Only captains taxi aircraft?

BobDDuck said:
The problem of course is that he will do that with you, and then try to do it again, when he flies with Captain AssHat next week and get his head taken off for daring to touch a captains switch.

#askmehowIknow
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You are absolutely correct. I recognize that the only thing consistent for FOs is inconsistent captain behavior. It's very easy for me as a captain to share my philosophy on how things should be done on the flight deck because, well, I'm a captain. A first officer that takes a good idea from anybody on JC and tries to employ it on the line is always subject to how it will be received by the captain. I was a FO for nine years and was frustrated on numerous occasions trying to maintain my definition of professionalism and peacefully co-exist with captains. 95 percent of the time I succeeded, the other five percent were challenging at best. When I finally upgraded to the left seat all I had to build on was trying to replicate what the good captains did, and try to avoid being an ass like some I had flown with. There were a lot of things that I didn't know when I upgraded (and still don't), but I always try to remember what it was like in the FO and SO seats and try to treat them like I wanted to be treated. I have lost count the number of times I have been kept out of trouble by a FO that felt like he/she was part of the team and was was willing to speak up knowing their opinions would be received with respect and an open mind. As a captain, you can't buy better safety than that.

Here's the lesson I think.... You may be the FO today and yes, you will have to tolerate flying with asses from time to time. But, take mental notes of what works for you when you fly. When do you feel the best, the most confident, the most capable? Notice when things just "click" with another crew member and try to figure out why that is. Specifically, what do the captains do that annoy you? How could difficult situations that were botched up by a captain been handled better? Take notes....

Begin to build yourself a "How to be a great captain" list and make sure you pull it out when you upgrade. The technical captain stuff comes with a little time and experience, but the people skills start on day one. It's not too early to start preparing to be one of the captains that everybody seems to love to fly with.
 
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I will say, that a general common denominator in asshat CAs is that they are not very good pilots, much less CAs. I'm in my last month as an FO and I am about at my breaking point. I know I'm going to have a career of flying with them, and they are not limited to the regionals, but seriously, why do pilots have to be weird. Just sit down, shut up, get along with others, and know that you are not the only person in the world.
 
Pilotdude3407 said:
I will say, that a general common denominator in asshat CAs is that they are not very good pilots, much less CAs. I'm in my last month as an FO and I am about at my breaking point. I know I'm going to have a career of flying with them, and they are not limited to the regionals, but seriously, why do pilots have to be weird. Just sit down, shut up, get along with others, and know that you are not the only person in the world.
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Yep.. The biggest dbag captains I've experienced were 100% the worst pilots as well.

The fun part about that, at DL the dbag level is significantly lower, but also I'm empowered a lot more. So the passive aggressiveness goes to work and it makes it more fun. :) (cue token dbag captain in my category fingerbanging the FMS and getting madder and madder, while I've reached up and put him into heading to keep us from getting violated) "Randy, you pressed the wrong button 5 times in a row... pressing it again won't make it the right one."

At the regionals... ugh... too many, too often. They made me a much better captain, though.

I've always said I can deal with a crappy pilot that has a great attitude, and a really good pilot that is a dbag... but the combination of the negatives is what can make a trip hell. I'm in a small category now, and our token dbag pilot and I know each other quite well. I'm a lot more open with him now, and so is everyone else. :)
 
CaptBill said:
Honestly, I don't really care who flips what switch as long as we are working together. It can also be a learning experience....
Climbing out some of the new guys will see a cloud and ask "can I turn the engine heat on?" I always say "sure, make yourself comfortable." On it goes...
1.3 seconds later as we pass through a baby whisp of cirrus clouds they announce "engine heat off."
That always makes the point much better than me saying "leave it off, we don't need it."
I had a new guy recently on our first leg together very reluctantly reach up and turn the seatbelt sign on when it got a little bumpy. He seemed genuinely relieved when I pretended I didn't even notice. He then turned it on and off freely the rest of the trip as needed. It made a big big difference with him knowing he could make some decisions without me worrying about switch ownership. IMHO, pilots in both seats do their best work when they focus on the important stuff and let the little stuff stay little stuff.
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Don't steal @Seggy 's thunder! :)

He gets switches!
 
PeanuckleCRJ said:
The fun part about that, at DL the dbag level is significantly lower, but also I'm empowered a lot more.
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That's a really good point. Over here there are WAY fewer asshat captains than I had to work with at my previous gig, and I was even fortunate then to be a good base with very few bad captains. Now though, I've been in the left seat before, often operating in conditions that the local guys out here have never experienced in their entire flying careers, and if they start acting the fool, I really don't have a problem with standing my ground a little bit.
 
I kept the ERJ on the yellow line once for a captain while he was texting a dispatcher... Was not a difficult task even w/o the tiller... Most captains will just text while taxiing and swerve all over the place and stuff. FO's can't be trusted to stay on yellow line.
 
CaptBill said:
You are absolutely correct. I recognize that the only thing consistent for FOs is inconsistent captain behavior. It's very easy for me as a captain to share my philosophy on how things should be done on the flight deck because, well, I'm a captain. A first officer that takes a good idea from anybody on JC and tries to employ it on the line is always subject to how it will be received by the captain. I was a FO for nine years and was frustrated on numerous occasions trying to maintain my definition of professionalism and peacefully co-exist with captains. 95 percent of the time I succeeded, the other five percent were challenging at best. When I finally upgraded to the left seat all I had to build on was trying to replicate what the good captains did, and try to avoid being an ass like some I had flown with. There were a lot of things that I didn't know when I upgraded (and still don't), but I always try to remember what it was like in the FO and SO seats and try to treat them like I wanted to be treated. I have lost count the number of times I have been kept out of trouble by a FO that felt like he/she was part of the team and was was willing to speak up knowing their opinions would be received with respect and an open mind. As a captain, you can't buy better safety than that.

Here's the lesson I think.... You may be the FO today and yes, you will have to tolerate flying with asses from time to time. But, take mental notes of what works for you when you fly. When do you feel the best, the most confident, the most capable? Notice when things just "click" with another crew member and try to figure out why that is. Specifically, what do the captains do that annoy you? How could difficult situations that were botched up by a captain been handled better? Take notes....

Begin to build yourself a "How to be a great captain" list and make sure you pull it out when you upgrade. The technical captain stuff comes with a little time and experience, but the people skills start on day one. It's not too early to start preparing to be one of the captains that everybody seems to love to fly with.
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Great post! On the other side of the coin, I always said, besides my other obvious duties as an FO, my biggest job as a right seat guy is to make the captains job easier.
 
We both did lights in flight...only ever had one tool who, coming out of 10,000 I turned the landing, approach, and wing ice lights on and he looks at the switches, looks at me, and goes "It's daytime, and summer" and turns the ice lights off. Okay Captain Toolbag...whatever floats your boat.

I did taxi quite a bit as an FO, especially with inop steering (easier for the FO and no work for the Capt, what's not to love?).

Without a doubt the biggest tools make the worst pilots though. I sat up front on a DH one time (not a full flight) with a very cool Capt who I was friends with and a tool FO (member here). One of those "I'm going to handfly this whole flight because ERAU" types who already knows everything there is to know. After a jerky, all autopilot-off flight, he smacks the thing on and immediately come forth the excuses. Glad I never had to fly with him again.
 
JeppUpdater said:
Without a doubt the biggest tools make the worst pilots though. I sat up front on a DH one time (not a full flight) with a very cool Capt who I was friends with and a tool FO (member here). One of those "I'm going to handfly this whole flight because ERAU" types who already knows everything there is to know. After a jerky, all autopilot-off flight, he smacks the thing on and immediately come forth the excuses. Glad I never had to fly with him again.
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:aghast:
 
JeppUpdater said:
We both did lights in flight...only ever had one tool who, coming out of 10,000 I turned the landing, approach, and wing ice lights on and he looks at the switches, looks at me, and goes "It's daytime, and summer" and turns the ice lights off. ..
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I'm curious, why did you turn on the ice lights to begin with? SOP?
 
SteveC said:
I'm curious, why did you turn on the ice lights to begin with? SOP?
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It's been several years, but the SOP was a general statement about aircraft lights being on below 10,000 to aid in 'see-and-avoid'. I didn't really care if he wanted them on or not, but the attitude he had when he said it pretty much sat the tone for the turn (on reserve at the time fortunately).
 
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