"I like arrogance in a pilot."
A movie quote from a nonpilot actor. Correct?
I know that a majority of our PAX won't want to fly with a hastilly hired and trained Scab Air Force.
In fact they do not even want to ride on the plane when our SICs move the controls. Many insist that the Captain fly the trip and have filed complaints and asked Why was the Captain not flying my trip.
Interesting. Hastily trained...how long were you trained? Your replacement may be trained just as quickly...and just how does the customer know this? You're concerned about the customer worrying about who in which seat is doing what...but pilots wearing the same uniform, flying the airplane the same as you do now...are indistinguishable. The passenger doesn't know the difference, only you do. How is the passenger to know that it's not just another run of the mill pilot up front? Truth, the passenger doesn't know. Just you.
The truth? You are replacable. Never forget that.
And in a multi-place aircraft, there are only three things the copilot
should ever say:
1. Nice landing, Sir.
2. I'll buy the first round.
3. I'll take the fat chick.
I realize that your post is tongue-in-cheek, but I've met far too many arrogant pilots in my career that looked at a copilot or first officer as baggage, who believed that the copilot didn't shoulder any legal, moral, or practical responsibility, and that the copilot is there to make the captain look good. Lots of folks out there like that today, and the attitude makes me sick...and violently angry. I don't treat my copilots like that, and I'd sure like to urinate on those who do.
2. You can't fly forever without getting killed.
Far from a truth, a foolish notion. The truth is that you may fly the most statistically-dangerous missions in the world for life and not get hurt or killed. The truth is also that you may be killed on your first sortie. The resignation that one will eventually buy the farm if one flies long enough is submission to a sense of fate; it's giving up, and by it's very nature, is insanity.
7 The pilot is the highest form of life on earth.
Only in terms of physical altitude, or the bar when a few get together and start drinking. Pilots are individuals, but I'd put about 90% of the pilot population on the bottom rungs as far as quality of character and value on the humanity scale. The other ten percent are okay.
9. About check rides:
a. The only real objective of a check ride is to complete it and get the
bxxtard out of your airplane.
b. It has never occurred to any flight examiner that the examinee
couldn't care less what the examiner's opinion of his flying ability really
is.
The only goal during a checkride or practical test should be to impress. Not to pass; anybody can do that. But to impress. Anything less should always be unacceptable. I do care what the check airman's opinion is. It's a reflection of another's view of my performance, it's a reality check, and it's a way of viewing another's criticism to seek ways to improve. Yes, I do care.
15. If you're gonna fly low, do not fly slow!
Some of us would never get any work done if that were true. How about if you have no business flying low, then don't get slow. Otherwise, the airplane is there to be worked. Work it.
21. The concept of "controlling" airspace with radar is just a form of FAA
sarcasm directed at pilots to see if they're gullible enough to swallow it.
Or to put it another way, when's the last time the FAA ever shot anyone
down?
When your pilot certificate is suspended, you won't need to make cute comments about being shot down. The Administrator needn't shoot you down to control you.
22. Remember that the radio is only an electronic suggestion box for the
pilot. Sometimes the only way to clear up a problem is to turn it off.
The radio is a tool, and an important one...but only a tool. Turning it off doesn't clear up any problems, however, any more than turning your back and walking away during a conversation.
25. Mastering the prohibited maneuvers in the Aircraft's Operations Manual
is one of the best forms of aviation life insurance you can get.
Perhaps if one is talking about the best way to end one's life in an airplane...do you suggest that practicing and mastering all the maneuvers which are prohibited in the airplane provides one some measure of safety or insurance against mishap? If that's true, then perhaps it's also true that if one lives long enough one will eventually die in an airplane...but dying in an airplane isn't necessary so long as one doesn't do stupid things like mastering prohibited maneuvers.
