“If you consider staring at blank screens for 45 minutes a success, I don’t want to see what you consider a failure!”
I was called up to see the COO of British Airways (Chief Operating Officer) to discuss the future of In-flight entertainment on BA aircraft.
At the time (1998), we had one 747 – 400 equipped with a trial installation of an in-flight entertainment system. The COO instructed me to either get this system working properly or have it removed and find something better. He told me I had full authority to make an executive decision based on my findings. I also had a one-month deadline to complete this task, as it had been ongoing for far too long already.
“Leave it with me”, I assured him, “It will be done and within the time frame.”
On returning to my office, my senior manager asked me where I had been. I informed her that I had been called to see the COO.
‘Why wasn’t I invited?!’ she asked.
“You’ll need to ask him, not me!” I replied.
‘What was the discussion about?’ she probed further.
I relayed a detailed explanation of the conversation that I had just had.
‘He can’t do that! I’m going to speak with the marketing director!’
“Good luck with that!” I smiled.
She stormed off and an hour later, returned, still angry, if not more furious. Still, she confirmed that the instructions I had been given were not only correct but would be implemented immediately and with zero resistance.
Within the 2 weeks, we had arranged a flight for the 747-400 to take a full flight of staff and engineers from Heathrow to Las Palmas, replicating a 9-hour flight. I had my engineering team arrange scripts to be carried out by all on board to test the system. For example, shortly after takeoff, we had everyone on board select a film at the same time to see if the in-flight entertainment system could handle it. After about an hour’s flight, we experienced some turbulence and the captain switched on the fasten seatbelt sign. When the ping comes through the PA system, every screen pauses automatically while the announcement is made.
Once the announcement is made, the screens should unpause and return to normal viewing. This did not happen, however, and all screens remained frozen. After 10 minutes, I left my seat and went to talk to my engineers. I instructed them to fix the problem, but without having to go into avionics or up into the ceiling panels, where the hardware was installed. They had to try and fix via the video control centre, which is stored in a cabinet in the galley. I also reminded them that this was a simulated customer flight, so all of this had to be done with as little interference to the passengers as possible. After 35 minutes with no success, the engineering team informed me that it was not possible to fix the problem under the restrictions I had placed on them.
“This is a revenue flight, we can’t have engineers up in the ceiling panels or down in Avionics. More to the point, if this were a real flight, you wouldn’t even be here.”
They all saw my point.
With this information, I went up to the flight deck and I requested that the Captain, whom I knew very well, make a U-turn and return to Heathrow.
‘David, it’s Friday afternoon, let’s go!’ He said cheerily as he started to bank the aircraft.
As I left the flight deck to return to my team and seat, I was immediately intercepted by a member of the marketing team.
‘What’s going on, David?!’ he asked, slightly concerned.
“We’re going home!” I replied.
‘But we haven’t finished the trial!’
“Yes, we have!” I stated, “If you consider staring at blank screens for 45 minutes a success, I don’t want to see what you consider a failure!”
He paused for a moment before nodding and wordlessly returning to his seat.
On approach into Heathrow, the captain switched on the seat belt signs again, and the screens became active. We landed and taxied over to the maintenance area. I quickly arranged a conference with all the parties involved. At the start of the meeting, I asked the manufacturers of the in-flight entertainment system what they thought of today’s performance. For the first time, the project manager of the system came back and requested my thoughts first.
“This was a total and utter failure of a system performing on a revenue flight. And as such, the on-demand system will be removed and replaced with streamed movies.”
A deafening silence followed. Not the news people wanted to hear at 6 pm on a Friday.
I then asked everyone around the table for their opinion and confirmation of my decision. Every single person agreed that the system had failed and approved of my decision to remedy it.
I instructed the engineering team to remove the on-demand computers and replace them with streaming video computers. I then reported to the COO the day’s events, and he thanked me for all of my hard work and welcomed my decision. The engineering team removed the computers and declared them unserviceable.
The very next day, the engineering team called me at home to inform me that the in-flight entertainment system manufacturers had returned and were requesting that we put their on-demand system back on the aircraft.
“You can’t do that,” was my simple response. “Those computers have been officially declared unserviceable and must be taken to your workshops for overhaul and repair. Then they must be re-certified serviceable before going anywhere near that aircraft.”
I never heard from the company again.
Once more, the main lesson I learned and want to share with you is that safety always comes first, no matter what. And never let yourself be bullied or persuaded to think otherwise. This is even more important when millions of dollars are invested.
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