It happens. I don’t have “dozens of examples”, but there are definitely some weirdos that you’ll encounter in the right seat too.
Most notable I had at SkyWest was an FO that immediately upon meeting up for our trip, went on and on about how much experience he had and all the airplanes he’s flown. As a former CFI, that was automatically a red flag for me. Anytime I did checkouts or BFRs, people that started out with how awesome they were totally sucked.
Anyway, so we’re taxiing out SE in MSP to R22 in the CRJ200. I ask him to start up the second engine, and it doesn’t light off. He starts freaking out over it, and I look up and see the ignition isn’t armed. I tell him that, and say ok let’s just motor it for 60 sec and try again. Totally NOT a big deal at all in my mind.
This dude just won’t let it go, and then says it’s all my fault as I should’ve looked up when I asked him to start it and checked the ignitions. Again I tell him this isn’t a big deal, but I’m out here taxiing and am assuming you know how to do your job.
Just on and one with this guy the whole trip. An excuse for everything and it’s always someone else’s fault.
I had a couple other guys that were very upset when I made any kind of critique like keep your hands on the thrust levers during landing, etc. Some people are just totally unable to accept criticism, and I’ve seen it with both mil and civilian backgrounds.