People are coming to the defence of a man who had to tell a family they were ‘too large/fat’ to fly in his private jet.
The anonymous 27-year-old works as an aviation mechanic and in his spare time he enjoys flying his own sailplane - a twin-seat DG-1000 by DG Flugzeugbau - which can fly for around four hours on a ‘good day’.
Posting in the ‘Am I the A**hole’ thread on Reddit, the man goes on to explain he goes gliding once or twice each week depending on the weather and while he usually flies solo, he sometimes invites his fiancée, friends and family to join him.
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Although having guests on board has been plain sailing so far, this changed when his cousin and her family tried to catch a flight.
“It started when I invited one of my other cousins and her kids to join me for some flying,” the man explained in his post. “What I hadn't accounted for was Naomi and her family had been visiting/staying with these other cousins.
“When the day came both them and Naomi's family showed up at the airfield. After doing the last flight for those I had invited Naomi started asking about her and her kids (twins 16F).
“When she asked this my heart sank as her family suffers from obesity and I could tell they were all unfit to fly.”
The keen flyer went on to explain how he pulled the family aside for an important talk about why they were ‘unfit to fly’.
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He explained: “Rather than lying to them I pulled them aside and had a serious talk with them. I explained that I don't believe that they are airworthy and if they want to go they must be checked.
“They unfortunately failed the passenger check due to their size which restricted rudder pedal and stick movement. When I broke the news all hell broke out with them and my cousins as they all got upset.
“In the aftermath of this, I have been effectively ‘disowned’ by them with them accusing me of being a bigoted a**hole.”
Reddit users took to the comments to debate the topic, with many coming to the man's defence.
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One comment, which received just under 3,000 upvotes, said: “NTA [Not the A**hole]. Restricting movement of the aircraft controls is a great way to crash. Pure safety concerns are a valid reason to say 'no'.
“That they didn't want to hear the message is their problem, not the message itself.”
Another Redditor expressed sympathy for the people ruled out of flying, writing: “Totally agree with you. Safety takes priority over feelings and OP [Original Poster] is NTA.
“Is ‘airworthy’ really the official term though? What unfortunate linguistics… it sounds like ‘you’re not worthy of being up in the airplane’… which is likely what the cousin heard. Not OP’s fault, just a bummer.”
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A third shared: “You pulled them aside and explained your concerns, it's not like you embarrassed them in front of everyone.
“Do they want a safe flight or not? It's not a matter of vanity, it's safety and I am glad you stood your ground.”
Gregory Robinson