Originally Posted by
Tomcat
I just don't get why this preflight thing is such a big deal. As a southie, I've always shared preflights with the Captain unless something special was going on that required his attention or we broke the 50/50 barrier. As one of two of the first south FO's to go into a north base on a north aircraft, I was more than happy to do tbe preflights. I still like walking around the ramp after 32 years of flying. It was just a cultural difference between north and south, no better, no worse.
Two things that come to mind are; 1) RHIP! Rank has its priviledges! And 2) we have so much else going on, why waste our energy on this! Get over it! Support your Captain. By keeping him out of the SH--, you stay out of the SH--! Get the job done and stay out of the Chief Pilots Office and tbe paper. For those of us that are still FO's, it won't be long before you're sitting in the Captain seat taking care of some BS and asking the FO to take care of the walk around.
To quote tsquare "geeze!" or in other words, find something worthwhile to Bi--- about!
You're correct:
this isn't an important issue. It's only an
interesting conversational piece, and this is just a big conversation.
The only thing you wrote that I wouldn't say is "right on" is the RHIP concept. In my mind, rank implies leadership and example, not only privilege. I think this discussion was correctly re-framed, first by BrakeChatter, as a question of personal attitude. If RHIP was the governing concept here, then what about F/O's that don't try to earn the Best Supporting Actor Oscar? What's their excuse for being lazy? And if RHIP was the only relevant principle in a professional relationship, then infantry commanders would feel free to eat before the troops, and would lead from the back.
Some do, of course, which best makes the point: this is about personal ethics and behavior.