Good Captains

Ayork62493 said:
I get to fly with a captain tonight that straight up said to my face "I hate flying with young FOs, you make my life way more difficult." Then proceeded to rant about the standard reasons he can't move on, doesn't have boobs, is white. Etc etc. real peach to fly with. I've been here almost two years, so I'm new, but not that new.
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When you fly with regional lifers who have given up and DGAF anymore it's fun to sit down and say "hey, just an FYI but this is my first trip off of IOE" and watch the faces they make.
 
I know it's hard to believe, but keep in mind that it is, in fact, possible that the reason summa y'all get grumbled at for being new is that a lot of new folks (maybe even summa y'all) do genuinely suck at the flying airplanes thing, or at least did when straight off IOE.
 
Derg said:
It's the theoretical "retractable dog leash".

You sometimes have to let your copilot take a wrong turn and as he starts to run the length of the leash (or your ability to safety guide him back to where he should be), you interject. People learn by doing. You're never going to be a chef, if, as a line chef, your boss always says, "Well, you're going to end up cutting or burning yourself so I'll make all the decisions and you simply carry them out the way I say do them".

Every captain on earth says "Oh, we'll do things by the book" but it's laughably idiotic because there's very little by way of a feedback loop that we have so a lot of us aren't operating via SOP and don't even realize it. Then the poor copilot has to play chameleon and constantly choose between "I haven't seen that procedure before and I can't find it in 'The Book'" or being complicit and complying with whatever the captain is doing or expecting you to do.

One of the best lessons I've learned is that it's not about "me", it's about my crew. If they're able to feel empowered to do the right thing, communicate and be transparent about it, everyone wins. No one is going to perform brightly for a pot-bellied angry tyrant.
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Conversely, sometimes you have to let the captain run down that rabbit hole all on their own at times as well. As long as you can get them back safely.
 
Roger Roger said:
I know it's hard to believe, but keep in mind that it is, in fact, possible that the reason summa y'all get grumbled at for being new is that a lot of new folks (maybe even summa y'all) do genuinely suck at the flying airplanes thing, or at least did when straight off IOE.
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That's when it's time to put on your big boy panties as CA and be the mentor that you wanted when you were in their shoes.
 
One of the caps I was flying with early on kept promising me a coffee mug with a pic below. Never got it though.
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I applaud this post entirely. Wouldn't even occur to me to not discuss anything with the other pilot. Now come on over to 135 and fly with the guys who have decided you're in their seat and just hop in the left seat every other leg and get offended when you suggest that, you know, maybe we need to talk about changing altitudes before they ask ATC. "Well, I'm in the left seat this leg!". Yeah, you're SITTING in the left seat, this leg, but you probably shouldn't get used to it, junior. This sword cuts both ways.
 
Derg said:
One of the best lessons I've learned is that it's not about "me", it's about my crew. If they're able to feel empowered to do the right thing, communicate and be transparent about it, everyone wins. No one is going to perform brightly for a pot-bellied angry tyrant.
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One of the best moments I had in the left seat was when a relatively new FO asked to slow things down when we were rushing to make a flow time.
 
Ayork62493 said:
I get to fly with a captain tonight that straight up said to my face "I hate flying with young FOs, you make my life way more difficult." Then proceeded to rant about the standard reasons he can't move on, doesn't have boobs, is white. Etc etc. real peach to fly with. I've been here almost two years, so I'm new, but not that new.
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These guys are the worst. I wish they would leave since they hate their job so much. If moving on was about being black, having boobs, etc I wouldn't be sitting in a RJ. I usually listen to one comment when something like this comes up. If my silence doesn't indicate I don't want to go down this road then we can have a professional conversation about what it really takes to move on vs. the ignorance of thinking being a minority, woman, etc is the easiest way to get out of a regional.
 
adk said:
When you fly with regional lifers who have given up and DGAF anymore it's fun to sit down and say "hey, just an FYI but this is my first trip off of IOE" and watch the faces they make.
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Haha I definitely do that still. It's pretty fun but they catch on within the first few minutes.
 
PeanuckleCRJ said:
That's when it's time to put on your big boy panties as CA and be the mentor that you wanted when you were in their shoes.
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I saw some of this last trip and it was awesome. The guy was inside his first year and when the CA learned he had his first PC coming up, he gave the other FO the leg which was previously claimed to be his.

The FO was extremely weak, but the captain did an awesome job at basically giving him IOE. Not just telling him what to do, but leading him in the right direction with questioning.
 
JordanD said:
I think there's definitely people that upgrade just because they absolutely HAVE to be the head honcho no matter what.
Hover handing over the flap lever is another one. Dude, 180 to the marker isn't a problem. If I look high and fast, maybe say "hey, you want more flaps/gear?"
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Some F/O's do the flap hovering too. Being a bossy know-it-all is a type-A pilot thing, not a captain or F/O thing. Or maybe I just suck :p . At this point I don't care. Hover away, maybe I really did forget to call for flaps, haha.
 
Jordan93 said:
I've had some real winners that even had to tell me what kind ride we had when ATC asked us to say ride conditions. Thanks, I know what light turbulence is. Even had one guy tell me to say Delta after a Canadian controller asked which mainline we flew for:confused:
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Your radios boss.

I've had to say that twice. Both times they realized they were being dicks and backed off.

You know a trip is going to suck when you hop in and Mr Four Bar says "I'm all about CRM" that's almost a sure sign they don't listen to jack •.
 
I'm ok with a little good natured mentoring. But what I don't like is a 4 day checkride from Captain CFI. And let's just acknowledge right away that mentorship doesn't ONLY flow from left seat to right. After the lost decade there are many many first officers who have extensive experience in a variety of airplanes at a variety of operators. It is very possible today that the first officer may even have more experience in a wider theater of operations than the captain. So a little knowledge can be passed from right seat to left as well. The last thing I need is patronizing mentorship from a Captain who was still doing push ups at the academy when I was flying this same model of airplane throughout the United States for brand X.


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Alchemy said:
Some F/O's do the flap hovering too. Being a bossy know-it-all is a type-A pilot thing, not a captain or F/O thing. Or maybe I just suck [emoji14] . At this point I don't care. Hover away, maybe I really did forget to call for flaps, haha.
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Sometimes I'm just putting my hand there because I know it needs to be there next.

It's not a commentary on your technique. I just want to be ready for it.


Some of you are really sensitive [emoji14]

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ZapBrannigan said:
I'm ok with a little good natured mentoring. But what I don't like is a 4 day checkride from Captain CFI. And let's just acknowledge right away that mentorship doesn't ONLY flow from left seat to right. After the lost decade there are many many first officers who have extensive experience in a variety of airplanes at a variety of operators. It is very possible today that the first officer may even have more experience in a wider theater of operations than the captain. So a little knowledge can be passed from right seat to left as well. The last thing I need is patronizing mentorship from a Captain who was still doing push ups at the academy when I was flying this same model of airplane throughout the United States for brand X.


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Especially when the "knowledge" being passed along is techcedure. We had a bit of a CF getting off the runway in LAX yesterday @Old Dominion Flyer heard it all. While I was trying to sort that out with tower I had to deal with the only slightly related ramblings of a senior captain that had a "better way" to do everything.

*raises index finger and turns down intercom volume*
 
ZapBrannigan said:
I'm ok with a little good natured mentoring. But what I don't like is a 4 day checkride from Captain CFI. And let's just acknowledge right away that mentorship doesn't ONLY flow from left seat to right. After the lost decade there are many many first officers who have extensive experience in a variety of airplanes at a variety of operators. It is very possible today that the first officer may even have more experience in a wider theater of operations than the captain. So a little knowledge can be passed from right seat to left as well. The last thing I need is patronizing mentorship from a Captain who was still doing push ups at the academy when I was flying this same model of airplane throughout the United States for brand X.


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This. As captain's we sometimes, even often, have to wear the mentor hat. We are NOT CFIs though. My job is not to teach an fo how to operate. They are a professional and I start with the assumption they know what they are doing.
 
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