Originally Posted by
DarkSideMoon
You’re grossly exaggerating what I said. I never said “they can’t make it in this industry” or that their question was stupid. There are bullies in this industry, they’re the captains boasting in the crew room about messing with new FO’s and in the sim yelling profanities at stressed out new hires over minor mistakes. Telling someone they’re being lazy, and that those habits will not help them on the line, does not make me a bully. I said nothing personally insulting or demeaning.
Criticism isn’t bullying.
Their question is great! It can just be answered by reading. Nowhere did I claim I had “superior pilot skills”. Most of the difficulty in this job isn’t flying, it’s reading and understanding your manuals. I’m usually very polite, in this case I was a bit curt, but the underlying advice is sound.
I'd rather an FO ask me a hundred questions, and avoid doing something stupid, than have them afraid to ask (thanks to lovely individuals like yourself). Enjoy having first officers afraid to speak up around you, especially when we're counting on them to be a safety net for when we inevitably forget something.
Our industry is suffering a brain drain because of many reasons. Every question has a written answer, but as anyone who's gone through upgrade training can attest, the fastest way to get to a specific answer is to ask the other pilots.
Be part of the solution, not the problem.