The drunk captain question.....
The captain breaking rules....
The captain decending through DH when not in site.....

How do you correctly answer questions like these?

 

If the captain's drunk, it musta been a hell of an overnight! Why are you down in the lobby? You should have called in sick hours ago!

Rules? What rules? Ehhhh- rules were meant to be broken!

Descending through DH? No problem! Just make sure that you're on glide and localizer, and the aircraft is at least 2 degrees nose up. When the radar altimeter calls 50' bring the thrust levers to idle and brace yourself for impact. Heck... if some of those bigger new fangled airplanes with computers can do it, there's no reason that a human can't do it too!



(Seriously- read this thread: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/showthread.php?t=7546. Much of what you want to know is in there)

 

What they are looking for is balance between realistic flexibility and safety compliance.

They don't want to work with an inflexible nazi who would do this kind of stuff:
- Report a drunk (or even an 8 hour violation) directly to TSA, company, FAA.
- Report a CA who doesn't wear his shoulder harness for taxi.
- Grab controls at the first sign of altitude violation.


They don't want a pilot who is spineless enough to allow these sorts of things to occur:
- Flammable drunk crewmember working a flight
- Turn a blind eye to a captain who cruises on the verge of stall to increase block time.
- Allow a CA to conduct homemade CAT II VOR approaches

Good ways to deal with these scenarios:
Drunk CA (or CA who drank WAY past 8 hours): Tell him at the hotel that he needs to call in sick today and refer himself to the union or company substance abuse program (you will verify that he does this). If he refuses, threaten to call the CP, at which point he WILL comply.
Serious Rule Violation: Don't alllow this to occur if possible, but don't fight the guy for the controls. Contact the union pro-standards committe after the fact.
Busting Mins: Alert the CA, if he continues below mins call "Missed Approach" and report the missed to ATC! ...once that goes on tape he really has no choice. If he is non-responsive, take the controls, but don't fight him for the controls unless he is mentally non-functional. Usually the go-around call does the trick.

 

I knew a guy that became semi-unresponsive. He had some sort of epileptic episode or short circuit that caused him to "pause" for a short time frame. The other pilot completed the flight. He then became a penguin.

 

hey hey hey..these r top secret questions...do not reveal the answers..we have to weed out tattletails!

 

1. Cheap bastard didn't invite me to the crew party

2. Rules, we don't need any stinkin rules

3. Stupid FO didn't look out the window

At least these are guareenteed not to get you hired

 

Came across this one in a gouge: What would you do if the captain shows up for the flight anyway after you spotted him/her drinking alcohol within 12 hours of the flight? Would you call the police?

I'm not sure what a good answer would be, but Ill take a jab at it. I wouldn't call the police for starters, that will just make the airline look bad and create a lot of negatives all over the place, but I would tell the captain that I am not flying with them on this flight and they should leave and call in sick immediately so a replacement could be found asap. Any other issues with it, Id probably contact chief pilot/or/union to get the guy some help.

Any feedback on whether or not that is an acceptable answer?

 

CALL THE FBI


You went right to the point in the answer. The only thing I'll try to make the Cap call sick before I do. It doesn't do any good having the same drunk Cap flying with someone else.
Just my to 2c