Originally Posted by
DAL73n
Seconded - there are a lot of things that are briefed in training, OE, on a particular rotation, that sound like procedure when they are actually techniques. It is up to YOU (and I believe most of us are highly experience pilots) how you want to fly your airplane. There is only one PIC on every aircraft (even the 4 man crews) and he has the authority to run the flight however he wants as long as he doesn't violate FARs, written company policy or flight manual restrictions. I believe one of the big differences culturally between Delta and NWA were NWA seemed to have lot more procedures telling you exactly how to do things on your airplane while Delta gives the crews (both Cpt and F/O) a little more latitude. If it's not against any of the above Carl (and all the other unhappy fNWA captains) should be able to run their cockpit however they want. As an F/O, I've flown with Captains that do some things a little different and it is my job to run the airplane how he wants - as long as he's within the rules.
There in lies the problem. When you sat in a NWA jet in the right seat you knew exactly what the guy in the left seat expected and you did exactly the same thing in the right seat every flight, no guessing what is this guy going to do and expect. As well you knew exactly what the guy in the left was going to do. This allowed immediate recognition of a guy that might be out to lunch and then you knew you had to be on your toes if that was the case. Just saying how it used to be not that it is better than DAL because I can not judge how you guys run things until I exerience flying with enough guys to make a judgement.