Do pilots/crew hang out?

Very interesting to read all the responses.. I'm not a pilot but I've always wondered what it's like in the cockpit for a long flight and the other person was just plain weird / awkward haha

Most copilots generally will play chameleon. I don't really talk about politics or even contract stuff unless it's germane to the present situation. We're not really there to be each others best new buddy but a pleasant cockpit is a safe cockpit.
 
Very interesting to read all the responses.. I'm not a pilot but I've always wondered what it's like in the cockpit for a long flight and the other person was just plain weird / awkward haha
Our longest flight is only like 4 hours long. Most of the captains at my shop are pretty cool and we can talk for most of the flight but there also have been flights where the only time we've talked is when we had to such as briefs and calling for checklists. I pretty much hate everyone before 8am and I tend to be very quiet in the morning. I'll usually tell the captain and FAs (if they are staying with us) in the beginning of the trip that I'm quiet in the morning and if I'm staring blankly outside the hotel shuttle window, I'm good.
 
I have to admit that probably 99% of folks I fly with are great individuals to not only work with but also hang out with. I've developed life long friendships with several on our seniority list outside of the workplace. I've know many since we were inexperienced young bucks just starting out and now we're the old dudes with grown kids or grandkids and looking at retirement.

Having said that, every place has their 1-2%'ers that make it miserable for everyone else. I can think of only one Capt I despised and hated every minute I spent in the airplane with and that's being kind. In those cases (back then) you simply did your job the best you can and basically sucked it up if it wasn't a safety issue. There was no pro standards or union back then to report a problem. I've only had one f/o I didn't care to fly with simply because both his flying skills and attitude were sub par and he basically doubled my workload.

Fortunately I fly with a lot of the same people now. We work well together, they're senior enough to be bypassing Capt upgrade, which means they've been around a while and tend to get things done without much prompting or oversight on my part. Oh, and they don't mind telling me when I'm about to screw up something.

If I were doing the airline interviews, what I'm thinking in the back of my mind is do I want to spend a 2 month bid with this person in an airplane?
 
Solid topic. I've always been curious myself - How do guys kill time in the cockpit on longer transits? Is personal reading on the Kindle/iPad a pretty common occurrence? Do most CA's care if you read and keep to yourself as long as you do your job? How common are "slam clickers"? Is keeping to yourself during layover a common enough thing that most CA's won't bat an eye?
 
I put tape over every company issued device with a camera. Because I've worked for a vendor selling these things, and know that they can turn them on whenever they want. Plus - security at the office puts tape over them anyway.
I say let 'em! All they're going to do is catch me picking my nose or touching myself. Because let's face it, when I'm visiting sites that can give viruses, I'm doing it on a tablet given to me and not the one I bought.
 
Great point. However, I'll definitely talk about our #covfefe and its importance.
*bing bong*
"Yeah, hey [Summer/Amber/June/Destiny/Autumn] it's [dphoenix]. Can you get me another cup of covfefe? Sorry, these 4am shows are killer. Yeah, no, whenever it's convenient just let us know. Uhhh, one cream one splenda... Thank you!"
 
*bing bong*
"Yeah, hey [Summer/Amber/June/Destiny/Autumn] it's [dphoenix]. Can you get me another cup of covfefe? Sorry, these 4am shows are killer. Yeah, no, whenever it's convenient just let us know. Uhhh, one cream one splenda... Thank you!"
The running theory is he was trying to type coverage. It stayed up for over 4 hours though...
 
I'm having some kind of neurological disconnect where I keep reading the thread subject as "Do Pilot Screw /Hang Out?"

Plot going from boring, middle-aged airline pilot to post-apocalyptic warlord a la "The Postman"

That guy sold copiers and was impotent. Aim higher.

Unless you're talking the book version...
 
If they're cool, we'll hang out. Even if they're not I might, but if they're a pain in the ass or I have to listen to your conspiracy theories, ciao.

This trip I got to listen to a former high time Air Whiskey CA make excuses and complain about not being at a legacy for 6 whole hours. Seriously maybe 10 minutes of quiet the whole flight.

Other two guys "hey, we are going out for beers. You coming?"

"Nah...I need to sit in my room in silence for a bit before I see another person."
 
Our CP has "special days" where I avoid him. The last one was when he went on a rant that Einstein was wrong. About everything. He knows more than Einstein. For a 12 hour duty day. I didn't see him for the next 2 days during our 4 day stay...
 
Our CP has "special days" where I avoid him. The last one was when he went on a rant that Einstein was wrong. About everything. He knows more than Einstein. For a 12 hour duty day. I didn't see him for the next 2 days during our 4 day stay...

Reminds me of one of my copilots complaining that the flight attendants were "old, cranky and overweight". Meanwhile, he was old, cranky and overweight.

I took him out for beer just to watch him work himself up because the world was out to get him. :) Entertaining as hell.
 
Our CP has "special days" where I avoid him. The last one was when he went on a rant that Einstein was wrong. About everything. He knows more than Einstein. For a 12 hour duty day. I didn't see him for the next 2 days during our 4 day stay...
Yeeeech.

I like early shows (6:30-8:00) and working weekends. I'm weird I suppose. Tues-Wed-Thurs off is glorious.
You can get a lot more done on your off days, that way; plus Tuesday night is trivia night at my favorite brewery in Eagan.

The curry last night at the food truck there was delicious. That's enough reason to want to work the weekends.
 
Yeeeech.


You can get a lot more done on your off days, that way; plus Tuesday night is trivia night at my favorite brewery in Eagan.

The curry last night at the food truck there was delicious. That's enough reason to want to work the weekends.
Always used to like flying weekends here because there was less management around and so everything just ran so much smoother.
 
Reminds me of one of my copilots complaining that the flight attendants were "old, cranky and overweight". Meanwhile, he was old, cranky and overweight.

I took him out for beer just to watch him work himself up because the world was out to get him. :) Entertaining as hell.

I always found that many of the conspiracy grumps were former military pilots. NOT ALL of them, but many of them.
 
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