American Airlines Pilot Cancels Plane to Hawaii (Twice!) and Passengers Applaud 

If the pilot says he doesn’t think it’s safe then IM OUT, no questions lol

Standing ovation for a pilot who wants to be 100% safe!!!!

The passenger who'd whine and throw a tantrum over this is the same one who'd have a panic attack at the first sign of turbulence.

As a Flight Attendant for Eastern, it happened to me once, when Lorenz was cutting way back on expenses. The captain who made the call to refuse the plane had to report to the Chief Pilots Office for a dressing down, and was suspended from work for two weeks. He told me later, he do it again rather than risking the lives of 250 people!! Makes me proud!

In my flight training I will always remember: It's better to be on the ground wishing you were flying then flying and wishing you were on the ground. Also there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots.

Captain did his job, but the passengers also reacted the right way. This is a great example of effective communication. Kudos to everyone.

Kudos to Captain, even as a ramp supervisor I can appreciate this call

This is a man of immense character and dignity.

As a captain myself who flew many ETOPS flights to Hawaii from the west coast and Alaska this captain did absolutely the right thing. I’m surprised that maintenance control didn’t ground the airplane themselves. When a crew does a ETOPS flight everything is supposed to be perfect and signed off by maintenance ops and 2 A&P mechanics. He deserved that applause. I’d fly with this guy anywhere and the passengers should feel very safe. Well done captain!

Southwest got a brand new plane. They had a VIP flight about to take off with the mayor of Dallas and the CEO of SW and at the Last minute the pilot canceled because of an “issue” A reporter on board asked the Southwest CEO. “Are u gonna tell the pilot to get this show on the road ?” The CEO said “we don’t question pilots when it comes to safety”

I rather be delayed and inconvenienced than perish in the Pacific Ocean!

Hello Johnny. With doors falling off, wheels falling off. I give this pilot high marks for what he did. I would like to see a follow up on this pilot. Thumbs up 👍

Good call by the Captain. In so many incident reports you read, the final outcome is “pilot error”. This Captain was doing his job properly. 200 +/- souls on board is not to be gambled with.

My flight instructor used to say “you’d rather be on the ground and wish you’re up in the air than the other way around”. Safety first!

PIC. Pilot in command. Pilot’s word is the last word. That’s how I was trained. That’s how every pilot is trained.

Captain wasn't feeling like starring in the next episode of Mayday Air Disaster

I want that type of pilot to fly my plane 🙏🏽

What an awesome Pilot,thinking of passengers first.and safety, bravo Sir❤

I think you can hear in his voice that he really cares about his job and about his passengers, and refuses to cut corners. Very refreshing compared to so many people doing their jobs just to get it over with.

Whoever said the plane was good to fly is not in that plane. Good decision, captain

The Captain did the right thing. He knows it's better to be judged by 12 rather than carried by 6.

6 hrs over water? I'd be begging not to go.

I can imagine the pressure on pilots to get flying and keep money coming in. So fair play to this guy for not wanting to risk his life and the lives of hundreds of passengers!

Congratulations to this Captain. Well done and glad they applauded him and all the crew.

Excellent call. I appreciate the applause from the passengers, as well.

Fantastic pilot! Congratulations! AA can be proud of him making a difference. Also, we the passengers, don't like being lied to. Great job delivering the truth!

My family and I were also on this flight. 6 hour delay in total. I personally thanked the captain as we deplaned…. Not cool for American to release a plane with potential mechanical issues. Especially considering our overwater route.

An old pilot once told me, "It is better to be safely on the ground and wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were safely on the ground". Good call Captain.

I was waiting to board a plane in SC when the pilot was outside of plane smelling a oil leak. Turns out it was hydrologic fluid. He cane back and told us he was approved to fly ..he told us we will be waiting for another plane . I was so proud of him , thankful to live in America 🇺🇲🇺🇲❤️🇺🇲🇺🇲

better safe than having to ditch in the water halfway between hawaii and the west coast of the US

Now there's a great pilot!! 👍🏻 🙌

This is the guy you want in the front of the airplane!

GREAT JOB, CAPTAIN!! ❤❤❤

You can always plan another vacation, you can’t get back your life

For all they know, this pilot saved their lives ❤

As a EMT person once said: "Its better to be 5 minutes late, then dead on arrival"

As an AF tech, I once grounded a B52 because a silly little hydraulic O-ring was leaking on the taxi way. The colonel (pilot) was furious.

Captain you exercised outstanding judgement so you did not have to demonstrate outstanding flying skills. I applaud you. I have faced similar issues and I know your caution got you a trip to the Chief Pilots office because your are not real high on managements likeability list. You rock my man and Id fly with you any day...

As a retired FAA Aircraft Dispatcher and part of your license is being responsible for the flights dispatched, I'm with Captain because his butt is strapped to the aircraft and he has the final say. I'm 100% sure he talked to the Dispatcher as is protocol before making the decision.

Johnny better than Alaska who ignored warnings about losing cabin pressure and still kept the plane flying. I would rather be delayed than take my chances on a plane that have issues. I used to be a jet mechanic myself.

I applaud this pilot. A mature and true leader who is not afraid to make the tough calls. If the pilot makes this call then I am heading for the exit and calling it a day

Its better to be safe than sorry and respect to the guy that said “alright” and the other passengers who understood the possibilities of death in a plane

In 2000 I was sitting in a plane on the ground in Glasgow bound for Toronto. We were there for over 90 minutes before the captain announced the flight was cancelled due to a fault with - IIRC - the autopilot. Most people were shouting, angry, swearing etc. We decided to just go to the hotel (which the airline paid for) , chill and got drunk. We lost one day of our trip, got a free stay in a hotel and compensation but more importantly we got there safely because the captain knows more about flying planes than me and the people complaining. My full trust was in him the next day when we eventually took off

Dear captain ,Thank you for your honesty,and Bravo for your actions saving a lot of heartache !

Tough call but safety over inconvenience! AA has taken enough lives over the years with negligence and pilot error and this amazing pilot simply won’t allow it ! I have great respect for him! The info on AA’s negligence on human life is out there, do your research you will be astounded!

Good call!

20 years in Army Aviation, I can relate to this 100%. Did many test flights and had to make these calls as a quality control inspector. Good for him.

This happened to us last year. The airline had us flying into a storm. The pilot said he would not do it so they said that he could fly south over the water. He had no training in that and declined. They brought in a crew that could fly over water. Maybe an hour delay but I was very happy that pilot made that call

Enormous amount of pressure on pilots by having 100+ people staring at you trying to get to where you want to go.. for you to tell them that you don't feel comfortable with the aircraft and you're not gonna fly it. Kudos to the crew for not succumbing to that hazard.

Good job pilot, better safe than sorry. Bring all of those precious lives home safely.

I used to fly 100-200 times a year. I had a flight once where during the landing the pilot aborted 10 feet from the ground and went into a steep climb. He came on the PA and announced that he's been a pilot for 35 years and something didn't feel right. He had never done that before. I'm good with that decision.

It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground.

All the asssurances and thumbs up from maintenance control mean nothing as you're going down into the ocean.... Pilot absolutely made the right call.

Respect to this Pilot. Safety first.

He calmly told them exactly what was going on, including details that only some of them are going to understand, and made it 100% clear that it wasn't safe. This is how you deliver news of uncertainty.

I would never get angry or question a Pilot that said he is refusing an air craft due to him not feeling 100% safe due to mechanical situations, I appreciate the honesty!

good job captain safety never takes a day off

As a pilot myself, that is exactly what we are trained to do, make the decisions that save lives, good job 🥇

As soon as he said, "issue over the ocean" I'd be out too. Fair play sir. I'm not trying to meet Ariel.

My wife got me on a plane for the first time a few years ago. We flew from Washington to Florida, 4 planes total and I hated it. I hope she never does that again.

Five hours to hawaii and no TVs in the seats? What’s the world coming to ?

Hear me out, yes, I would be absolutely pissed, but in the same breath the safety of my life trumps anything, and I commend this pilot for doing his job. Well done sir🙏🏼👏🏼

I absolutely love the fact that a captain would make this call. These passengers are in good hands.

Amen!! Thank you - great example of doing what is right and doing the right thing!

I don’t think this should have been a hard decision at all. Something is wrong with the plane, you don’t leave. Why would that be a hard decision to make

Pull out the 77W or 32B!! Why does AA fly ghetto 321s to Hawaii from LA gets me. That is definitely a premium route!

You might never know. But this pilot might have saved all these people's lives.

We had this issue when I was taking off from London Heathrow heading to Atlanta, GA last month. Weather had been atrocious with high winds, causing delays while we were on the taxiway, but as we reached the #1 position and were spooling up to take off, a plane behind us said they thought they'd seen a tarp get sucked into our left engine. The readings on the engine were fine, but our pilot decided to take it back to maintenance for inspection. We spent another 2 hours with technicians looking through the engine and doing tests, so when we finally took off we were 5 hours behind schedule. We landed around midnight in Georgia so we all missed our connecting flights, but I didn't mind. I'll always prefer safety over expedience when it comes to flying. Thanks, Delta!

How was this twice

Some of us would rather be delayed than die. Thank you for having the backbone and courage to do the right thing as a pilot regardless of people or your bosses being pissed.

an incredibly difficult action to take as a leader, but an absolutely necessary one. truly inspiring.

What a great pilot. Having traveled from Frankfurt to New York on a plane that was less that what a lot of us thought was 100% airworthy I applaud and appreciate his caution!

this happened to me a couple of months ago , I shook the pilots had and said thank you

Like 2 people clapped... were we all watching the same video? 😂

People need to appreciate the amount of balls it took for the pilot to do that. He could very well be putting his career at risk. 👏🏼

2 passengers aplaud, 'and Passengers Applaud'

This is a very responsible pilot, good on him, and good on the passengers for not acting like Karens.

Very good people handling skills

My flight was once cancelled because the landing gear was malfunctioning when they were testing it before take off… I was very relieved to know the danger had been spotted and I was extremely thankful to have a pilot who cared about my safety & well being… Any passengers who overly complain about these kinds of matters are ungrateful short sighted idiots.

My pilot cancels, I am saying thank you. He probably saved their lives

Did he say they said the plane was ok?? They just wanted him up in the air to keep things moving. Thank God he did HIS job in keeping those people safe!

As someone who flies quite often, I would thank this man as I was stepping off. I always want my pilots to err on the side of caution.

Great pilot! Do what you know is right and don’t let anyone pressure to do otherwise! Bravo!👏

Hawaiian islands are very isolated, nothing but sea for a very long time. This pilot is a sane man who values his life and the life of everyone on that plane.

With great power, comes great responsibility...

In one of my flights from Netherlands to Serbia (2,30h flight), right on the border or NL and Germany captain spoke, explaining that we need to turn back due to issues with some oil system and that they've decided it is best not to risk it. He was so confident and reasured people that everything will be ok. When we landed he said he will walk down the isle and answer any questions while we wait for the maintenance crew to finish. Since that day, KLM became my favorite operator. ♥ The only thing I regret not doing is troll my mom (who was already asleep and missed all of that) that we have arrived in Serbia. 🤣😂

Yeah that must suck for those people but wow this pilot deserves much love and repsect!

He’s got my respect. While never being a pilot, I’ve driven semis and charter buses and been told the same thing. Oh, it will be alright and we will get it fixed later. But before their later came, an alternative later came and I ended up either sitting in a parking lot or the side of the road waiting for help. 30,000 feet or so in the air, pretty sure there isn’t going to be a place to pull over. Nothing in Hawaii I need to see that bad anyway.

I wish and hope and pray every pilot would be just as cautious and smart as this man. Thankfully we will never know what may have happened!

honesty, treating people like adults

If I were on that plane, I would hug that pilot for caring for the passengers safety ❤️

With what little and limited information we have about this.... it seems like this guy made a great call.

I was on a flight when they announced, "We have an equipment problem." They never explained what it was, but we got another plane just a few hours later.

Captain is responsible for all lives. He made a proper call.

What a hero, thats why you need these professionals up front

Hey man, I'd much rather you tell me that you're canceling my flight than tell me to assume the crash position!!

"The superior pilot uses his superior judgement to avoid the necessity of using his superior skills."

It takes sense of responsibility and courage to do that. Kudos!

I love how no one complained! Good job, everyone!!

This shows strength of character, a rarity in most professionals these days ❤ ✈️