Nugget #69 Excellent post. Remember there is no such thing as a dumb question. It's only dumb if you didn't ask a question and then a few days later find your self in the exact predicament that had you asked the question you now would have the answer. So ask all the questions you want and I'll try to give you the best answer I have.
If your flying go ahead and make a decision. My rule is if it doesn't violate me or crunch the airplane than go ahead with what your doing. If you want to build this approach go ahead. If you want the ice on just ask. Left or right around a thunderstorm. Choose,,,,, but choose wisely. If your decision is that bad then I'll step in.
For the new FMS F/O's I've noticed this and I've been a captain on both the Maddog and Bus. Everybody LOVES to play with the box. (That includes new captains) As I recall when I was a F/O back in '95 or so the rule on the dog was if your the PF then you couldn't touch the MCDU below 18,000. Above this go ahead in the climb or descent but do go crazy. IMHO were to anal on the Maddog but on the bus it can be a dogfight to see who can get to the MCDU or the GCP first.
Little story. As a bus captain I had a new F/O to SIBA and only 3 months in the airplane. We were doing Basil/Paris hub turns all week. Needless to say this guy was totally lost for the first couple of nights. So while we were having a beer in a pub that night he kept saying how sorry he was. I said hey I'm not a check airman or anything but you buy me one beer and I'll tell you how the game is played, so that at the end of the week you'll be a superstar. So evernight as we flew I talked about international ops, and how the cockpit is run. No such thing as a silly question. By the end of the week he was getting pretty good and we got a no-notice line check from STDS. This flight had it all. Weather, reroute, holding, runway changes, and a Cat-3 to boot. In the debrief at the bar the STDS guy said that was one of the smoothest flight he had seen.
Just looked over at the F/O and winked.
Beer taste pretty good too.
P.S. I can fly like hell just can't spell for sh*t