Question about that one passenger who tried to help me troubleshoot...

I had a guy at the gate in Phoenix last month who wouldn't stop telling me how to fix the APU bleed leak I was working on. He kept saying he "used to work on planes back in the 80s" and that I was "overthinking it" by following the manual. I smiled and nodded for like 10 minutes while he pointed at a completely unrelated panel. Finally I just asked him if he knew what a pneumatic test bench was and he went quiet real fast. It stuck with me because I see this happen to other mechanics a lot too. Has anyone else had a know-it-all passenger try to walk you through a job right on the tarmac?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimdixon4d ago

Bet let that guy explain the whole bleed air system from scratch.

val9744d ago

Do you think passengers like that actually believe we're going to fall for their old job stories? The whole "I used to work on planes" thing is almost always a dead giveaway because anyone who really did would never give unsolicited advice on the tarmac, you know? I had a guy try to tell me the proper procedure for a hydro test once while I was just checking tire pressure, and he couldn't even say "hydraulic" right. It's like they read a Wikipedia page on the way to the airport and think that makes them an expert. The real test is if they can name the exact manual part number they're talking about - most of them freeze up at that point.

jennybailey4d ago

That part about them freezing up when you ask for the manual part number is so true lol. I've had a few of those guys and they always go quiet the second you ask for any specific technical detail beyond basic stuff. The real ones who actually worked on planes wouldn't be trying to impress a random mechanic on the tarmac in the first place.