Originally Posted by
123494
Do any of you find yourself flying with fellow pilots (CA or FO) who are overly paranoid and think the company/world is out to get them?
Flew with a CA recently who was probably the best pilot I have ever flown with. Was very smooth and flew the plane by the book. Other than his flying and ADM, he was extremely paranoid about everything. Some examples were:
1. Afraid to speak to the FAs. Would only talk when a flight related issue came up. Otherwise, he was convinced they would take something he said the wrong way and report it.
2. Afraid of Pax. Was convinced they had video cameras out and ready to catch any mistake we made and put it on social media. Didn't like making PAs and avoided eye contact in gate area.
3. Afraid of Gate Agents. Was convinced they were writing notes trying to pin any delay on him. Had an extensive notebook to record every move they made and what Zulu time.
4. Afraid of dispatch. If he had to call them, he would never use his name, only the flight number and tail. Not sure why.
Again, he was a fine aviator and I picked up some good techniques from him. I could go on with examples of the paranoia. Just curious if others have had any similar trips. Are pilots just programed to think this way?
first two make sense, second two probably to a lesser extent. One “your word against theirs” with an FA (be it what you said while on duty or what you did on an overnight. Deserved or not) or one bad edited clip of you talking with a pax might be enough to derail your career. Generally it is probably good practice to avoid being alone with co workers in a non public place (flight deck exempt) I’d address pax if it was a issue like weather or MX but if a conflict came up at the gate, that was not my domain, call CO. If In flight I’m not leaving the flight deck.
TL;DR you can do 1,000 things right in your career but it only takes 1 thing to screw it up. Pilots tend to be risk averse and some take that to all facets of their life.