. Palm.
Dad jokes...there's always a time and a place.
And that place is definitely NOT the cockpit of an airplane about to take off.
A story has emerged about a reasonably harmless dad joke that sent a flight into meltdown mode.
The story came to light during a recent discussion on Quora prompted by the question, “What should you never say to an airline pilot?”
Former international flight attendant David Roan, who worked at major American carrier Continental Airlines before it merged with United Airlines, relayed a story about a boy and his father who were allowed to pop into the cockpit while the flight was boarding.
“The kid was awe-struck and was asking questions to the pilots,” Mr Roan said.
“The dad, jokingly, asked, ‘None of you guys have been drinking, right?’”
To say the joke went down like a led balloon is an understatement... As the pilots went into damage control to clear any suggestion they had been drinking before the flight.
“What this father failed to understand is that pilots take those jokes very very seriously,” Mr Roan explained.
“The captain immediately asked the kid and his father to take their seats and once they were gone he called his chief pilot and demanded an on-the-spot alcohol test for himself and his co-pilot to clear them to fly.
“Even though it was only a joke it was picked up by the recording devices in the cockpit and if something serious had happened (like an evacuation or a crash) that conversation would have been heard by investigators, possibly setting up the airline, and even the pilots themselves, to be sued into oblivion.”
Mr Roan said the flight ended up being delayed by 45 minutes while the airline waited to find an available person to do the requested blood and alcohol testing of the pilots.
“To recap, no matter how funny you think you are DO NOT JOKE about pilots drinking before a flight,” he said.
Dads, take note! No jokes in the cockpit, alright?
