Originally Posted by Dave Fitzgerald

Just today, copilot was ahead of me in the terminal. He was going straight to the plane, without talking to me about the flight plan. Headed over water to DEN from HNL. The weather was planed for snow. Minimum fuel to alternate, no room at all for any type of delay.

He said it's fine, so we talked a bit after I said we are supposed to flight plan together. I said I didn't believe the forecast, temp dew point was too close. So we added fuel. Then I said I'll call the dispatcher, he said you don't need to just do it on the ipad. Well.....the dispatcher really hadn't reviewed the flight plan either, and I need to educate him a bit.

Good thing we added fuel. Got to DEN with 1000 RVR freezing fog and snow. It was difficult to see enough to not taxi past the gate.

So, as Mako said, take your time. Don't go till you are ready. Review the papers. There is no physical way you can be ready and read all the maintenance history, notams, wx, and flight plan unless everything goes perfectly. And you still may have to call the dispatcher.

Bottom line is don't work when not on duty. Don't be giving the company a freebie. They will take everything you are willing to give them for free and turn around and hang you with it later. 45 minutes is not enough if you do the thorough job you are supposed to be doing--every leg, and have any margin left for a hiccup.

The company knows all this, yet they still want the reduced report times. This tells me they aren't really serious about an on time departure.