Does the captain fly the first leg?

It seems about 50/50 at my airline if the captain asks if I want to fly the first leg. If it's a captain I know I'll usually take him up on the offer. If it's a captain I don't know I usually let them fly first if given the option in order to see what their style is.
 
68*-72*, sunny, APU off I'll do the walk around any other time the FO does it

I like the switching at outstations thing, hate when you do a hub-to-hub flight it totally screws with that and takes someone taking one for the team to get back on track.
 
At my shop, the CA usually takes the first leg. In general, the more relaxed guys will offer the first leg. I fly pretty much the same way every day. If a CA has a valid issue with something, I just change it for that trip. What irks me is the CA who thinks his technique is a procedure.

I've seen maybe 10% of CA's swap at the out station. I don't have a preference either way. I'm doing nothing but turns next month...
 
I don't think I explained how the selection tends to go at DL...

Many unfamiliar (first time I've flown with) "south" (former DL) captains start with the first leg without question. I preflight always assuming this. Guys that I've flown with almost always give the option. North guys or senior "day trip" DL guys tend give the choice. I still preflight assuming I'll be PM starting out unless told otherwise. Given the choice (unless I've been stuck doing all ATL arrivals lately), I do the transponder toss. If it points to me, I fly... if not, they fly.
 
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Seggy said:
Something to note.

At the airline @CaptBill and I work for, during our CRM/TEM class they highly recommend that the Captain has the First Officer fly the first leg of a trip. Turns out it is safer to have the First Officer fly the first leg as a high proportion of accidents occur first leg of a trip and with the Captain as the pilot flying
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Huh, interesting. What other tidbits do you have?
 
I usually ask at the start of the trip if my FO wants to start. If (s)he has no preference I'll sometimes ask the FA who is flying, or resort to the coin flip/app. From then on I usually like to go 2 legs at a time to make sure we're not landing in the same place all the time. If I've never been somewhere before I like to fly for no real reason other than I haven't been there before and I like to land in new places. This job can get ridiculously repetitive and boring at times, I think it's important to try and shake things up and keep it fresh. Keeps everyone in the game.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Huh, interesting. What other tidbits do you have?
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Another fact they brought up is the point that once you set up an approach set up to a runway, and have it all briefed, don't change it last minute.

Obviously airport conditions and traffic patterns can change and you need to adapt to those changes, but if you set up an approach just fly that one if you can. There are a higher increased number of incidents that occur after a last minute approach/runway change.

@CaptBill and I almost had a last minute runway change happen last night, as ATC wasn't sure what they were going to give us. We just requested what we had set up and they obliged.
 
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E_Dawg said:
I usually just used to let the FOs decide. Some captains like to fly the first leg and so be it, to each their own. But FOs are just fine at flying too, even new ones, and let's face it - it's not rocket science as much as some like to pretend that it is.
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Normal FO's are fine. That @E_Dawg guy? I don't know about him :)
 
dasleben said:
It's even better making coffee for the same hourly rate.
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