FWIW about 2 CQs ago the instructor mentioned adding ATC called abort to the high speed criteria. Maybe just “technique only” but he made it sound like it was blessed by the high up’s in the A320 program.

 

Okay. So I'm not a outlier. Doing a control change, especially when the airplane is virtually going to stop itself, seems overly complicated. You want the captain to make the abort decision? Sure. AT off, thrust idle, speed brakes up. All the FO has to do is keep airplane on the center line then add brakes as needed if they AB fail.

 

As a long time FO, here is my perspective....this became very apparent just a few years back in my narrow body days when the Capt / FO mix was way off balance and my 4 day trip with 8 legs would have 7 Captains (NSTFS).

If God forbid we had to actually high speed reject for some fire issue...."fog of war"....I'm left wondering "is this the Captain that wanted me to talk to Tower and roll the trucks or is this the one that wanted me to make the PA so he could talk to tower and start commanding the fire fighting / evacuation?" Then "Is this the Captain that wanted me to automatically put the flaps to 40 just in case of passenger initiated evacuation or is this the Captain that wanted to do it himself after he evaluated the door page?"

I could go on....this is the stuff that needs to be standardized so it's muscle memory when the actual fog of war happens.....and it's these cats/dogs that make the "A" part of the WARTS brief be not-brief.

And don't get me started on the "I have the aircraft...but I really don't.....I just said it but don't mean it yet so wait until you think you feel me on the controls, even if you are fighting a boot full of rudder to keep us on the pavement".

I have been taught since my C-152 days and then an entire career in the fast jet world that when the PIC says "I have the aircraft/controls", then your only job in life is to let go so you aren't interfering with the PIC's inputs. Saying "I have the aircraft" is a definitive statement that should *not* leave room for interpretation from the pilot that was flying but is now supposed to be giving up the controls!

 

this guy Air Lines.

 

next time in CQ, after everything is done ask for a full power engine fail with severe damage at the sweet spot of100-100 knots and have both pilots stay on the rudder to a stop.

You wont end up in the grass.

i used to instruct for years on the 320 and the only times I saw aircraft on an RTO in the grass is when the Captain called Abort I have the aircraft and the FO as PF completely let go or the low speed aborts with pilots having their heels on the floor (320 issue) and feet away from the brakes. Those were the only times anyone ever departed pavement.

 

The FO is no longer PF when the CA says “I have the aircraft.”

 

who then adds to their brief “but don’t let go until you feel me in the controls” lol

I get the nuance and why it’s said but it still makes me chuckle

 

Then the Capt shouldn't be saying "I Have the aircraft" if he/she doesn't in fact have said aircraft.

It's the non-standardization.....if I'm hand flying an approach and the Captain says "I have the aircraft", I'm letting go ASAP! What if it's another DCA scenario and other pilot sees the helicopter and doesn't have time to tell me about it.....the few seconds of cross control could be the difference between life and death.

So in one scenario when the Capt says "I have the aircraft" I need to wait until my spidey senses feel the other pilot on the controls but the other "I have the aircraft" my life depends on letting go ASAP'ly.

There shouldn't be a difference...THAT's the problem with not being standardized.

Delta wants their Captains to have abort authority....great....they can still call for the abort and the FO/PF can do it...military has been doing it that way for decades and decades.

IMO this is a classic "if there were a better way we would already be doing it" arrogance thing and Delta fails to realize how different they are when looking at how the pilots are taught from Cessna 172 through decades of military flying....those decades of muscle memory of just letting go isn't broken just because Delta says so in a WARTS brief.

 

So I see what the FOs are saying but look at it this way.

first an FOs hands aren’t on the throttles for takeoff making it a Captain reject decision. That is not going to change ever. So what is an FO controlling? Rudders and Ailerons.

I hear you 100% on relinquishing the rudders however the brakes are on the rudders and the CA needs to make decisions about braking durring the reject.

as awkward as it seems to relinquish a boot full of rudder in a high speed situation it would be even more awkward to have me barking commands to you in the fog of war. As we all know the first sense to go with stress is audio. This is why master warnings and cautions go off in the flight deck for 5 minutes durring high stress sim sessions.

so unless every single reject no matter what the situation is going to end with the auto brakes bringing the aircraft to a full stop on the runway then the Captain needs control to make the decisions on the brakes and have access to the tiller.

Example If I get a PWS at 90 knots on a 12 thousand foot runway in DEN when it is 100 degrees I’m going to kick off the Brakes immediately and let the airplane roll to keep my brakes cool so I can go back and try again.

 

there’s no control change when the captains hands are already on the throttles…