[Philip Argy]

If newspaper reports are accurate (which I know is rare) I think the captain could have chosen his words better. We know what a landing gear door is but telling pax that "a door is open above the wheels" doesn't convey the innocuous nature of the problem to lay pax and sounds like it did the opposite for some, no matter how silly we think the pax were. Words like "wheel cover" or something come to mind as better terms to convey that it's no big deal.

I think a case can be made for educating crew on terminology to use with lay passengers to convey what is going on in a way that doesn't alarm them or leave ambiguous the seriousness of the issue. Especailly when media interview pax and report every word that is said.