Mamma said there would be days like this....
Well, this has been interesting. H.P. does get his name around. H.P. could be any creep at any airline. The point I was trying to make about H.P. or any creep at any other airline is that most green, wet-behind-the-ear F/O's on probation don't have any courage to do what needs to be done. remember being asked in the interview "What would you do with a Captain who goes below minimums on an approach in IMC." Of course you gave the proper canned response you were told to give to that question. The problem isn't so easy when you're going mach .82+ at FL390 with a psycho and you are responsible for 70 souls on board. Are you going to do the right thing then?
I learned something I want to share with you all, I flew with an H.P. type Capt. once and he pushed the aircraft out of limitations. He wanted to climb to FL410 when the a/c was 4,000lbs too heavy. We were climbing at 200fpm losing airspeed and ended up 12knots below Vt and WAY below the green bar (that's 1.3 X stall speed in case you didn't know) I gave the Capt. the canned challenge we're taught to say, I questioned the capt, but did I do anyting about it? No. I should have told ATC we are decsending to FLXX0 due to turbulence or something like that. I cowerd back for fear of the guy in the left seat. Wrong thing to do.
What is the lesson to learn? Think of the people in the back first, your ticket second, and the psycho in the left seat last. Then, call pro standards immediately after block in. Commit to never flying with the guy again. I know a lot of you guys are on probation and you're afraid of having a bad mark. That should be your last concern. The chances are pretty high that pro standards and management have had conversations about this guy. They want to get rid of him too, but can't unless they have enough 'dirt' on him. This guy is protected by the same union that you are. He has protection up until the point where the union is tired of listening to stories from F/Os and Flight attendants. Another thing, don't be afraid of walking off the plane. Nothing gets fixed if you "tough it" for that one extra turn with these guys. Its kind of like leaving the gate wihout catering or lav service because you're in a hurry. If you do that, then you've given catering and lav service an excuse to ignore the call. Problems don't get fixed when you give in. Complain to the union enough times, and he won't have union protection. So, don't worry they are going to give you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to guys like this. The more people who call pro standards or refuse to fly with these guys, the sooner they will be removed from flying status and we can get on with business instead of talking about H.P. or other psychos. Its entertaining, yes, but like I said in my first thread, this guy is a statistic just waiting to happen. Lets take some responsibility to make sure he doesn't. Our indusry can't handle any bad marks caused by the H.P.'s out there with CRM and ego problems. They are usually nice in the crew lounge and jerks in the cockpit because they are hiding behind their own insecurities. They are a danger to themselves and everyone around them.
Take your self respect and your standard of safety with you to the cockpit. You aren't an F/O, you're a Captain in training. You don't have to fly with H.P.
