Originally Posted by
ClickClickBoom
And once again, you are only partially correct grasshopper. These("most likely a small few") are more numerous than you might imagine. Why do you think I come here and spend my coffee drinking time trying to get you guys to think outside your boxes? If you want to hear about hard lessons learned, you have to be willing to listen. You and wrx and a couple of others think you can come here and "cyberbully" me and the few other guys who come here and type stuff that doesn't match your expectations and think that your snarky replies will silence us, it won't. What I have done is typed some personal experiences, and you don't like that, for what reason I cannot fathom. Oh well its like talking quantum physics to my dog, he listens, but doesn't really add much to the conversation.
I think what ****ed some people off is the experience you posted rips on said FO. There hasn't been any post that shows when an FO made an intelligent suggestion, did their job, showed they were indeed ready to upgrade, etc. It essentially lumps all the FO's into this mouth - breather, ballast, category. Which, we all know is not the case.
Originally Posted by
flynavyj
This thread is fun!
I had about 800 hours in type when I upgraded...1,515 TT. How do you make captain decisions when you have such low time? Easy.
Don't do stupid things, don't think you know better than the checklist, and if maintenance tells you to start pulling circuit breakers to override computer logic in flight...don't go.
I refused several airplanes, and one flight due to weather. Took over one airplane from an FO during landing (wasn't the time for mentoring) and had one RTB due to equipment failure.
When my class was upgrading, I had a few friends at other regionals who said "you guys just aren't ready yet". Truth is, I'm sure there were some that weren't, but you don't choose your timing. I've met plenty of pilots who've turned down upgrade for personal reasons (family, moving, better schedule, holidays, etc) but I never met one who said "just not ready yet".
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.
Amen. We have tons of manuals at our disposal to back up decisions that the crew makes. I say crew, because that's the way it should be done. It drives me insane to fly with a micro manager that just does things. Diverting downwind of TSTM for example. A good Captain… maybe you already know the answer still asks the FO..Hey what do you think about this, or What would you do? Give the FO a chance to make a decision… If it's the wrong one and/or you disagree take the chance to tell them why your decision is the better one, etc. Like CBreezy and others have said, you need to be a mentor. That's part of what being a Captain is.
The amount of technology and information at our fingertips is endless. You can consult numerous amounts of people before making a decision. A good Captain will do that.
Good Post BTW…at the end of the day, hours don't matter. Critical Thinking skills and leadership ability matter. Some 23 and 24 year olds have it some don't.. the same can be said for some 45 - 50 plus year olds.