Just by looking at a picture of the Embraer 175 it appears that where the small set of "wings" that connect to the tail (I have no idea what they are called) seems to be slightly indented which if you don't know what it's supposed to look like or don't fly often might look a little it is dented/crushed in etc.
I don't think anyone is actually worried about the supposed dent, and I get that that part of the story is besides the point. but the way that was handled was awful.
I'm no aviation expert by any stretch, but I've been watching a lot of Mentour Pilot crash videos on Youtube, and a couple of themes have come through related to this:
- Many people have a strong fear of flying, and many pilots have a strong desire to dispel such fears and make passengers as comfortable as possible.
- Many tragic results from airplane malfunctions have been prevented or could have been prevented thanks to warnings from passengers and cabin crew about things they had noticed.
This flight crew had a clearly anxious passenger. The passenger should absolutely feel comfortable letting the crew know about a concern. It can save lives. And in a case were it isn't actually a problem (like this seems to be), they have the opportunity to calm and reassure the passenger. And I'd wager had it been any other passenger, that's what would have happened. But as the pilot was clearly prejudiced, as evidenced by the subsequent behavior, instead of reassuring the passenger, they treated it as an affront/attack.
Such thin skinned behavior does not inspire confidence they could maintain a level headed attitude in a high pressure irregular operation.
