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.
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i agree with you and i would take no offense or accuse the capt in this situation of having RCDS. we all make mistakes. this is the beauty of a 2 person crew.
im talking about situations where there are 10 different ways to descend and still make the restriction, maximize TAS, and conserve fuel. but a capt with RCDS always insists on diving towards the ground way early just so that he can stop worrying about making the restriction and go back to thinkin how much of a stud he is cause he the capt of a 50/70 seat jet.
This same guy could at least apply for a job at a major with all his expertise. but the thought of giving up his 4th stripe terrifies him more than having to walk around in the terminal without his captain hat.