Originally Posted by
prex8390
I have an actual on topic question because Im not apart of this d--- measuring contest,
whats the best way to handle some of these situations since im a new FO
Good question.
Pay attention. Stay involved. Be Proactive. Use your time as an FO to prepare.
Especially when you are on reserve, and the shenanigans start. This is the
situation you will find yourself in when you upgrade, and senior lineholding
FO does not give you all that much exposure to the weirdness. Don't just
check out and troll the interwebz on your phone or hit on the FAs when its
gonna be a long delay while the captain is trying to figure out *** is going
on - Ferry flights? Jacked up MX/MELs? Pax issues? Scheduling / Contract/
FAR issues? Company doesnt know where your crew is or why you actually
need a hotel for the night in that city? This is the time to learn some stuff.
Some captains are arschlochs and will exclude you from a lot. This is still a
learning opportunity. Always be taking mental notes. What did this captain
do that I liked or didnt like? And just as important -
why and
how? What
did he(or she - implied if I dont repeat) do that was smart or stupid? How
did he make the situation worse or better? How did he treat other people
(you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat people below
them on the org chart or socio-economic scale, just like you can tell a lot
about any business by the condition of their bathrooms). Flying airplanes
is not that hard, most of the time. If it were just learning SOPs and
profiles and blah, blah, blah, any monkey could do it- or more disturbing
for our career- machines. But it is the decision making capability of the
person in the front left window seat that makes the crazy "aviation
system" we have in this country work, thousands of times a day.
Be the FO you would want to fly with as a captain. And when the time
comes, have your mental file full of ways to be the captain you (and your
FA's and passengers) would want to fly with.
And dont be too quick to want to upgrade. When you got your Instrument
Rating, did you go out and fly all kinds of planes that you were rated for in
all kinds of weather into all kinds of airspace at all times of the day or
night? Hopefully not. A man's got to know his limitations.
The actual flying of airplanes around is just the stuff that distracts a
captain from the difficult and rewarding work of being pilot in command.
Oh, and a whole lot of this:
Originally Posted by
flynavyj
The key to making the transition to Captain, is to remember who you are
once you take the job. The buck stops with you,it's your job to develop the
next group of leaders at the company, and to safely conduct the flight. If
hte FO crashes the plane, it's your fault. If you crash the plane, it's your
fault...and if the damn thing loses a wing and crashes to the ground, you
can bet they'll still find a way to blame YOU. At that point, you should
realize that you have to be the one making decisions, and hopefully you've
had the proper training and mentoring to be able to do that...accurately,
and quickly.