I was flying out of Philadelphia a few weeks ago on a dark, rainy night...The plane was an MD-88 and I was in my usual window seat - 13E, face pressed against the plexiglas window, trying to make anything out in the rain. Whenever I'm flying I will not rest until I see the flaps and slats come down. Usually they do right after the tow truck is disconnected but some smaller planes wait a little longer...On some planes, like a CRJ-200 I'll have to rely on shadows to see that the flaps are down since there are no slats on the leading edge. Or if I really can't see - I'm a nervous wreck until we're well up into the air. Once in the air, there are a whole other lot of things that make me nervous, but that's going off topic too much.
Back to the MD-88: I noticed something on the right wing next to the speed brakes that was sticking up. It looked like a fully deployed speed brake, though deep down I knew that it wasn't - it was a little too close to the wing's tip. We were moving very slowly toward the end of the taxiway and I kept staring at the 2-foot long piece of metal, sticking up at a 45 degree angle and trying to decide what to do. After agonizing about it for 10 minutes, I rang my flight attendant call button. The flight attendant couldn't have been nicer! She came over to my seat and asked if everything was ok. I told her that to me, it looked like the speed brake was up. (Again, I was pretty sure it wasn't the speed brake but I didn't know what else to call it). As luck would have it, by then we had taxied into a dark area and with the glare from the rain, she couldn't see it. She said she would inform the Captain and sure enough, I saw them raise and lower the speed brakes - the piece of metal I had my eye on didn't move. She came back to my seat and I told her that yes, I saw them raise and lower the speed brakes - the part I was talking about is next to the speed brakes - and it is still sticking up. I told her that if she went back a few rows, she might be able to see it - the light might be better. At some point she asked me if I was a pilot and I apologetically said "No, I'm not - but I read a lot about aviation." By now, quite a few passengers had turned around either to glare or just to see who is causing the commotion. One asked me "Is it something on the engine?" I almost impatiently wanted to answer "of course not - the engines on an MD-88 are mounted on the tail of the plane and can't be seen from up here." But I settled for a simple "no." She went back to the front of the plane and next thing I know, the First Officer was coming towards me. I could feel my face turning red in the darkness and as I tried to sink lower in my seat.
I explained to the First Officer the same thing I had told the flight attendant and again said that "no, you can't see it any more from my row because of the glare from the rain, but if you go back a few rows you'll probably be able to." He looked, came back and very nicely and patiently explained to me that the part I was seeing was in fact the aileron and that once we sped up and airflow increased over the wing, it would return to a flat position. Sure enough, that's what happened. And then the Captain himself made an announcement to reassure the other hundred-and-some passengers why the First Officer had come into the cabin.
I know that if I hadn't said anything I would've been more of a wreck than usual...And while I kept apologizing to the flight attendant, she kept reassuring me that it was the right thing to do and they were happy to look into it. The rest of the trip was uneventful except for a few spots of turbulence. Many thanks to the crew of that flight for being so nice!!!
