What % of being a PIC actually involves flying?

[Coool Hand Luke]

So I have this (female) F/O that I fly with. She is always saying that she is ready to upgrade to PIC. She has maybe around 1500 TT. So I tell her that in my opinion only about 10% of being a PIC involves the actual flying of the aircraft, but she doesn't get it. So my esteemed colleagues, what's your opinion.

Oh, on a related subject, she recently asked me (sort of jokingly) several times during a sequence if I had preflighted the plane. Now I had noticed a few times that she never uses a flashlight to preflight, which made me wonder. Then a few weeks ago she was flying with another captain and they had to shut one down inflight. Seems the oil filler cap was not properly secured by MX and it was not discovered on the preflight. So I got concerned and decided to show up early and place a few items for her to find on the preflight. Specifically I placed some "shop rags" in the engine inlet and in the nose gear (if your are familar with the EMB-120, I put it right next to where the gear pin is removed). Anyway, the preflight was completed and she didn't find anything. I feel like I am living the Army slogan: I am an army of one.

Anyway, I didn't report this, but I did have a conservation with her about what it really means to be (or to call yourself) a professional.

 

[MauleSkinner]

Unfortunately, in my experience, these are also the people who want you to fly any leg that's out of the ordinary, and the phrase "because I've never done it before," or "I wasn't trained in that" eventually gets used.

Never mind the fact that YOU'VE never done it before, or been trained in it, either.

Fly safe!

David

 

[Waldom]

It seems to me that what is in question here is individual character and not flying experience and minimum flight hour requirements.

If crew assignments were up to me, I would not consider this individual for command if they had ten thousand hours. Based on the information you provided, I would no longer consider her for S.I.C. assignment either. Perhaps one warning and official probation for a given period of time would help her see the light, but I doubt that this pilot's attitude is fixable.

I do find one thing mentioned in your post troubling, though. What difference does it make that this pilot is male or female, and why did you feel you had to mention her gender in your first sentence?

 

[Coool Hand Luke]

Sorry if I came off that way. I am not anti-female pilots at all. Actually it's much worse as I had a hand in her being hired, which now reflects on me.

 

[willNOTfly4free]

I do find one thing mentioned in your post troubling, though. What difference does it make that this pilot is male or female, and why did you feel you had to mention her gender in your first sentence?

Probably for the same reason he mentioned the a/c type. It paints a better picture of the dilemma. I wouldn't look too much into it.

 

[Waldom]

I know the feeling, Coool Hand. I once lobbied hard with a chief pilot and D.O. that I had a lot of respect for to bring a part-timer they didn't care for into a full-time position. We all had to live with the results for the next six years and it wasn't a pleasent experience.

I had the idea that I could help this person smooth out the rough edges in their personality and flying technique after a while. I was wrong. That's why my original post on this thread seems ruthless.

 

[Say Again Over]

Get used to it, in the future FO's aren't going to get any better.

 

[nosehair]

Probably for the same reason he mentioned the a/c type. It paints a better picture of the dilemma. I wouldn't look too much into it.

Yeah, that's the attitude that troubles me out there. "Why did you mention she's a girl?" If that's what Waldon heard - if that's what Waldon focused on, instead of the relative substance of the report, then Waldon is the one looking for a gender issue.

Boys and girls are different. Pipers and Cessnas are different. They are both equal in basic performance and user authority in airspace use, but they are different when describing performance stats just as the use of gender in describing human performance.

 

[Waldom]

Nosehair, I've heard there are differences. As a matter of fact, I'm rather fond of them.

What I don't understand is what the sex of a pilot has to do with flying an airplane or job performance. Are you suggesting lower standards for female pilots? I don't buy that one.

 

[Medivacer]

Maybe when he wanted to use the pronouns She, her etc... instead of typing SNP (said named pilot).

We get it, sex doesn't determine quality of the pilot.