Regional Captian Douchebag Syndrome-RCDS

[BusDriver12]

You may Have RCDS-Regional Captain Douchebag Syndrome if these situations apply to you—

If you are constantly messing with the flight control panel…when you are NON-flying pilot-you may have RCDS

If you are constantly doing the FO’s flows- even one that consist of 2 switches.-you may have RCDS

If your crew upon reaching the overnight is constantly “tired” “not hungry” or “going to catch up on my F.O.M. reading tonight” instead of going out and having a few beers with you”-you may have RCDS

If when ATC calls your call sign you verbally announce everything that the FO is to reply back. Just in case the FO doesn’t know what it means when ATC asks “hows the ride at 350?” Thanks for the help capt.—you do have RCDS

If you have said more than once on a trip, “hey, crack the boards were looking a little high” or “I think you better increase your rate of descent” Descent planning isn’t hard, the FO knows how to do it, probably better than you do and may have a lot more experience than you do, I don’t tell you how to fly unless its unsafe, so you should do the same. If I needed a flying style coach I would ask…..-you have RCDS

If there is a celebrity on board and you make 15 PA’s—while you are the flying pilot- you may have RCDS

If you are captain and don’t know how to program the FMS. And refuse to ask for help from the FO- you may have RCDS

If you annonce over the PA on the descent announcement that the FO is going to be landing the airplane today…..you may have RCDS (I actually heard this one the other day!!)

If you want to brief the approach 250 miles out, “just to get it done with” – you may have RCDS.

If in the pre-flight pre-trip briefing you say “I fly by the book or im laid back”- nobody flies 100 % by the book and if you are laid back, you don’t need to say it, it will take care of itself.- you may have RCDS.

If you try to get the fat FA drunk every night and still couldn’t score with her or any other girl on the face of the earth- you might have RCDS

Remedies for RCDS—realize that your crew members are professionals and have had the same training you have, you don’t need to tell them what to do every 5 seconds like they are 3 years old, you are not the almighty ruler of the crew. If you do this your crew doesn’t like you and doesn’t want to be around you. They don’t respect you. The company has forced me to hang around you for the next 4 days, Its not my decision. Just show your crew some respect and you will be respected back. And fly when its your turn to FLY and run the radios when its your turn to run the radios.

 

[mozzer]

amem brother. i love the "ok lets call for taxi" after the push......
no sh!t i thought we were gonna just sit here and block everybody

how bout the capt that while flying....get the atis, sets speeds, calls ops.....i know of more than one guy who does this....drives me nuts

 

[=w=]

Or if you've ever used the line "because I have 4 stripes and you only have three".... bingo! RCDS

Also had one tell me to report +/- 5 kts on final when the wind was blowing down the runway at 8 gusting to 15. Hello?

 

[scar1900]

I'm always worried when a captain i just met tells me "yea, i'm pretty laid back." That's when I know I'm screwed.

 

[BOOYA]

how bout the capt that while flying....get the atis, sets speeds, calls ops.....i know of more than one guy who does this....drives me nuts

Awesome! If I could be so luck to fly with this guy. I have having to put down my discrete reading materials to do this tedious work.

 

[JI Gone OH]

Thanks for all of the wonderful tips. I'll try and do better before I get displaced back to the right seat.... In the meantime, would you grab the A.T.I.S.?

 

[EMB170Pilot]

Or if you've ever used the line "because I have 4 stripes and you only have three".... bingo! RCDS

Also had one tell me to report +/- 5 kts on final when the wind was blowing down the runway at 8 gusting to 15. Hello?

This is when you extend your middle finger, put it on your epaulets and say, "I got your 4th stripe right here!"

 

[Torpid]

"You may have FODS when you think that having 2500 hours means you know everything and the CA should just shut up and watch you perform."

 

[CA1900]

Wholeheartedly agree (and I think I've flown with Captain Douchebag here at CommutAir...heh), except on one:

Descent planning isn’t hard, the FO knows how to do it, probably better than you do and may have a lot more experience than you do, I don’t tell you how to fly unless its unsafe, so you should do the same. If I needed a flying style coach I would ask…..

If someone's not doing something he's supposed to be doing while we fly together, it's my job to point it out as his immediate supervisor. I'm not talking about an occasional cruncher landing. I'm talking about things like descent planning, which you brought up. Let me give you a scenario I see frequently:

You're 150 miles east of Buffalo at FL240. You're instructed to "Cross 50 miles east of Buffalo at 11,000." Your first officer, the PF, starts to descend immediately towards the cumulus, "so I won't forget." You're telling me you wouldn't correct him? He's giving up >60 miles of smooth air, low fuel burns, and high TAS, because he either doesn't know how to do the calculation, or is too lazy to do it or set it up in the box. Pointing that out is not being a "flying style coach," that's correcting poor airmanship.

I don't have to be a jerk when I mention it, and I'm not, but it would be negligent on my part to let it go uncorrected. "Hey, why don't we wait until we need to go down, so we can stay high as long as possible?" He'll either plan a proper descent out and do it (which most people do anyway; that's the point), or if he doesn't know how, he'll ask (which I've also seen, especially in folks new to the airline).

Letting him fly for 60 miles through turbulence when a little planning would have prevented it? That's being a "douchebag" -- to the passengers who paid for the flight, to the company paying the fuel bill, and even to the FO who's developing his skills for upgrade, eventually.

That goes both ways, incidentally. If I miss my descent point when I'm PF, I fully expect the first officer to chime in and remind me it's time to go down now. That's how a crew works together. Anybody who gets that worked up when a genuine mistake is pointed out is probably in the wrong business.

 

[Koslen]

You may Have RCDS-Regional Captain Douchebag Syndrome if these situations apply to you—

If you are constantly messing with the flight control panel…when you are NON-flying pilot-you may have RCDS

If you are constantly doing the FO’s flows- even one that consist of 2 switches.-you may have RCDS

If your crew upon reaching the overnight is constantly “tired” “not hungry” or “going to catch up on my F.O.M. reading tonight” instead of going out and having a few beers with you”-you may have RCDS

If when ATC calls your call sign you verbally announce everything that the FO is to reply back. Just in case the FO doesn’t know what it means when ATC asks “hows the ride at 350?” Thanks for the help capt.—you do have RCDS

If you have said more than once on a trip, “hey, crack the boards were looking a little high” or “I think you better increase your rate of descent” Descent planning isn’t hard, the FO knows how to do it, probably better than you do and may have a lot more experience than you do, I don’t tell you how to fly unless its unsafe, so you should do the same. If I needed a flying style coach I would ask…..-you have RCDS

If there is a celebrity on board and you make 15 PA’s—while you are the flying pilot- you may have RCDS

If you are captain and don’t know how to program the FMS. And refuse to ask for help from the FO- you may have RCDS

If you annonce over the PA on the descent announcement that the FO is going to be landing the airplane today…..you may have RCDS (I actually heard this one the other day!!)

If you want to brief the approach 250 miles out, “just to get it done with” – you may have RCDS.

If in the pre-flight pre-trip briefing you say “I fly by the book or im laid back”- nobody flies 100 % by the book and if you are laid back, you don’t need to say it, it will take care of itself.- you may have RCDS.

If you try to get the fat FA drunk every night and still couldn’t score with her or any other girl on the face of the earth- you might have RCDS

Remedies for RCDS—realize that your crew members are professionals and have had the same training you have, you don’t need to tell them what to do every 5 seconds like they are 3 years old, you are not the almighty ruler of the crew. If you do this your crew doesn’t like you and doesn’t want to be around you. They don’t respect you. The company has forced me to hang around you for the next 4 days, Its not my decision. Just show your crew some respect and you will be respected back. And fly when its your turn to FLY and run the radios when its your turn to run the radios.

Good stuff here. Only two things though. The Captain is the boss of the flight like or not and he/she does get to decide who operates any giving leg. Other than those pionts your spot on!