"Maule Driver" wrote in message

I boarded a full flight in Houston for a flight to the NY area....

Did the plane crash? bg


Look, no big deal. The crew probably thought you were a bit anal, but that
doesn't matter. With doors like that, there's a light in the cockpit
indicating closed and locked vs not closed and locked. It usually works on
a microswitch or optical system of some sort. [ on the B747 cargo door,
there was an optical beam that had to travel through about 25 holes in metal
parts of the latching assembly, all of which are supposed to align properly
when the door is properly closed and locked. Can you spell f-u-b-a-r?] On
doors that get cycled many times per day, the alignment often goes awry. If
the door is accessible from inside, there's usually a procedure to visually
verify status regardless of light function. If not accessible, then the
light issue has to be resolved. First the handlers would try 25 times or
so, [ :-) ] trying to avoid having to call mx, then they'd advise the
cockpit, and the call goes to mx and they fix the alignment or switch
problem.

Bottom line -- you made a decision based on limited information about a
system with which you were not familiar. Your prerogative.

JG