Smoke in the Engines
November 6, 2009
Smoke in the Engines
We tend to take things at face value once they become commonplace. Flying, for example. In the early days of commercial aviation, people used to dress up in suits and ties (and proper dresses for the ladies) whenever they flew. It was a special occasion worthy of pomp and circumstance. Of course I remember my grandfather always wearing a suit and tie whenever he even stepped foot outside – things were different back then, I guess.
But as air travel has become a fairly nomal activity, we really don’t pay attention any more. We expect that the plane will leave more or less on time, that any mechanical issues will be safely resolved, and that we’ll arrive at our destination, the recent incident on Northwest Airlines notwithstanding. (In case you missed that one, pilots were somehow preoccupied in the cockpit, ignored communications from Air Traffic Control, and flew 150 miles past the destination airport).
And with that story fresh in my mind this morning, I find myself on Flight 1629. My original flight had been canceled because one of the navigation consoles was not responding. Okay, no problem – please take your time and fix that one completely!
The gate agent was very helpful and rebooked both of my flights for me, even managing to get me upgraded in the process. So there we were, pushed back from the gate, waiting for clearance to leave, when the captain came on the intercom:
“Greetings from the cockpit! We’re getting ready to head for the runway, and I just wanted to let you know that the smoke coming from both the engines is perfectly normal.”
Hello? Come again? Smoke from the engines?
He then went on to explain that because of the temperature outside and the fact that the wind was blowing towards the front of the plane, this was perfectly normal. Of course, this got me thinking about an important lesson in communication.
Sometimes “need-to-know” is the way to go. I was perfectly fine, sitting in my seat waiting to depart without a care in the world, until the captain told us about “smoke from the engines.” I wasn’t even aware that there was a problem. And then that problem turned out not to even be a problem!
It’s good to communicate with your customers, clients, and members; just make sure what you’re telling them is important, relevant, and helpful.
Comments
Got something to say?
