Big E 757

I don’t think he’s saying that. If everyone does everything the way we are trained and by the book, no one should have to adapt to anything. Everything will be all standard like.

Iceberg

I lost you, are you saying it is relevant or it is not relevant? It seems to me that it’s relevant to his statement that he could easily hold captain, but irrelevant to his beliefs towards how much god status is awarded with the extra stripe. Which made me think. I’m trying to figure if an rj cap is like a demigod and a major cap is a real-deal god and if a real-deal god used to be a demigod but turned into one of those almost gods that sits next to the god before being reincarnated as a god and where does the military god fit into the hierarchy and why are we so god d$&@ed concerned with the title but at the same time the god does have four stripes and the almost god only has three and that’s a lot of weight to be sitting on one’s shoulders and lets not even start with the scrambled eggs and I feel this runs into just about enough nonsense to say screw it let’s talk about whether or not the company is or isn’t being shifty with the negotiations timeline and then I’m gonna say goodnight...

notEnuf

I gotta disagree. I think he's saying if it is within the limits Delta sets forth personal operating style is OK. Maybe a technique is just that, technique. Captains have all been FO's too. My guess is they were adaptable and not set in a rigid mode of operation. I admire another pilot who is willing and confident enough in his/her own abilities to operate in a safe manner other than their preferred comfort zone and allows others the same latitude.

Frankly, it shows skill and mastery of their craft and the operational parameters. Almost everyone here commanded an aircraft for some length of time and did it successfully enough to warrant achieving the pinnacle career position. Many of those same folks were LCAs or sim instructors which required skills to teach and evaluate. In the LCA example, they needed to know the whole job from both seats and be comfortable and confident enough to change seats mid trip and also instruct any range of students abilities and responsibilities. The few FOs that may not have prior PIC time obviously impressed a hiring board of their skills and abilities, which given the disadvantage of not already being captain seems even more impressive.

We are all highly skilled and we are all equally human, capable of human error. The fact that I have a tremendous resource sitting beside me gives me great pride, confidence and humility.

notEnuf

I'm a ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbGs_qK2PQA

Big E 757

Was it the double negative that confused you? “Aren’t irrelevant” = relevant.

I give up, and quite frankly don’t care. I’m sorry there are so many high and mighty, wing nut Captains for you FO’s to endure. I was an RJ Captain before I came here so I had some experience before coming to Delta. The Captain I am today, is a product of all the awesome, outstanding Captains I’ve learned so much from over my 13 years riding shotgun. The few guys I didn’t care for so much, I disregarded.

I’d like to think I’m one of the good ones my FO’s enjoy flying with but who knows, none of the complaints sounds like me or something I’d do but you could be very well talking about me. Maybe that’s why I’m so confused.

Iceberg

I didn’t intend my post to go after you, sorry if you took it that way. I’ve been up too long and still can’t sleep so I’m probably going to read my words tomorrow and think, “What an idiot... oh, that was me.”

ChecklistMonkey

I don't know where in this thread people have spun this into "checklist monkey hates all captains." Even from the beginning, it has merely been a critique of those who take their "rank" too seriously. Ones who act like they are superior than those who don't get 4 stripes. You read about it all the time. There are a lot of great people I've flown with and this subset is the minority. I still am giving harsh criticism to those who take themselves too seriously

Big E 757

And I didn’t direct that entire post towards you either. I was responding to all the posts about this string of comments about the Captain is God attitude some guys are experiencing and commenting about. Sorry if it felt personal or a direct response to you.

duece12345

Not at all!! Do our job like Delta trained us to do, nothing more or less.

buckleyboy

Denny, I am splitting scrotal hairs here, but a captain should adapt to his/her FO’s in certain respects. Newhires, new to fleet, first time a certain airport, etc. all require the captain to run the show a little differently. Especially newhires.

As a lower seniority captain who is closer to the age of most of the FOs with whom I fly, I gather that a lot of the beef FOs have with captains stems from the company’s communication to captains to fulfill the obligation set forth by the post-Colgan FAA mandate for each carrier to institute a “mentor program.” (Long sentence!)
Best I can figure, in-command and newhire mentors check that box. Additionally, captains are told early and often to mentor their FOs. I take this to mean, in no particular order:
-let the FOs learn specific fleet techniques at their own pace—eg, don’t impose techniques on an FO, and allow mistakes to happen so long as they are not egregious or dangerous
-make them aware of the crapper below B18 in ATL that is away from the hustle of the concourse
-show them out to get in the lounge in other hubs for long sits
-if they ask about PCS, share knowledge
-parking lot hacks
-etc etc etc


But DON’T offer unsolicited “advice” telling them:
-how to bid
-how to raise children
-how to invest
-the science behind radars, complete with pictures drawn on the back of flight plan for 2.5 hours
-etc etc etc

Not saying Denny or anyone else here does any of the above, but there are unfortunately some who do. One man’s assessment, but I surmise that is mostly why FO’s gripe about otherwise decent human beings captains.