Difficult Captains

[AA717driver]

TWA had some from the "old school" who thought abuse was the best motivator. I had two classmates walk out on one individual.

When he asked where they were going, he begged them to stay.TC

 

[Super 80]

I have learned something from every Captain I have ever flown with.

Some I learn how to be.

From others I learn how not to be.

My job is to make everyone else's job easier in life.

Ultimately, my job is to be in service to others. That's cool. And if you want to lead, you learn how to wash other people's feet.

Now there's a lesson for you.

One thing that motivated me to put my bid in for Captain was a Captain that told me what to do just as I was about to do it. As I was showering at O'dark thirty one day, I said to myself, "I could be showering at O'dark thirty and making a whole lot more money..."

And I don't ever try to tell an FO what to do, although I will show them all the things I've learned they may not know. And to a man and woman, they all come away and say, "Hey, that's something I never thought of before." And half the stuff I show them I got from an FO, and the other half from another Captain.

 

[Rick1128]

There are times when it appropriate for a Captain to raise his voice, not yell just raise his voice. But those times are generally few and far between. The F/O in question also may need to look at himself to see if he was the issue. Did the Captain not get a response the first time so raise his voice thinking you didn't hear him. When the tension increases it is normal for humans to raise their voice to some degree. If you think that is yelling, then you need to watch R. Lee Ermy on 'Mail Call' to see what real yelling is about.

 

[WrightAvia]

I was talking with some of my fellow pilots about captains we'd flown with or had heard of who were difficult to get along with...demanding, arrogant, paranoid, etc. The one story that really amazed me was of a first officer and flight attendant who became so disgusted with the way their captain was treating them that they walked off the flight. Went straight to the chief pilot's office and said "we're not flying with that jackass."

That's a pretty bold move. Has anybody else heard of--or been in--situations like that? I don't know if I'd have had the nerve as an F/O to tell any captain to take a flying leap no matter how much of a jerk he or she was.

Yea, I hear ya man. Back in the good old days, people like FO's and FA's weren't so sensitive. They didn't go around thinking they were victims, because they were subject to the management of the pilot IN command.

 

[350DRIVER]

We have a few old school captains who are known to scream and yell should some f.o screw something up badly enough. I personally have never experienced the yelling or screaming when I was in the right seat but I praise them in a way since if a person screws something up that bad then they surely don't deserve a rose or lollypop or a pat on the back. Mistakes need to be kept to a minimum at this level when you are being paid for a "skill" that you supposebly have. We have this one young new hire girl (blonde) who seems to be able to screw many things up and I laugh when the captains tell me what she then must go through. You think she would learn after a while to do it the "right" and "correct" way.. I fortunately have yet to have to fly with her. (counting blessings)


3 5 0

 

[Fly-n-high]

Go ahead and yell at your FO's and then go to bathroom and see how many times your name shows up on the wall.

If the situation requires some type of debriefing then you do it on the ground outside of the aircraft...somewhere away from the view of the public. The absolute stupidest thing you can do as a captain is stir something up in the cockpit.

If things are really bad then you just take the controls away from the FO, turn the autopilot on, and verify the checklist items as the FO performs them.

 

[mar]

We'll get along fine just as long as...

...you do everything my way.

I've had difficult captains.

And I've been the difficult captain.

I suppose it all depends on your perspective.

I remember flying with one captain who was quite the perfectionist---and always the 'flying pilot' regardless of whose leg it was.

I was on the descent and made an adjustment to the power levers (Metroliner)...the captain adjusted my adjustment.

After a whole day of this I finally cracked. "Look," I said, "you *have* to let me make mistakes! I'm not talking about smoking hole mistakes, but if I'm gonna learn how to fly this airplane I need to FLY this airplane."

He said, "Fine. The next leg is yours too but you have to prove to me that you'll fly every phase of flight per the FMG to ATP standards."

I flew the approach to ATP standards, landed in the touchdown zone, on speed, on centerline.

He conceded, "That's not how I would've done it but nice job."

The one time (???) I was the difficult captain I was flying with a *very* cocky 26-year old copilot who seriously thought the other captains didn't like to fly with him because he landed the airplane better than they.

Whatever.

One morning, I'm quickly growing very tired of listening to how good he thinks he is. The next leg is a very quick 50 mile trip. The weather is just above mins in a snow shower and requires a VOR approach with a DME arc transition. The runway is contaminated with about 2-3 inches of loose snow and 6000 feet long.



It's his leg.

Long story short: Scalloped arc; unstable approach; break out high and fast; I ask, "What are you gonna do?"

"Um, let's circle and come back around."

"Nope, the vis is two miles and besides you didn't brief that."

"Ok, let's go around."

"All right, what the call?"

<<Trees and runway sliding past the whole time....>>

"Um, 'Max Power.'"

"Max Power, and what....?"

"Max Power, flaps one-half."

"Max Power is set, flaps one-half, I have the controls, positive rate, gear up, report the missed to radio...."

After we (I) landed, we parked and I let him have it. I didn't yell. I didn't cuss. But I called him on the carpet. To his credit he never got defensive. He just listened.

I had never chewed out a copilot before that and I have never done so since.

I think he learned something that day.

 

[Flying Illini]

Mar,
Sounds like you did the right thing and then handled the debrief in a very professional manner. It would seem that some captains have alot to learn from you.

 

[Swaayze]

As an experienced FO, but relatively inexperienced Captain, I also know that sometimes things can come across poorly even with good intentions.

One occasion: approaching to land we were pretty high and starting to get close to the field. The FO was flying and in a reasonable descent, but not as quickly as we really needed to be in order to meet stabilized approach criteria. I decided to say something, really just as a CYA effort for myself. Unfortunately it must have come out wrong 'cause the FO got a little defensive. It really wasn't a big deal but is a good example of good intentions gone bad.

Hopefully I'll get some slack as I try to learn how to be a good Captain.

OTOH, I recently saw this harsh but true quote: "sometimes being responsible means pissing people off."

 

[~~~^~~~]

Many First Officer friends of mine complain that the "Captain is always watching me, like I don't know how to..." At this point I try to explain that the Captain hopes that the First Officer will always watch him like the Captain doesn't know how to...

First Officers should not always assume a Captain is watching them. The Captain is watching the flight. A Captain can delegate authority, but not responsibility. No matter how it happens, the Captain is responsible.

And regardless which seat you are in, the appropriate reply when the other crew member catches your mistake is, "thank you."

~~~^~~~