flying with a rude copilot

Mavmb

Mavmb

Well-Known Member
Anybody have any stories they want to share? Most pilots I have flown with have been ok but I have flown with some that yelled, screamed, and didnt everything they could to belittle you.
One of my first flight instructors was kind of a jerk. When I was learning the pattern he used to yell "is your headset on? Are you even hearing me?" Lol. And I used to fly with one pilot where the screaming would start at the beginning of the taxi. "Go go go! There could be someone behind us! " I had another instructor pilot who would shout constantly and then ask "do i make you nervous?" ummm yeah! Stop screaming!
 
Absolutely. But you have to focus on the task at hand, which is operating the aircraft safely. There's a time and a place to address interpersonal issues, and that is after the flight, on the ground.

That is one of the beauties of 121 flying. If you fly with a dingleberry, in most cases you just have to get through a couple days before you're on to the next crew. Truth be told, in my almost 9 years of 121 flying, I've only had to have "the talk" with one guy.

One was a terrible person and a terrible pilot. I can usually handle one or the other, but this guy was the whole package. The spiel basically was "ok, so we're going to have to start doing things by the book, otherwise I'm going to be unable to continue. The chief knows about you and you know which side he'll be on. How do you feel about this?" He agreed and we did one more round trip without issue.
 
Have you seen the MosSy thread?? Thats belittlement. Sounds like the OP has had a few rough instructors though.

As a senior FO about to upgrade, I have been consistently asking CA's about the FO's they have been flying with. Most of them have at least one story about FO's who constantly tried to do everything their own way, and fight them the whole way on decisions. All these guys are really sharp CA's too. Its pretty surprising to hear that honestly, not looking forward to the day I get one.
 
Yea of course... I think anyone who flies professionally for long enough will eventually come across one or two pilots they don't want to fly with. I've come across a handful so far in my career. Most I can get along with for long enough to complete our trip and he done with it all. I've only ever worked with one guy who created a somewhat hostile crew environment... On the last leg of day 4 no less. But that's a story for another time.
 
Flown with a whole heap of yeller instructors in the AF, but if wingmen/copilots got uppity it was easily and quickly curtailed.

One of the benefits of military flying, where there is a whole host of formalized lines of command in and out of the cockpit that gave formal recourse against people who couldn't play with others.
 
PropSettin' said:
As a senior FO about to upgrade, I have been consistently asking CA's about the FO's they have been flying with. Most of them have at least one story about FO's who constantly tried to do everything their own way, and fight them the whole way on decisions. All these guys are really sharp CA's too. Its pretty surprising to hear that honestly, not looking forward to the day I get one.
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Not all the jackalopes sit in the left seat. The nice thing about being in the left is you don't have to put up with spit. I'll turn around and taxi back to the gate, in a heartbeat, to get a new FO if I think there's gonna be a problem. At least at my shop, I'm not gonna hear a word about it either.
 
Had a shouting examiner once. Took it as meaning I wasn't doing as well as I could, but still, not appreciated.
 
Mavmb said:
Anybody have any stories they want to share? Most pilots I have flown with have been ok but I have flown with some that yelled, screamed, and didnt everything they could to belittle you.
One of my first flight instructors was kind of a jerk. When I was learning the pattern he used to yell "is your headset on? Are you even hearing me?" Lol. And I used to fly with one pilot where the screaming would start at the beginning of the taxi. "Go go go! There could be someone behind us! " I had another instructor pilot who would shout constantly and then ask "do i make you nervous?" ummm yeah! Stop screaming!
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Sometimes people aren't "self aware" enough.

Those experiences are all at your current shop? If so, might want to pick up a lead testing kit at Home Depot and get a sample of the water fountain!
 
I've only been barked at once actually at my shop so am I the "yeller"? :)
 
Richman said:
I've got pretty effective stink-eye beams of doom. Failing that, a "Really...REALLY?" slathered in lemony fresh snark sauce usually catches any emotionally-stunted stragglers.

Richman
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It's the eyebrow.

Conveniently located on the outboard side when I sit on the right, and on the inboard side when I sit on the left...
 
It's been my observation that the presence of a CVR influences the barking or yelling. Behavior changes when people know they are being recorded. Granted, there are still tool bags out there that don't care.
 
I had a guy who is known in the company to be a know-it-all.

He was barking at me about something which won't be discussed and kept yelling "you're doing it wrong, you're doing it wrong!" I kept flying and doing what needed to be done and it worked out well.

His response: "I guess you can continue to ignore me."

When you're flying with those guys just grin and bear it so long as they aren't endangering the safety of the flight. And, if they are, eat their soul.
 
esa17 said:
I had a guy who is known in the company to be a know-it-all.

He was barking at me about something which won't be discussed and kept yelling "you're doing it wrong, you're doing it wrong!" I kept flying and doing what needed to be done and it worked out well.

His response: "I guess you can continue to ignore me."

When you're flying with those guys just grin and bear it so long as they aren't endangering the safety of the flight. And, if they are, eat their soul.
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ALL HAIL THE MMPI!

Not 100% fool proof, but man, it's made my life so much easier over the past couple decades.
 
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