It’s been a lot of fun, a crap-ton of work and mostly rewarding.
This is free-flow writing, may be a little disjointed, but here it goes.
One thing I learned over the past year is that I spend a lot of time referring to the “Good Captain Book” and the “Bad Captain Book”. Whenever I have a dilemma, I’ll look into the “Good Captain Book” (GCB) and wonder “Hmm, what would a good captain do in this situation” and always look into the “Bad Captain Book” (BCB) to see what guys who I thought were on the dark side would do. I eventually discovered that sometimes the “GCB” guys were actually doing what was popular and not necessarily correct and the pilots in the “BCB” were making a tough decision and were actually doing what was right. But the overwhelming item I learned is that it’s really best to have a framework of a decision, expand you team and see if the other crewmember is in sympatico with your conclusion. If they are, and for semi-congruent reasons, charge forward. If they’re not, wind the clock and look deeper at the issue or expand your aperture to understand the persons perspective. But at the end of the day, you need to put on your big boy pants and make a damned decision based upon the scientitic method (somewhat) and after careful consideration of the information at hand.
One item I learned is that there is much more psychology involved that I realized. I had a short stint as captain at Skyway and, for the most part, by the time I got off IOE, I was giving my two weeks notice because I was resigning to go to Southernjets. On one hand, I wish I had more experience because I wouldn’t be learning lessons now, in command of a 150-passenger jet with four other crewmembers that I probably could have learned when it was just me and another kid flying around a Beech 1900. But on the other hand, I had a deep pool of mentors, fellow captains and first officers that I could bounce delimmas off of and a great support network.
Oh yeah, psychology.
I’m on a senior mid-seniority airplane in a mid-seniority base. A lot of my first officers are older than I am, far more experience in Airbus products than I do and overall fantastic pilots. However there are a very that delve, somewhat, into ageism and every once in a while, spend an inordinate amount of time setting the tone that I’m not fresh off the turnip truck, but we each bring a unique experience to the cockpit.
Micromanaging isn’t part of my repertoire. We have a fantastic training department and I’m confident enough to realize that there are eight ways to skin a cat in the cockpit and that my first officer is going to do what is appropriate for the given situation. Some first officers who have been micromanaged for most of their careers come to the cockpit expecting it and when I give them the brief about not being “that guy” and if I have questions about something, I’ll certainly ask questions and we will discuss it and I expect the same from them if I “get creative”. 97% of first officers appreciate this approach, but then there are the 3% that misconstrue that as weakness. And then you have to work through that.
You have to know who you’re flying with. And this is a true story. Flying to Chicago Midway, the first officer hadn’t been in the cockpit for that long, relative new hire, was unsure about shooting the GPS approach and I offereed him the approach so that way I could monitor flight path and airspeed, kind of “coach” him through the arrival and approach, throw in a few tips here and there under the auspices of “learn by doing”. He did a fantastic job, caught all the “gotchas” along the approach path, got it stopped with plenty of runway left and I said, “Good job! Great situational awareness, airspeed control, stabilized on script, see, it’s not a problem”.
Now on the ride to the hotel, he said something that confused me: “You’re not very nurturing”.
Wot wot WHAT?! Did I agree? Nope, I think I gave a sufficient debrief and spoke in calm, positive language, but it’s something I took to heart. I am comedically sarcastic without even knowing it and many people will interpret that as assholery so it gave me pause.
The back of the cabin. This has been a challenge. Some will listen to the new crew brief, many weren’t. Some appreciate when you talk to them about flight time, ride conditions, to have a seat if they feel the turbulence is unsafe and to call me up front and I will make a PA about my decision to end cabin service, and other ones just stare at you because you’re in the way of them browing the various “I hate pilots” Facebook groups. But I brief. I try to hit the basics and spend more time on things that are going to make the cart go zero-G. Some of them are going to hate your guts off the bat, most are cool and others think you’re Dr. Phil.
I’ve also had to give “The Chat” a few times, which is awkward, because it’s usually the result of someone with limited information making rushed, rash decisions.
You can be frustrated, angry, direct and friendly, all at the same time.
Never feel guilty about making an inconvenient decision especially when it’s the most prudent course.
People have a lot of respect for the stripes and the scrambled egg, but will lose it the moment you lose your cool or you forget that they come with the responsibility to actually act as a leader.
Never call your dispatcher frustrated. He (or she) is probably just as frustrated as you and always have a couple solutions in your back pocket. Be the captain and expand your team.
There is never, ever a stuck chock. They want you to release the parking brake because it shows an “OUT” time and some will slow down because the pressure is off for an on-time departure.
If you yell, you’ve lost.
If you’re getting yelled at and you’re not “corrective” about it with the person doing the yelling, you’re making it harder on the next guy who probably isn’t going to be so nice about it. There’s nothing wrong with, confirming the parking brake is set,removing the person from the airplane and having a “jetway chat” about negative comportment.
You can’t know everything. Be humble about what you know and the same about things you don’t and you will foster CRM.
People expect more out of you and speak to you very differently. It’s both wonderful and thought provoking. You feel like you finally have a voice on the larger scale. But on the other hand, I’m the same guy I was 12 months ago.
Do I miss international? Somewhat. I certainly don’t miss being a first officer. It was simpler, easier in the right seat but I was also extremely bored. Domestic is a lot of fun, especially as captain and there’s a little more money involved, but each additional dollar, it seems, comes with a knife fight. Either I’m handling passenger issues, irregular operations, making “feedback-less’ decisions (was I right? was I wrong?), family life sacrifices, well, every extra dollar is certainly earned the hard way.
Ultimately, upgrading to 320 captain was the best “mistake” I’ve made professionally.
But I could certainly use more time at home and a vacation.
This is free-flow writing, may be a little disjointed, but here it goes.
One thing I learned over the past year is that I spend a lot of time referring to the “Good Captain Book” and the “Bad Captain Book”. Whenever I have a dilemma, I’ll look into the “Good Captain Book” (GCB) and wonder “Hmm, what would a good captain do in this situation” and always look into the “Bad Captain Book” (BCB) to see what guys who I thought were on the dark side would do. I eventually discovered that sometimes the “GCB” guys were actually doing what was popular and not necessarily correct and the pilots in the “BCB” were making a tough decision and were actually doing what was right. But the overwhelming item I learned is that it’s really best to have a framework of a decision, expand you team and see if the other crewmember is in sympatico with your conclusion. If they are, and for semi-congruent reasons, charge forward. If they’re not, wind the clock and look deeper at the issue or expand your aperture to understand the persons perspective. But at the end of the day, you need to put on your big boy pants and make a damned decision based upon the scientitic method (somewhat) and after careful consideration of the information at hand.
One item I learned is that there is much more psychology involved that I realized. I had a short stint as captain at Skyway and, for the most part, by the time I got off IOE, I was giving my two weeks notice because I was resigning to go to Southernjets. On one hand, I wish I had more experience because I wouldn’t be learning lessons now, in command of a 150-passenger jet with four other crewmembers that I probably could have learned when it was just me and another kid flying around a Beech 1900. But on the other hand, I had a deep pool of mentors, fellow captains and first officers that I could bounce delimmas off of and a great support network.
Oh yeah, psychology.
I’m on a senior mid-seniority airplane in a mid-seniority base. A lot of my first officers are older than I am, far more experience in Airbus products than I do and overall fantastic pilots. However there are a very that delve, somewhat, into ageism and every once in a while, spend an inordinate amount of time setting the tone that I’m not fresh off the turnip truck, but we each bring a unique experience to the cockpit.
Micromanaging isn’t part of my repertoire. We have a fantastic training department and I’m confident enough to realize that there are eight ways to skin a cat in the cockpit and that my first officer is going to do what is appropriate for the given situation. Some first officers who have been micromanaged for most of their careers come to the cockpit expecting it and when I give them the brief about not being “that guy” and if I have questions about something, I’ll certainly ask questions and we will discuss it and I expect the same from them if I “get creative”. 97% of first officers appreciate this approach, but then there are the 3% that misconstrue that as weakness. And then you have to work through that.
You have to know who you’re flying with. And this is a true story. Flying to Chicago Midway, the first officer hadn’t been in the cockpit for that long, relative new hire, was unsure about shooting the GPS approach and I offereed him the approach so that way I could monitor flight path and airspeed, kind of “coach” him through the arrival and approach, throw in a few tips here and there under the auspices of “learn by doing”. He did a fantastic job, caught all the “gotchas” along the approach path, got it stopped with plenty of runway left and I said, “Good job! Great situational awareness, airspeed control, stabilized on script, see, it’s not a problem”.
Now on the ride to the hotel, he said something that confused me: “You’re not very nurturing”.
Wot wot WHAT?! Did I agree? Nope, I think I gave a sufficient debrief and spoke in calm, positive language, but it’s something I took to heart. I am comedically sarcastic without even knowing it and many people will interpret that as assholery so it gave me pause.
The back of the cabin. This has been a challenge. Some will listen to the new crew brief, many weren’t. Some appreciate when you talk to them about flight time, ride conditions, to have a seat if they feel the turbulence is unsafe and to call me up front and I will make a PA about my decision to end cabin service, and other ones just stare at you because you’re in the way of them browing the various “I hate pilots” Facebook groups. But I brief. I try to hit the basics and spend more time on things that are going to make the cart go zero-G. Some of them are going to hate your guts off the bat, most are cool and others think you’re Dr. Phil.
I’ve also had to give “The Chat” a few times, which is awkward, because it’s usually the result of someone with limited information making rushed, rash decisions.
You can be frustrated, angry, direct and friendly, all at the same time.
Never feel guilty about making an inconvenient decision especially when it’s the most prudent course.
People have a lot of respect for the stripes and the scrambled egg, but will lose it the moment you lose your cool or you forget that they come with the responsibility to actually act as a leader.
Never call your dispatcher frustrated. He (or she) is probably just as frustrated as you and always have a couple solutions in your back pocket. Be the captain and expand your team.
There is never, ever a stuck chock. They want you to release the parking brake because it shows an “OUT” time and some will slow down because the pressure is off for an on-time departure.
If you yell, you’ve lost.
If you’re getting yelled at and you’re not “corrective” about it with the person doing the yelling, you’re making it harder on the next guy who probably isn’t going to be so nice about it. There’s nothing wrong with, confirming the parking brake is set,removing the person from the airplane and having a “jetway chat” about negative comportment.
You can’t know everything. Be humble about what you know and the same about things you don’t and you will foster CRM.
People expect more out of you and speak to you very differently. It’s both wonderful and thought provoking. You feel like you finally have a voice on the larger scale. But on the other hand, I’m the same guy I was 12 months ago.
Do I miss international? Somewhat. I certainly don’t miss being a first officer. It was simpler, easier in the right seat but I was also extremely bored. Domestic is a lot of fun, especially as captain and there’s a little more money involved, but each additional dollar, it seems, comes with a knife fight. Either I’m handling passenger issues, irregular operations, making “feedback-less’ decisions (was I right? was I wrong?), family life sacrifices, well, every extra dollar is certainly earned the hard way.
Ultimately, upgrading to 320 captain was the best “mistake” I’ve made professionally.
But I could certainly use more time at home and a vacation.
