Nasty Chief Pilots

[747flyboy]

It seems to me that 747Flyboy thinks he is God's gift to aviation!

What's the common denominator in all the Captains you think are trying to kill you? It's you! And your attitude problem.

I don't think I'd have wanted to fly with you as my F/O. I run a very open, even "democratic" flight deck. I solicit and act on all crew inputs.....But I do not let the F/O assume "command" of the flight.

Just my $.02

If you run a democratic cockpit and listen to all crew input and didn't do anything stupid and unsafe than you and I would have flown together very safely and had alot of fun doing it. Hell, I used two of those "good" captains that I was a co-pilot for 7 years ago last month to fill in at my company as contract guys, we're all still friends.

Pilots who think they're God's gift to aviation are the ones who talk like they're the best and they know everything....I don't do that, I learn new things every week, be it a small thing or a big eye-opener.

One thing I don't subscribe to and I don't think any new co-pilot or experienced co-pilot should subscribe to is sitting there watching a loser captain (and there's a BUNCH of them out there) risk their lives or doing very stupid things over and over......all in the name of "tradition" that says the captain is the king of the ship. F#%k that my friend. Captains aren't king of my life.

I lost 3 friends in a single mid-air collision in a Learjet, another friend 4 months later from running off a runway in a Learjet in Pennsylvania...all from bad captain decisions at this same company and the co-pilots were too new to want to speak up. So keep your piehole shut about how I conducted myself as a co-pilot. Both accidents involved the crappy captains I'm speaking of. Only good thing about the accidents is that they're gone too.

And I'm not the common denominator with all these captains.....there were a handful of contract losers that couldn't get real jobs anywhere else, but as you may know, Part 135 operators will use anyone to get the job done. MOST of the captains I flew with were awesome and I learned volumes from them. All of our co-pilots would report to the boss about these idiots, I was just the one who took action when it mattered, which was in the air while flying the dang plane, and I simply didn't let a plane leave the ground unsafe. Period, that the rule and thats the way it should be. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THAT?

Captains who think their God are the problem in this industry, not the co-pilots who speak up and take some control when they see a potential problem.

Jeez, this issue is so simple but it'll probably never end because there's always someone that feels threatened that their manhood as a captain is challenged.

 

[maximizer]

........he has many issues. most which maturity will take care of.imp:

 

[HawkDrvr]

Been watching this thread develop and I felt compelled to chime in with some insight...

However unpopular my feelings may be I have noticed over the past few years an increasing trend of complaints about Captains. I tend to attribute most of this to the corresponding increasing trend of very young F.O.'s that are sitting in equipment today that 15 years ago they wouldn't have a prayer of operating at the experience level they are today... Add to this the fact that within today's generation it is very rare to find an early twenty-something that can take constructive criticism and has attention to detail.

Bottom line is the fact that the PIC is the final authority as to the safe operation of the aircraft. It is his/her responsibility to make sure everything gets done correctly and a good Captain will teach when the opportunity presents itself. However, while the advances in training have made it possible to place individuals in the right seat with barely 1000 TT (sometimes even less) the Captains are many times left without an experienced partner to add a valuable second opinion to the decision making process. Sure most F.O.'s with the right training are very capable but 5 or 6 years of being in the real world can't be taught in a FSI/Simuflite 14 day initial. Sure they can master V1 cuts, electrical failures, or any other emergencies that the sim. can throw at them but most have a hard time looking at a line of convective activity to make an informed decision on where/if to get by it.

Simply put, there are so many things that can only learned through experience and there are so many jet F.O.'s today that have skipped right by the traditional experience building jobs and find themselves thrown in to situations where the Captain may or may not have time to be an effective teacher. I think it is in these situations where many Captains get unfairly labeled as A-holes... Over the past 10 years of operating turbine equipment I can count on 1 hand the number of true "A-hole" Captains. This combined with the unbelievable amount of whining from F.O.'s about jerk Captains tells me that something doesn't add up and that something has changed... I will leave it to the rest of you to figure it out.

Flame away...:erm:

 

[Snakum]

Being lucky enough to fly with many different Captains over the past year, each one operating differently from the others (Part 91), I have found that adapting to, and finding your boundaries with, each one individually, is the best way to cultivate an ally in learning and growing as a pilot. And the best way for me to do that on my first day with a new Captain is to keep my eyes and ears open and my big mouth shut.

I have yet to have a Captain that failed to respond positively when he's shown the respect he deserves as the 'Boss' (and he IS the boss, whether we like it or not), and when shown a willingness to learn and to do things the way he wants them done. Every single one of them has taken the time to explain why they do something a certain way when asked in a humble and professional manner, in the spirit of learning. And every single one of them has bent over backwards to help me step up to the next level, even going so far as to spend an hour in front of a whiteboard or with a notebook in the FBO late on a Saturday night when he'd much rather be going home to the wife and kids, going over what I could have done better or differently. You just don't get that kind of mentoring by being a loud-mouthed know-it-all.

If one of them did something I thought was clearly dangerous I would speak up immediately, and all of them thus far have asked me to do exactly that. I'd even punch one and take the aircraft if I thought he'd gone nuts and was going to get us both seriously kilt. But outside that higely remote possibility ... the Captain is, indeed, the 'boss', and I am there to assist, and to learn. And as I said, the best way for me to learn is for me to shut my pie hole and leave my ego in the car.

You might want to try that sometime, 747flyboy. You may find that the consistent problems you evidently have with Captains diminishes quite a bit, or disappears altogether.

 

[TxPilot0878]

Cont'd

Grumman and tracearabians....many props!

I have flown for the scum of the earth 135 cargo companies, skydive ops, and instructing gigs....

but this line is hilarious and made me smile...I am definitely gonna steal and use it!!!!!

This dick head I flew with had the personality of a styrofoam cup!!

Grumman....your line about opposite direction of what you requested is classic! We will have to compare notes...probably the same guy!

 

[NCherches]

The worst are chief pilot's who fly an airplane in a flight department and think that just because they're owners/crews are happy on their airplane the whole department is running smooth...

Chief Pilot's hired solely by the grey-ness of their hair aren't always the best bet.

 

[Basil]

The worst are chief pilot's who fly an airplane in a flight department and think that just because they're owners/crews are happy on their airplane the whole department is running smooth...

Chief Pilot's hired solely by the grey-ness of their hair aren't always the best bet.

I wonder who you could be talking about?

 

[ILOVEBEER]

TF, chief pilot at a regional that flies in the Sky, West of the rockies, is without a doubt the biggest d-bag in the US, if not the world.




.

 

[NCherches]

I wonder who you could be talking about?

...no one in particular lol... just making a simple statement haha... happy to longer be working for him :beer:

 

[TCAS]

However unpopular my feelings may be I have noticed over the past few years an increasing trend of complaints about Captains. I tend to attribute most of this to the corresponding increasing trend of very young F.O.'s that are sitting in equipment today that 15 years ago they wouldn't have a prayer of operating at the experience level they are today... Add to this the fact that within today's generation it is very rare to find an early twenty-something that can take constructive criticism and has attention to detail.

AMEN! + 1 ... and it's the same thing over in the "airline world."