Originally Posted by
Sink r8
They sweat a while, but some of them take it real well, for a while. They take on the role of the subservient FO, which is just winding the douche-bag Captain spring inside. Beware of the FO that's sweating profusely with a weird nasty grin isntead of a smile.
I think doucheness is a personality trait, and so deeply engrained that a
brief sentence as a FO won't cure the itch, just make them more agressive. Just look at some of the super-senior guys you might fly with. The real young guys that were quick upgrades can be either apreciative of their good fortune, or total entitled pricks that feel no pain but their own. Either way, their fast advancement becomes a personality mutliplier.
This is where the length of the mainline FO position becomes critical. You can only fight your own nature so long. I assume this is why we at Delta like to not upgrade right now. By the time you finally get there, you're a super nice guy (or you just snapped, or you dropped from a coronary event in your tenth year). At upgrade, I assume you're so worn out you don't even have the energy to be an [deleted] anymore.
Throw in a little furlough for character development... Say, I must be one hell of a nice guy!
Good post. I think the longer time as FO, especially on furlough, the less chance of ending up being a D'bag CA. That's why the previously mentioned guys, Jethead and Les Abend, fall in that category because they were lucky enough to be picked up at AA in their mid 20s and upgraded to Captain in 5 years, and have been since 31 yrs of age. Not enough time to develop some humbleness and know what it's like to be in the right seat for more than a half decade. Current AA pilots have 20 year upgrades.