PILOT CANCELS FLIGHT, WAS “NOT REALLY FEELING IT”

This happened on a recent American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii: everyone was boarded at 8:45 am when the pilot announced there was an issue with a leaky faucet in the galley. Mechanics boarded and worked on it for almost an hour. The flight crew weren’t too happy because they said the plane had been in the hangar all night, so everything should have been working. The passengers were deplaned. A new plane was located a couple hours later. The plane pushed back from the gate just before noon, but after a few minutes, the captain announced there was a minor issue with oil pressure on engine number two “trending upwards.” The captain said, “They’ve told us that the plane is good to go, but I’m not really feeling it. I’m not going to leave the ground if I’m not completely certain that we have an airworthy aircraft. So, I’m going to probably err on the side of caution, and I’m refusing the aircraft.” He added, “I feel a lot more comfortable making this call than flying six hours over the water and maybe having an issue.” Despite the hassle, the passengers applauded.
* And those were just the problems with the plane he admitted to.
* The first plane had a leaky faucet. The second one, an engine oil pressure issue. The third one would have had a missing wing.
* Of course the pilot was more comfortable. He just hops in a cab and goes back to bed. Meanwhile, the passengers just lost a day out of their Hawaii trip.
* I bet the real reason was the captain also had a Number 2 “trending upward.”
* Back in the terminal, he refused three burritos from Chipotle because he wasn’t feeling those, either.