Originally Posted by
duvie
The best part about being the captain is: ultimately what I say goes. No need to convince or cajole. When you aren’t constantly worried about your power being usurped, you might find that things are less tense and you very rarely have pull rank.
If I/FAs/pax want cooler air, I turn the APU on. If the FO does something out of the ordinary I just ask him why. If it makes more sense than what I wanted, we do it, if it doesn’t, I explain to him how I think we should do it. it’s pretty easy
i’m not here to change anybody’s mind about who is the boss/the smartest/a better pilot. I am simply here to be the last line of defense against safety. Leave your ego out of it, your trips will be far more enjoyable
I have only done this 5 or 6 times over 20 years and only with the continually defiant few ... Also works during contract negotiations when I have withdrawn my enthusiasm ... some call it job action ... I call it WOE ... A guy picking up time or cutting deals with the company ... I figure he's tired ... Give him a break and just have him work the radios for a few days ... Pull out the contract or DYKs at cruise and talk about it. I know it has made a difference once or twice ... One guy dropped all of his picked up trips ... Ended up running for a union position a few years later ... I voted for him.
You can do it without being a tyrant and actually have some fun with it.
Never created a safety issue ... well, except "captain jack" ... an f/o who created his own safety issues ... No jack ... If you are high on final you can't just do a 360 without asking ... don't care what you did in the Sr.-71 ...