Originally Posted by ewrbasedpilot

I had one guy tell me when I was an FO on the 727 to close my eyes. He asked my what I saw and I said "nothing". He said, "that's what's yours in this cockpit", and we all laughed. What a great sense of humor...........and something that helps to keep the cockpit a fun place to be. When it's not fun, it's time to find something else to do. A few of the things I do to make the job more enjoyable:

1. I always recognize my entire crew by name on my welcome aboard announcement and tell the pax how honored I am to have such a fine crew flying with me today. The FO's and FA's appreciate being more than a face and it gives them a sense of pride.

2. Unless it's been a while since I've flown, I'll always offer the FO his choice of legs (WX withstanding), and let him make the PA's and fly the legs if he has friends or family aboard. I can choose any leg I want, but I always found it the mark of the best CA's I flew with who didn't hog the good legs. 16 EWR legs in a row as an FO was my record.........NOT very fun or interesting to say the least. If their's an odd number of legs, I'll offer it to the FO or we can "spin" the heading knob to see who gets it: even I fly, odd he flies. Works great.

3. I always tell the FA's they're welcome to come up and chat, take a powernap, or see what we do. Newhires are thrilled to come up and see what we do, and love the view we have.

4. On a longer pairing, I'll try to take everyone out for lunch or dinner at least once. I realize most FA's and FO's aren't making much money, and it does wonders for the backend crew to know their CA "cares". I also try to buy Starbucks for everyone during the trip.

But overall, I think just having a good time with everyone makes this job one of the best. Happy Holidays everyone!!