Personality change IN the airplane

Tld

Waffles Brah.
Recently I have had the opportunity to fly with someone who has had MUCH more experience than I do, flying heavy stuff, and is very senior with the company he flies for. Needless to say, I was a little intimidated to fly with him....And based on his demeanor (cocky, callous) on the ground, I thought we may have some conflicts. However, I'm happy to say that I have been very pleasantly suprised. He is a completely different person in the airplane. Very knowlegeable (obviously), But completely humble about his lack of recency in singles. He has obviously had a lot of CRM training.

I'm sure this 'personality change' experience may not be new to many of you, and I've seen this a little bit before, but never so dramatic. I am amazed at the transition a person's personality can undergo when they are in the airplane vs. out of the airplane, at least in a situation such as this. I know that with students this happens a lot, but I'm curious to hear other people's similar experiences...good and bad.
 
I know a few guys who are the opposite.....real cool and laid back in the brief, and way intense in the jet. Not necissarily a bad thing, as it forces you to be better, but it certainly can be startling.
 
That's fairly common. I know a lot of folks who are outright nuts on layovers but are very conservative when it's game time in the airplane.

Work hard, play hard they always say.
 
That's fairly common. I know a lot of folks who are outright nuts on layovers but are very conservative when it's game time in the airplane.

Work hard, play hard they always say.

I think all of us act a little differently in the cockpit than we do in everyday life because, or at least we should, realize the added responsibility that comes with being a pilot. I have to wonder though, why the airlines take into consideration things outside the cockpit, such as driving records, when a person can be completely different in the cockpit vs. the drivers seat. Just wondering.
 
Doug, you may want to delete this post--it is about a real person and I don't want to infringe on any policies you have on this sort of thing.

b.

You can edit your own post and take out his name if you want.

By the way, you got the middle initial wrong.;)
 
I agree with AMG... Most of the times I see a change in personality in the airplane its when someone turns into a total demon once the door is shut.... I really wanted to take a DPE, open the door of a seminole and pitch him right through the prop for being just a total jerk for which was not necessary at all....
 
I agree with AMG... Most of the times I see a change in personality in the airplane its when someone turns into a total demon once the door is shut.... I really wanted to take a DPE, open the door of a seminole and pitch him right through the prop for being just a total jerk for which was not necessary at all....


....this has been my experience in the past as well, which is why i was so amazed to see that it goes both ways....i'm still astounded, and looking forward to flying with this guy again.
 
Mine does.

I think it is for the better;.

I do it on purpose.

In "real life" I am a bit on the distracted side--peripatetic, if you will; you can see it in the nature of my blog posts.

In the airplane, I am somebody better.


Let me digress a bit to flesh out this idea.

I put on my aviaton game-face--like a linebacker, a slugger, a hockey player--I am doing something unique--my attention, wonderfully focused (pace Dr. Kissinger)


When jogging, I usually daydream about playing football and knocking the *insert automatically deleted expletive that rhymes with 'spit' here* out of people ; my models are Mike Alstott, Larry Csonka and Crazy Legs Hirsch. If I am daydreaming about defense, my models are Mike Singletary, John Lynch and Hardy (hardware) Nickerson.

When being athletic, I behave like these men.

Notice I am not any of those skinny, squirrely, guys--Sander's from Detroit being the best*. I have consiously made a choice of how I will behave. Also, in every case that prima donna reciever from the Dallas Cowboys always gets knocked out of football when I am daydreaming (kinda what like Mike Alstott did to Pepper Johnson in Atlanta during the Buc's breakout year)!

When I lift weights, my models are the power guys, not the "cake" guys.
Squats, deadlifts, snatches and sweat--guys who bench 500 lbs for reps who look like everybody else when wearing street clothes--vs the *insert automatically deleted expletive that rhymes with '' here*

Now back to aviation.

In the airplane, I consiously model my behaviour after Scott Glenn as Commander Bart Mancuso of the USS Dallas in the movie The Hunt For Red October http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C2tE7vjdHk
(I have seen that movie 10's of times and have yet to grow bored by it--favorite line "Talk About PUKE!")

The hallmarks of his behaviour in a pressure situation are:


  • calm your crew (student)
  • lower the volume of your voice.
  • communicate
  • speak clearly.
  • speak concisely
  • think.
  • focus.
  • it is your ship.
That's me in the aircraft.

You can also see the same behaviour in the movie "Master and Commander" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C2tE7vjdHk
(or maybe that was the name of the book) where Russel Crowe's ship is being tailed by some french bastards. During the a chase, there is a scene where he is teaching his (very young) officers how to use the sextant. The kids (who were addressed as Mr.) would look back nervously at the chasing ship and the captain would point them back to the their task at hand.

again,


  • calm
  • focused


b.

*yeah, Crazy Leg's Hirsch was a squirrelly bastard, but if I daydream about running like him then he is a tough s.o.b too.
 
You'll see this change alot.

Very rarely do you have a precursor of the behavior switch, at least rarely have I noticed it. Then again, I don't have that personality savvy. I think everyone is WYSIWYG like I like to think of myself.

There are instances when you see someone mild mannered on the ground, and you'll pick up bits and pieces in general conversation that make you go "Huh? - does not compute" about what they will be like in an airplane.

Be thankful of the personality change. I ended up toe-to-toe once with a guy because he was like that on the ground, and in the plane too. I held my ground, and learned another tool for the CRM toolbag.

It seems like I've encountered as many personality swaps as I have not in my short, and fairly sheltered, flying career.

Glad this worked out for you and you have a new resource!!
 
You can edit your own post and take out his name if you want.

By the way, you got the middle initial wrong.;)

Thanks, did not know.

If it doesn't break blog policy, I will leave the name in place. I will say nothing here that I won't say to somebody's face.

What is the middle initial?

What's sad, is that on the ground, I liked the guy!

b.
 
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