Lots of plane stories. Reminds me back when I was working I had our company’s flight operations as one of my areas of responsibility. 6 jets, 2 helicopters and an FBO to house them all.
This was before anyone ever heard of ZOOM calls. Business was done face-to-face.
The CEO was a very astute pilot. His mandate was the head pilot in the plane - and only the head pilot in the plane - made the decision to fly. If the pilot said it was unsafe, the plane did not take off.
One afternoon I get a call from a high level executive. All mad. Tells me to tell the ?x!?xx pilot to take off - he MUST get home this evening!!! He takes full responsibility!!
I say OK, let me speak to the pilot. I did. Pilot says there is lightning in the area, gusty winds up to 50mph and in his opinion is high on the possible danger scale. 7 of 10.
But, the commercial flights are taking off. Few, if any, private aircraft is moving.
I tell him to stay put and when he thinks it’s safe to leave, go ahead and fly. It’s 100% his call and the company has his back.
Executive there was furious.
They ended up spending the night.
I heard nothing about the situation for about 2 weeks. The pilot told me it went fine on the flight home the next day —- no grief.
Then, it was announced that this high level executive was leaving “to pursue another opportunity”.
Either you just talk about safety or you walk the talk.